March 28, 2019 Trump Acts on Critical Infrastructure Resiliency Against EMP Threats President Trump has signed an executive order (EO) to boost coordination for and national resilience against electromagnetic pulse (EMP) threats—both from nuclear warfare and natural events like solar superstorms. The action… Read More Sponsored Content ELECTRIC POWER 2019 is Next Month! POWER, the single […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) is funding a project that would prepare Westinghouse’s 25-MWe eVinci micro-reactor for nuclear demonstration readiness by 2022.  The agency on March 27 said it will provide $12.9 million of the estimated $28.6 million Westinghouse needs for a project to prepare the micro-reactor for a demonstration, including for design, analysis, licensing […]

President Trump has signed an executive order (EO) to boost coordination for and national resilience against electromagnetic pulse (EMP) threats—both from nuclear warfare and natural events like solar superstorms. The action suggests new federal mandates to protect critical infrastructure against EMP events and attacks may be on the horizon.  Senior Trump administration officials from the National Security […]

Siemens, Three Mile Island, and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) made notable headlines over recent days. Here is this week’s POWER notebook.  Siemens Bags First Order for 41-MW Aeroderivative Gas Unit Siemens on March 25 said it received its first order for its newest aeroderivative gas turbine offering—the SGT-A45. The buyer, Bayat Power, a subsidiary […]

After a Navajo tribal council on March 21 voted 11–9 to block acquisition of the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) and Peabody Energy’s Kayenta coal mine, the Navajo Transitional Energy Co. (NTEC) announced it would drop its bid to keep the 2.3-GW coal-fired plant near Page, Arizona, open.  NTEC, a company wholly owned by the Navajo […]

March 21, 2019 Trump Administration Set to Guarantee $3.7 Billion to Finish Vogtle Nuclear Expansion Energy Secretary Rick Perry will reportedly announce March 22 that the Trump administration will finalize $3.7 billion in loan guarantees to support completion of the Vogtle nuclear plant construction project.… Read More Sponsored Content ELECTRIC POWER 2019 is Next Month! […]

Renewable generation in the U.S. has doubled over the past 10 years. In 2018, generation from solar, wind, hydro, and other renewables soared to a record 742 TWh—or 17.6% of total U.S. generation. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), since 2008—when renewables provided 382 TWh—wind generation rose from 55 TWh and generated 275 TWh […]

Norsk Hydro, a major global aluminum producer that is also Norway’s third-largest producer of hydropower, has been stricken by an extensive cyberattack—reportedly ransomware—that forced its entire global network offline. The company powers its sizable aluminum production operations with 20 hydropower plants concentrated in Telemark, Røldal-Suldal, Sogn, and Vennesla, producing a total 10 TWh per year. […]

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators are urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw a proposed rule that they said could “lead to the undoing” of the Obama administration’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS).  In a March 18 letter to newly appointed EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler, the group led by Sens. Lamar Alexander […]

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the Japanese utility that took on the behemoth task of controlling and decommissioning the six-unit Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture after the March 11, 2011, accident, recently released a video showing progress at the site.  Source: https://www4.tepco.co.jp/en/news/library/archive-e.html?video_uuid=t820ghcq&catid=61795 The disaster began as a 15-meter (49-foot) tsunami inundated and disabled the […]