Sonal Patel is a national award-winning multimedia journalist and senior editor at POWER magazine with nearly two decades of experience delivering technically rigorous reporting across power generation, transmission, distribution, policy, and infrastructure worldwide.
Salt River Project (SRP) has become one of the first U.S. utilities to shift from an Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to an Integrated System Plan (ISP), a “holistic roadmap” that takes into account evolving power system needs, energy affordability, and carbon reduction goals. The pioneering move by the public power entity that provides power and […]
Two IT air quality data systems that inform the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) regulatory and compliance decisions are outdated, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has suggested. The federal agency must make progress to develop a business case to replace them, it said. The congressional watchdog in a report made public on Sept. 29 […]
Six nuclear designs will advance to the next phase of the UK’s Small Modular Reactor (SMR) competition, a fast-track measure that could result in a government contract within the next 10 months as part of a strategy to deliver operational SMRs by the mid-2030s. EDF, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH), Holtec Britain, NuScale Power, Rolls Royce SMR, […]
The Edra Melaka Power Plant (EMPP), the world’s second GE 9HA.02 gas turbine power plant, is the largest combined cycle gas-fired power plant currently in operation in Malaysia. A POWER Top Plant winner, the
Planning, building, operating, or overhauling power plants has long been an emphasis in the power sector—and an important one, given that the creation of new power capacity plays an outsized role in
Pingshan Phase II, a cutting-edge 1.4-GW ultrasupercritical coal-fired unit, achieves a remarkable net efficiency of 49.37%—making it the world’s most efficient coal-fired power plant. The state-of-the-art
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store September 28, 2023 Nucor and Helion Target 2030 for Utility-Scale Fusion Power Plant Nucor Corp., a manufacturer of steel and steel products, and Helion, a fusion energy company, are collaborating to develop a 500-MW fusion power plant to supply baseload electricity to […]
The Southwest Power Pool (SPP) is poised to become the first regional transmission organization (RTO) to provide coordinated operation across the Eastern and Western Interconnections, bridging a historic gap to potentially boost regional reliability, savings, and efficiencies. SPP, which has operated as an RTO since 2004, currently has 110 member companies in its Eastern Interconnection […]
Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ), Poland’s designated entity tasked with developing the country’s first nuclear plant in Pomerania, has signed an engineering services contract with a Westinghouse-Bechtel consortium, allowing site-specific work to begin on the AP1000 power plant. The companies announced the “historic” contract on Sept. 27, one week after nuclear technology giant Westinghouse and global […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store September 21, 2023 FERC, NERC Reveal Disturbing Details From Winter Storm Elliot Inquiry Incremental unplanned generation outages triggered during Winter Storm Elliot spiked to 90.5 GW—significantly more than the 61.8 GW during Winter Storm Uri in 2021—representing 13% of the U.S. portion […]
Incremental unplanned generation outages triggered during Winter Storm Elliott spiked to 90.5 GW—significantly more than the 61.8 GW during Winter Storm Uri in 2021—representing 13% of the U.S. portion of anticipated resources in the Eastern Interconnection. That finding, one of many disturbing details unveiled by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and North American Electric […]
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is poised to study the feasibility of retrofitting two gas-fired power plants—a combined capacity of 1.8 GW—in Mississippi and Kentucky with post-combustion carbon capture technology to remove more than 90% of their carbon emissions. The non-profit U.S. corporate agency and Canadian energy infrastructure firm TC Energy on Sept. 14 said they will […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store September 14, 2023 Wyoming Energy Authority Makes Investment Toward Microreactor Deployment BWX Technologies (BWXT) said it was awarded a “two-phase, two-year contract” with the Wyoming Energy Authority (WEA) to assess the viability of deploying small-scale nuclear reactors in the state to… Palisades […]
The Department of Defense (DOD) has moved to develop a second transportable microreactor under Project Pele, granting X-energy a contract option to advance the design of its mobile advanced nuclear microreactor prototype. The one-year contract option will continue to provide funding for X-energy’s nuclear technology development, allowing the firm to develop its design to meet […]
Petra Nova, one of the world’s only two carbon capture and storage (CCS) retrofits at a commercial power plant, has restarted operations, JX Nippon Oil and Gas Exploration Corp. announced on Sept. 13. The project, which is designed to remove more than 90% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) from a 240-MW flue gas slipstream from […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store September 7, 2023 ERCOT Issues First Level 2 Emergency Alert Since Winter Storm Uri The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on Sept. 6 issued an Energy Emergency Alert 2 (EEA 2) after grid conditions quickly deteriorated around sunset (7:30 p.m.) as […]
India has begun commercial operation of its first domestically designed 700-MWe pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) at the Kakrapar nuclear power plant in Gujarat, state-owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd. (NPCIL) reported on Aug. 30. Commercial operation of Unit 3 at Kakrapar Atomic Power Project, which is located near the city of Vyara in the […]
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on Sept. 6 issued an Energy Emergency Alert 2 (EEA 2) after grid conditions quickly deteriorated around sunset (7:30 p.m.) as demand soared and operating power reserves plunged. The grid operator said that the emergency operations were necessary “due to a combination of dropping operating reserves and frequency.” […]
Voith Hydro in 2022 replaced four vertical Pelton turbines at Verbund’s 75-year-old 326-GWh Gerlos 1 pumped storage facility in Austria with a first-of-its-kind horizontal six-nozzle Pelton turbine
Marking a significant inroad to establish a South Korean foothold in the world’s gas turbine technology market, heavy industrial company Doosan Enerbility this summer began commercial operation of its first
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store August 31, 2023 Arizona Site Will Host Long-Duration Energy Storage Project An innovative battery energy storage project, using a non-lithium technology, will be deployed at a research center in Arizona. Salt River Project (SRP), the state’s community-based, not-for-profit public power utility,… […]
The U.S. Air Force’s first nuclear microreactor planned for Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska under a federal nuclear microreactor pilot program will be an Oklo liquid metal-cooled fast reactor. The Defense of Logistics Agency (DLA), acting on behalf of the Department of Air Force (DAF), on Aug. 31 issued a Notice of Intent to Award […]
Kenya’s government is pinning a nationwide blackout on Aug. 25 to the loss of 270 MW from the 310-MW Lake Turkana Wind Power Plant (LTWP), though the wind generator has denied it was the cause. The blackout, which lasted more than 20 hours, began at about 9:45 p.m. on Friday, plunging the East African country’s […]
Centrus, a firm poised to demonstrate high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) production, will partner with microreactor technology developer Oklo on several pioneering steps to build out the HALEU front-end supply chain, including pivotal commercial deconversion capabilities. The landmark collaboration could also make Centrus one of Oklo’s first commercial power off-takers for two reactors planned in Southern […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store August 24, 2023 Nuclear Power, Electrification, and Carbon-Free Fuel Are Key to INL Achieving Net-Zero by 2031 In 2021, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Director John Wagner set a lofty goal for the lab to achieve net-zero carbon emissions within 10 years. An […]
The North American Reliability Corporation (NERC) will for the first time consider “energy policy” among five significant evolving and interdependent risks to grid reliability. In its latest biennial ERO Reliability Risk Priorities Report, the designated North American Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) identifies energy policy as a new risk priority alongside grid transformation, resilience to extreme […]
Canada’s federal government has committed C$74 million ($55 million) to support SaskPower’s potential deployment of a 300-MW small modular reactor (SMR) in the mid-2030s. Federal agency Natural Resources Canada on Aug. 19 confirmed that up to C$50 million is designated for SaskPower from the agency’s C$250 million Electricity Predevelopment Program. Another C$24 million will be […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store August 17, 2023 Quebec Utility Mulls Restart of Mothballed Nuclear Reactor A government-run Canadian utility said it is considering restarting a nuclear reactor that was shut down more than a decade ago, in an effort to support the supply of energy… AEP […]
American Electric Power (AEP), one of the nation’s largest power producers, has completed the sale of its 1,365-MW unregulated contracted renewables portfolio to an Invenergy-led consortium. IRG Acquisition Holdings (IRGAH)—a partnership between Invenergy, CDPQ, and funds managed by Blackstone Infrastructure Partners—confirmed the close of the transaction on Aug. 16 for a $1.5 billion enterprise value. […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store August 10, 2023 J-Class Gas Turbines Arrive at IPP Renewed, Milestone for Giant Utah Cavern Hydrogen Hub Project Mitsubishi Power has delivered two M501JAC gas turbines to Intermountain Power Project (IPP) Renewed in Delta, Utah, a power plant that will source hydrogen […]