The Biden administration has reversed a controversial Trump-era rule that barred plan fiduciaries from considering climate change and other environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors when choosing retirement investments and exercising shareholder rights, such as proxy voting.  A final rule issued by the Department of Labor (DOL) on Nov. 22 removes restrictions issued in two […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) first round of funding from its $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) Program is poised to go to Diablo Canyon Power Plant, California’s only operational nuclear plant. Pacific Gas & Electric  (PG&E), Diablo Canyon’s owner, could receive up to $1.1 billion in credits to extend the 2.2-GW plant’s operation for […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has accepted Abilene Christian University’s (ACU’s) construction permit application for a 1-MWth nuclear non-power Molten Salt Research Reactor (MSRR) facility planned for the university’s campus in Abilene, north-central Texas. The acceptance—which essentially marks the NRC “docketing” of the application—formally kicks off the regulatory agency’s review of ACU’s proposed Nuclear Energy […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   November 17, 2022 NERC’s Warns of Tight Generation Resources, Fuel Supply Issues This Winter Power shortfalls could be rife over the next three months across a large portion of the North American bulk power system (BPS), particularly during extreme and prolonged cold […]

Power shortfalls could be rife over the next three months across a large portion of the North American bulk power system (BPS), particularly during extreme and prolonged cold conditions, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) has warned. The nation’s designated Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) in its latest Winter Reliability Assessment, issued on Nov. 17, said […]

European energy giant EnBW will pilot switching a 114-year-old coal-fired waste incineration and district heating power plant in Stuttgart-Münster, Germany, to gas-fired technology while ensuring the regionally significant plant will be ready to combust hydrogen “as quickly and completely” as possible. Siemens Energy on Nov. 17 sealed an agreement with the utility for an overall […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have settled to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act with four separate large-scale solar farm owners in Alabama, Idaho, and Illinois. The solar farm owners—all subsidiaries of large international finance and investment companies—used a common construction contractor for their farms. The federal […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   November 10, 2022 Enel Gas-Fired Plant Will Use Rock-Based Energy Storage System Two groups involved in innovation for power generation, including Italy’s largest utility, have teamed to build a rock-based energy storage system to capture excess power at a natural gas-fired power… […]

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will pursue a first-of-its-kind pilot program at the Shawnee Fossil Plant in West Paducah, Kentucky, to determine if closed coal ash sites are suitable for utility-scale solar projects. The self-funded U.S. corporate agency’s board on Nov. 10 unanimously approved a $216 million pilot project to explore repurposing the 1,071-MW coal-fired power […]

Hamilton, a city in Ontario, Canada, will host a pilot project to demonstrate a new technology designed to capture excess hydrothermal energy from its district heating and cooling plant and convert it into grid-quality power. The pilot hosted by Hamilton Community Enterprises (HCE)—the city’s utility solutions arm— will use Extract Energy’s “Heat Engine,” whose core […]

NET Power, developer of the novel Allam-Fetvedt supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycle, will build its first 300-MW natural gas–fired power plant at an Occidental-hosted site near Odessa, Texas. The “serial number one” project will demonstrate—at utility scale—NET Power’s potentially revolutionary technology, which promises to provide low-cost gas-fired power generation, no atmospheric emissions, no water […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   November 3, 2022 Six Major Electric Utilities Join Forces to Pursue a Southeastern Hydrogen Hub Marking intent interest from the power sector in hydrogen’s decarbonization potential, six major utilities—Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Louisville Gas & Electric Co. (LG&E), Kentucky Utilities Co. (KU), […]

A severe failure on a duct exiting the sulfur dioxide absorber at Unit 1 of Eskom’s massive coal-fired 4.8-GW Kusile power plant, which is under construction in Mpumalanga province, South Africa, has shuttered the 800-MW unit and delayed Unit 2’s return to service. Eskom on Nov. 2 announced the section of the Kusile 1 flue […]

Marking intent interest from the power sector in hydrogen’s decarbonization potential, six major utilities—Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, Louisville Gas & Electric Co. (LG&E), Kentucky Utilities Co. (KU), Southern Co., and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)—have announced they will jointly pursue federal financial support for a Southeast Hydrogen Hub. The utilities, along with Battelle, an independent […]

Days after Poland chose Westinghouse to supply its AP1000 technology to the country’s first nuclear plant in Pomerania, northern Poland, the government and two Polish energy firms signed a letter of intent with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) to “push ahead” with development of a second nuclear plant based on APR1400 technology in Pątnów, […]

Baltimore Gas & Electric set out to build the 1.8-GW Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in 1967 because fossil energy was becoming expensive and controversial. Over its nearly 50 years of operation

A company that has corporate roots that go back to the Colonial era, Dominion Energy has been shaped by acquisitions and market forces. It is now in the midst of an extraordinary transformation to expand its

China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment on Aug. 2 gave Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) the green light to commission the experimental 2-MWth thorium-based molten salt reactor (TMSR-LF1) at

With winter fast approaching, and the dreaded effects of extreme natural gas price levels and volatility looming, together with unprecedented uncertainty of fuel supply, governments in Germany and France have

JX Nippon Acquires NRG’s Share of Petra Nova Carbon Capture Plant for $3.6 Million. ENEOS Group, a Japanese energy and non-ferrous metals business group that owns JX Nippon Oil and Gas Exploration, will

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   October 27, 2022 Southern Company Cuts Its Cost Forecast for Vogtle Expansion, Provides Update on Project In its third quarter 2022 earnings call presentation, Southern Company reduced its “Total project capital cost forecast” for Vogtle Units 3 and 4 to $10.383 billion […]

Regulated utility PacifiCorp has launched a joint study with nuclear technology firm TerraPower to evaluate the feasibility of deploying up to five additional Natrium pool-type sodium fast reactors (SFRs) and integrated energy storage systems at retired coal plant sites in the utility’s service territory by 2035. The joint study “will evaluate, among other things, the […]

A fuel fabrication facility that will create reliable fuel for TerraPower and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s (GEH’s) 345-MWe Natrium pool-type sodium fast reactor (SFR) demonstration in Wyoming and future Natrium nuclear plants is taking shape at Global Nuclear Fuel–Americas’ (GNF-A’s) nuclear fuel fabrication plant in Wilmington, North Carolina. GNF-A, a 2007-established GE-led joint venture with […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has ramped up efforts to explore recycling spent nuclear fuel (SNF), or used nuclear fuel (UNF), from the nation’s fleet of light water reactors (LWRs), doling out $38 million in federal awards to a dozen projects on Oct. 21. Teams will receive funding under the DOE’s March 2022–launched “Converting UNF […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   October 20, 2022 U.S. Announces First Sale of Rights for California Offshore Wind Development The U.S. government has announced the first-ever sale of offshore wind development rights off the California coast. The Dept. of Interior (DOI) on Oct. 18 said it would […]

Energy giants Chevron and Uniper are pairing with chemical technology companies Air Liquide and LyondellBasell to explore a hydrogen and ammonia production facility along the U.S. Gulf Coast that could support industrial decarbonization and mobility applications in the region and expand clean ammonia exports. The companies, in a joint statement on Oct. 19, said they […]

Unexpectedly steep financial losses suffered by the U.S. renewables market owing to a barrage of extreme weather events over the past summer suggest that project hardening strategies aren’t going far enough, a major renewables insurer is warning. GCube, an international insurer for wind, solar, wave, hydro, and tidal projects around the world in an update […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   October 13, 2022 Nuclear Giant Westinghouse Acquired by Renewable Power Company and Uranium Fuel Supplier A consortium comprised of Brookfield Renewable Partners, together with its institutional partners, and Cameco Corp. announced on Oct. 11 an agreement to acquire Westinghouse Electric Co. from […]

China’s State Council has approved two AP1000 nuclear reactor units for State Power Investment Corp.’s (SPIC’s) Lianjiang Nuclear Power Plant in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, reactor technology supplier Westinghouse said on Oct. 12. If built, the units will become ninth and tenth reactors based on Westinghouse’s Generation III+ advanced reactor technology in China. Four AP1000 units are […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   October 6, 2022 How Bitcoin Mining Can Help Power Companies Optimize Generation Assets Bitcoin mining is the process used to generate new coins and verify new transactions. The process involves vast, decentralized networks of computers around the world that verify and secure […]