Sonal Patel
Articles By

Sonal Patel

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.

  • 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, […]

  • 2022 Set a Global Record for Coal Generation

    The recent shake-up in natural gas markets and their ensuing impact on energy security, and geopolitical tension, dramatically altered the trajectory of global coal-fired generation, sending it soaring to

  • POWERnews—Jan. 26, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 26, 2023 NRC Rejects New Review of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant Operating Extension The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has denied a request from California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to renew a review of an operating license application for […]

  • EPA Moves to Deny Coal Ash Disposal at Six Massive Coal Power Plants 

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed barring six coal-fired power plants in various states—a combined 11 GW—from disposing coal ash into unlined surface impoundments. The agency, however, also proposed to provide disposal extensions if the coal plants are needed to maintain grid reliability. The EPA’s proposed determinations, issued on Jan. 25, fall under its […]

  • Oklo Readying to Deploy Commercial-Scale Nuclear Fuel Recycling Facility

    Oklo has kicked off regulatory activities for a first-of-its-kind nuclear fuel recycling facility that could produce commercial material from used light water reactor (LWR) fuel before the decade’s end. The advanced nuclear technology firm in December submitted a licensing project plan (LPP) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for its Fuel Recycling Technologies facility. The […]

  • POWERnews—Jan. 19, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 19, 2023 Fast Neutron Reactor Installed at Russian Research Facility Workers at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors (RIAR) in Dimitrovgrad, Russia, have installed what they call the world’s largest multipurpose fast neutron research reactor, or MBIR, at the site.… Third […]

  • Third North Carolina Power Substation Targeted by Gunfire as BPS Physical Security Concerns Mount

    A third power substation has been damaged by gunfire in North Carolina, prompting an FBI investigation. The incident on Jan. 17 is part of a spate of gunfire vandalism that has renewed physical security concerns at a federal level. The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office in Thomasville, central North Carolina, said the latest incident, believed to […]

  • POWERnews—Jan. 12, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 12, 2023 Pipe Issue Delays Startup of New Vogtle Nuclear Unit Startup of the first of two new reactors at the Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia is being pushed back to at least April, one month after officials with Georgia Power… […]

  • Pioneering U.S. Wave Energy Power Plant Unveiled

    One of the first U.S.-based wave energy power plants is set to be deployed at AltaSea’s 35-acre campus located at the Port of Los Angeles. Israeli firm Eco Wave Power, which unveiled the project on Jan. 12, said the AltaSea pilot would help the company make inroads in the U.S. Eco Wave’s onshore wave energy […]

  • POWERnews—Jan. 5, 2023

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 5, 2023 Updates on Five Big Nuclear Energy Developments POWER Was Watching in 2022 In January 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) published a list of five nuclear energy stories to watch in 2022. Here’s […]

  • NuScale Submits Standard Design Approval Application to NRC for Uprated SMR Design

    NuScale Power has submitted a standard design approval (SDA) application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) based on its six-module VOYGR-6 configuration, which will use uprated 250-MWth (77-MWe) modules. The step is crucial for the proposed construction of the 462-MWe Carbon Free Power Plant at an Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site. NuScale’s SDA application submitted […]

  • 10 Near-Term Global Power Sector Trends

    While 2021 provided its own share of extraordinary energy debacles, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 cascaded into full-blown energy turmoil. This year will begin with the world “in the midst of

  • Being Pro-Nuclear Won’t Be Enough—Here’s Why

    Nuclear energy—not just nuclear power—is seeing a burst of innovation unlike anything seen since the 1950s. While the strong momentum for the dispatchable zero-carbon energy source is promising, prominent pitfalls threaten necessary progress.

  • Experts Explain: Digital Twins

    In this fresh series, POWER’s editors choose a multifaceted topic that may have myriad applications or implications, and ask an array of key industry stakeholders for their perspectives. This month’s

  • POWER Digest [January 2023]

    Brazil Formally Restarts Construction of Angra 3 Nuclear Reactor. Eletronuclear, a mixed-ownership subsidiary of Brazilian state-run power group Eletrobras, has resumed construction of Angra 3, a 1.4-GW

  • Biden Administration Rolls Out ‘Durable’ WOTUS Definition in Final Rule

    The Biden administration has rolled out in a final what it says is a “durable” definition of “waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS), potentially capping a legal and political battle that has raged for nearly two decades. The final rule issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of the Army on […]

  • POWERnews—Dec. 29, 2022

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   December 29, 2022 The 12 Most-Read POWER Global Monitor Articles of 2022 Every month, POWER magazine publishes several articles in its Global Monitor section covering topics important to the electric power generation industry. The articles typically feature interesting updates on progress made… […]