Sonal Patel
Articles By

Sonal Patel

  • EPA Projects Final ‘Good Neighbor Plan’ Will Result in 14 GW of Coal Retirements

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on March 15 issued the final “Good Neighbor Plan,” its latest iteration of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) that could require coal, oil, or gas steam power plants in 22 states to reduce their nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions levels by 50% by 2027 compared to the 2021 ozone season. […]

  • POWERnews—March 9, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   March 9, 2023 Vistra Expands Nuclear Portfolio in $3.4 Billion Deal for Energy Harbor Texas-based energy company Vistra Corp. is adding to its nuclear power generation capacity. The group on March 6 announced it would buy Ohio-based Energy Harbor Corp. in a […]

  • EPA Rolls Out More Stringent Effluent Limitations Guidelines for Coal Power Plants

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing more stringent discharge standards for three types of coal power plant wastewater as part of an update to its Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELGs). However, the agency also proposed compliance flexibilities, and in a separate direct final rule, moved to extend a deadline to allow more coal plants to […]

  • Vogtle 3 Reaches Initial Criticality, Marking Pivotal Nuclear Startup Milestone

    Vogtle 3, one of two 1,117-MW Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors Southern Nuclear Operating Co. is building in Georgia, has reached initial criticality. The event marks a pivotal milestone for the Generation III+ pressurized water reactor (PWR)—the first of its kind built in the U.S. “Initial criticality is a key step during the startup testing sequence […]

  • Entergy Picks EPC Team for Massive Hydrogen-Capable CCGT Project in Texas

    A 1.2-GW hydrogen-capable combined cycle power project that Entergy Texas has proposed to build in Orange County, Texas, will be spearheaded by an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) consortium led by Mitsubishi Power, Sargent & Lundy, and TIC. Construction of the $1.19 billion Orange County Advanced Power Station (OCAPS), which received the Public Utility Commission […]

  • POWERnews—March 2, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   March 2, 2023 Novel UAMPS-NuScale SMR Nuclear Project Gains Participant Approval to Proceed to Next Phase Despite a recent steep hike in the project cost estimate for the proposed 462-MWe Carbon-Free Power Project (CFPP), 26 of 27 public power entities have voted […]

  • Novel UAMPS-NuScale SMR Nuclear Project Gains Participant Approval to Proceed to Next Phase

    Despite a steep hike in the project cost estimate for the proposed 462-MWe Carbon-Free Power Project (CFPP), 26 of 27 public power entities have voted to continue development of the first-of-its-kind six-module NuScale Power VOYGR-6 small modular nuclear (SMR) plant. The 26 project participants—subscribers who could eventually offtake portions of the project’s power—lodged financial commitments […]

  • X-energy and Dow Will Deploy a 320-MWe Xe-100 Nuclear Facility at Gulf Coast Site

    X-energy will demonstrate its four-unit 320-MWe Xe-100 advanced nuclear reactor facility under the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) at a Dow site in the U.S. Gulf Coast region by the end of the decade—not in Washington State as originally planned. The shakeup stems from a joint development agreement (JDA) the nuclear […]

  • A Complex Landscape for the Future of Combined Heat and Power

    Few power-generating resources present the combination of workhouse abilities that combined heat and power (CHP) does. But, powered predominantly by fossil fuels, will CHP find its unique footing within the

  • Trial Operation of Innovative Horizontal Pelton Hydropower Turbine Underway in Austria

    A pioneering horizontal, six-nozzle Pelton turbine developed by Voith Hydro at the 326-GWh Gerlos 1 pumped storage facility in the Ziller Valley, Austria, is setting new benchmarks for the 140-year-old

  • POWER Digest [March 2023]

    Pakistan Begins Commercial Operation of 1.3-GW Coal Plant. Pakistan on Feb. 7 began commercial operation of a 1.3-GW coal-fired power plant in the Thar Desert in Sindh province, southern Pakistan. The project

  • THE BIG PICTURE: U.S. Combined Heat and Power and Microgrids

    As of December 2022, the Department of Energy (DOE) CHP Installation Database recorded 4,674 combined heat and power (CHP) installations in the U.S., with a combined capacity of 80.4 GW. Installations were all sizes, from large industrial systems that are hundreds of megawatts to small commercial microturbine and fuel cell systems that are tens of […]

  • POWERnews—Feb. 23, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   February 23, 2023 Biden Administration Announces First Offshore Wind Lease Sales for Gulf of Mexico The Biden administration on Feb. 22 announced the first-ever lease sale for offshore wind power development in the Gulf of Mexico. The Dept. of the Interior, through […]

  • Ammonia Gas Turbine Combustion Has Economic Potential, GE-IHI Study Suggests

    Ammonia could be a potentially lower-cost alternative fuel for gas turbines in Japan than liquid hydrogen if the full import value stream is considered, suggests a joint study between GE Gas Power and Japanese heavy industry manufacturer IHI Corp. As part of the year-long study, the companies mapped a value stream for hydrogen and ammonia […]

  • DOE Breaks Ground on Next-Generation Concentrating Solar Power Pilot

    The Department of Energy (DOE) has broken ground on the Generation 3 Particle Pilot Plant (G3P3), a novel concentrating solar power (CSP) facility at Sandia National Laboratory that will use sand-like ceramic particles instead of molten salt to produce and store high-temperature energy. When completed in 2024, the “multi-megawatt” solar thermal pilot project will utilize an existing […]

  • POWERnews—Feb. 16, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   February 16, 2023 Vogtle Unit 3 In-Service Date Slides to May or June Southern Company said in its annual report filing issued on Feb. 16 that remediating certain equipment and component issues will force the projected in-service date for Plant Vogtle Unit […]

  • European Project Launches to Demonstrate High-Volume Hydrogen Gas Turbine Combustion

    Ansaldo Energia and partners have kicked off the FLEX4H2, a four-year project to design, develop, and validate a highly fuel-flexible gas turbine combustion system based on Ansaldo’s sequential combustion technology that will be capable of operating with up to 100% hydrogen. The FLEX4H2 (or Flexibility for Hydrogen) officially began on Jan. 1 and will run […]

  • Reconsider Distribution Transformer Efficiency Standards, Power Groups Urge DOE

    Three major electric power trade groups in a letter on Feb. 15 urged the Department of Energy (DOE) to reconsider proposed energy efficiency conservation standards for distribution transformers, citing “severe and ongoing supply chain challenges that have prolonged and complicated distribution transformer production and availability.” The letter was sent ahead of a public meeting scheduled […]

  • The POWER Interview: Physical Attacks on the Grid Soared in 2022. What Can Be Done?

    Physical security at power plants has received renewed concern of late, owing to a spate of gunfire vandalism events in the U.S. However, power plants have long-fielded several other physical security risks, including from terrorism, sabotage, natural disasters, insider threats, and physical breaches. Power plants have typically employed a set of physical security tools, such […]

  • POWERnews—Feb. 9, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   February 9, 2023 Centrus Competes Construction, Initial Testing of HALEU Demonstration Cascade Marking a major milestone, Centrus Energy—a firm under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate production of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) with domestic technology—on Feb. 9 said… […]

  • Centrus Completes Construction, Initial Testing of HALEU Demonstration Cascade

    Marking a major milestone, Centrus Energy—a firm under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate production of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) with domestic technology—on Feb. 9 said it completed construction and initial testing of its advanced uranium enrichment centrifuge cascade as well as most of its associated support systems. Once the company […]

  • Kenya Gearing Up to Build 35-MW Geothermal Power Plant at Menengai Steam Field

    Kenya is readying to kick off construction of the 35-MW Menengai geothermal power project in Nakuru County as part of the first phase of the wider Menengai complex, the country’s second large-scale geothermal field developed after Olkaria. The project is being developed by Globeleq, an Africa-focused independent power producer and project developer that is 70% […]

  • Cybersecurity: Power Industry–Led Vendor Software Assurance Inventory Launched

    Several major power companies have launched a software assurance database that will serve as a software bill of materials (SBOM) repository for the power industry. Part of a long-sought solution to address a critical supply chain cybersecurity risk, the collaborative effort announced on Feb. 8 seeks to help vendors identify and remediate vulnerabilities in software […]

  • DOE Dedicates Funding for Up to Seven EGS Geothermal Pilot Demonstrations

    The Department of Energy has moved to fund up to seven pilot enhanced geothermal system (EGS) projects to demonstrate different geologic settings, a variety of development techniques, and different well orientations. The U.S. agency on Feb. 8 announced up to $74 million to support the EGS pilots, for which the November 2021–enacted Infrastructure Act designates […]

  • POWERnews—Feb. 2, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   February 2, 2023 Siemens Gamesa Posts Nearly $1 Billion Quarterly Loss Siemens Gamesa chief executive Jochen Eickholt acknowledged equipment failures in both the company’s onshore and offshore wind turbines, leading to higher warranty provisions, contributed to a nearly $1 billion net… Major […]

  • First LNG-Fired CCGT Unit Begins Operation at JERA’s Giant Modernized Gas Plant in Japan 

    Japanese power generator JERA has launched commercial operation of the first of three liquefied natural gas (LNG)–fueled 650-MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) units that will modernize the Anegasaki Thermal Power Station, a mammoth 3.2-GW, six-unit gas and oil power plant in Chiba Prefecture.  The new Anegasaki Thermal Power Station Unit 1, opened on Feb. […]

  • Major Nuclear Players Team on Innovative Construction Delivery Approach for BWRX-300 SMR at Darlington

    Ontario Power Generation (OPG), GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH), SNC-Lavalin, and Aecon have signed a trailblazing six-year alliance agreement designed to bolster the deployment of a BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at the Darlington New Nuclear Project (DNNP) in Clarington, Ontario. The contract unveiled on Jan. 27—a year after OPG selected GEH’s BWRX-300 for the […]

  • Why Constellation Energy, a Nuclear-Heavy Giant, Is Primed for Power Futurity

    Spun out of Exelon Corp. a year ago, Constellation Energy’s competitive generation and customer-facing energy businesses represent a new power company paradigm that conforms to decarbonization. But the company that today holds the largest nuclear fleet in the U.S. will still face a unique array of challenges.

  • Floating Nuclear Power Buoyant on New Prospects

    In July 1968, the U.S. Army sent the world’s first floating nuclear power plant, the Sturgis, to the Panama Canal to help overcome a regional hydroelectric power plant shortage, which was driven by a severe

  • The Big Picture: Off-Grid Power [Infographic]

    An estimated 91% of the world’s population had access to electricity in 2020, marking substantial progress toward goals to ensure universal access to power. Still, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), 733 million people remain unserved. Off-grid and decentralized energy systems may be emerging as an alternative to facilitate energy access and resilience, […]