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.

  • Sweden’s Government Approves Construction of Spent Nuclear Fuel Repository 

    Sweden’s government in late January gave radioactive waste management company Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB (SKB) the green light to proceed with a deep geological repository (DGR) for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) at a site near Vattenfall’s 3.2-GW Forsmark nuclear power plant. The milestone, which wraps up a planning process that has taken more than 40 years, makes Sweden only the second country, after Finland, to take active steps on building a permanent SNF repository.

  • SCOTUS Hears Arguments on EPA’s Purview Over Power Plant GHG Emissions

    The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments on a landmark case that could determine whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to broadly interpret the Clean Air Act (CAA) to establish carbon emission standards for coal, oil, and gas-fired power plants. Arguments in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (No. 20-1530) presented to […]

  • POWERnews—Feb. 24, 2022

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   February 24, 2022 Ethiopia Produces First Power at GERD Mega-Dam Ethiopia began delivering power from a 375-MW turbine at its flagship 5.15-GW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on Feb. 20, marking a significant milestone for the project that could become… Solar Developer […]

  • The ‘Weakest Link’ in Supply Chain Security

    The energy transition will bring with it a new generation of cybersecurity challenges for the power sector. While information-sharing has been valuable, strategies to address issues related to vendor security, cyber talent, and lagging investment will also be critical, a former utility supply chain executive who led the development of an industry-wide cybersecurity risk exchange […]

  • Ethiopia Produces First Power at GERD Mega-Dam

    Ethiopia began delivering power from a 375-MW turbine at its flagship 5.15-GW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on Feb. 20, marking a significant milestone for the project that could become Africa’s largest hydropower producer. Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed inaugurated the project in a celebration broadcast widely in the East African nation on Sunday. Officials […]

  • POWERnews—Feb. 17, 2022

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   February 17, 2022 GE-Led Carbon Capture Project at Southern Company Site Gets DOE Funding A GE Gas Power front-end engineering design (FEED) study will receive $5,771,670 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon […]

  • Large-Scale Green Hydrogen Infrastructure System Unveiled for California

    SoCalGas, North America’s largest gas distribution utility, has unveiled the Angeles Link, a proposed green hydrogen energy infrastructure system for Southern California that it says could be the largest of its kind in the nation. The Angeles Link proposes to utilize between 25 GW and 35 GW of curtailed or new solar, wind, or battery […]

  • Duke Energy Eyeing Coal Phaseout by 2035

    Duke Energy, the nation’s largest power producer, will dramatically slash coal generation’s share from the current 22% of total generation to 5% by 2030 and achieve a full phaseout of unabated coal by 2035. The company instead expects to deploy more than $130 billion over the next decade—$63 billion of which it will spend over […]

  • Poland Secures NuScale SMR as Urgency for Nuclear Energy Ramps Up Across Central, Eastern Europe

    NuScale Power has signed a definitive commercial agreement with mining and processing firm KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. to deploy a VOYGR power plant of up to 924 MWe as early as 2029 to support KGHM’s copper and silver production in Poland. Under an “early works agreement” signed in a ceremony on Feb. 14 in the […]

  • TVA Unveils Major New Nuclear Program, First SMR at Clinch River Site

    The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will invest in a major program that will explore the construction of multiple advanced nuclear reactors—starting with a GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at its Clinch River site in Tennessee. TVA Board members during a meeting on Feb. 10 unanimously approved TVA’s “New Nuclear Program,” a broad new initiative […]

  • POWERnews—Feb. 10, 2022

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   February 10, 2022 TVA Unveils Major New Nuclear Program, First SMR at Clinch River Site The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will invest in a major program that will explore the construction of multiple advanced nuclear reactors—starting with a GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular […]

  • GE Confirms Sale of Lucrative Nuclear Steam Turbine Segment to EDF 

    GE has signed an exclusive agreement with EDF Group, an entity majority held by the French government, to sell the equipment segment and some services that make up Steam Power’s nuclear-serving steam turbine business—part of a portfolio that GE adopted during its 2015 merger with French equipment giant Alstom. The American technology conglomerate confirmed it signed […]

  • Winter Freeze Testing Texas Power Grid Reforms

    Parts of Texas have suffered localized, distribution-level power outages as an Arctic outbreak sent temperatures plummeting across the state, but its heavily scrutinized grid is largely prepared to weather the storm, state entities said. Frigid temperatures stemming from a large dome of Arctic high pressure are sending temperatures into the single digits and below zero […]

  • POWERnews—Feb. 3, 2022

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   February 3, 2022 Georgia Power Plans to Retire All Coal Units by 2035 Georgia Power plans to shutter most of its coal fleet by 2028 and completely exit coal-fired power by 2035, according to the utility’s latest integrated resource plan (IRP) filed […]

  • Nuclear Field Activities Completed for Idaho NuScale SMR Project

    The 462-MWe Carbon-Free Power Project—the first six-module NuScale Power VOYGR-6 power plant—has completed field investigation activities at its Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site in Idaho Falls, Idaho. The achievement announced on Feb. 3 marks a major milestone for CFPP LLC, the entity Utah state energy services interlocal agency Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) established […]

  • Nuclear, Natural Gas Included in EU Taxonomy—With Potentially Problematic Conditions

    Handing a muted victory to proponents of nuclear and gas, the European Commission (EC) on Feb. 2 adopted a measure that labels some nuclear and gas energy activity as climate-friendly investments. However, it set out strict, potentially limiting technical screening criteria for those activities to qualify, prompting pushback from the nuclear and gas industries. The […]

  • New Era for NextEra: A Utility Spotlight

    Since its inception as Florida Power & Light Co. in 1925, NextEra Energy has transformed into the world’s largest utility company. The company’s history is symbolic of the growth and uncertainty that has characterized the history of power. 

  • China Starts Up First Fourth-Generation Nuclear Reactor

    The first of two units at China’s much-watched high-temperature gas-cooled modular pebble bed (HTR-PM) demonstration project was successfully connected to the grid on Dec. 20. The achievement marks a major

  • Rolls-Royce Sets Megawatt Milestone for Hybrid-Electric Aircraft System

    Bracing for explosive growth in the electrification of mobility, UK-based engineering giant Rolls-Royce is developing various all-electric and hybrid-electric drive systems for aircraft. At one of its most

  • Blueprint Underway for Commercial Mine Energy Storage Facility in Sweden 

    A blueprint for what could become the world’s first commercial underground mine storage facility has garnered financial backing from Swedish Mining Innovation.

  • POWERnews—Jan. 27, 2022

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 27, 2022 Oft-Delayed Vogtle Expansion on Track for 2022 Start The two-unit expansion at the Plant Vogtle nuclear power facility in Georgia remains a work in progress, a project that still holds the promise of emissions-free electricity even as construction… Sponsored […]

  • DOE Picks First Marine Energy Projects for PacWave Test Site in Oregon

    Eight ocean energy projects representing the first round of open-water testing at the 20-MW PacWave South wave energy test site off the Oregon coast have garnered a combined $25 million in federal funding to support technology research, development, and demonstration at the trailblazing facility. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) […]

  • GE Grasping for Growth as It Prepares for Integrated Energy Spinoff

    GE’s first earnings release after the American conglomerate last November announced it would combine and spin-off its Renewable Energy, Power, and Digital business suggests flagging orders for onshore and offshore wind equipment and gas turbines amid a business environment wrought with uncertainty. GE on Jan. 25 reported revenues of $15.7 billion for its Renewable Energy business, […]

  • Pipeline Company Shifts Ultimatum in Vistra Natural Gas Supply Dispute

    Energy Transfer, a major pipeline firm that threatened to terminate natural gas service to five Vistra Corp. gas-fired power plants in Texas next week as part of a $21.3 million penalty payment standoff, has relaxed its ultimatum, though the underlying dispute continues. In a letter filed with the Texas Railroad Commission late on Jan. 20, […]

  • Vistra Claims ‘Extortion’ by Pipeline Company, Says Natural Gas Supply to Texas Power Plants Threatened

    Two Vistra Corp. subsidiaries have alleged in a complaint filed with the Texas Railroad Commission that a major pipeline firm has threatened to terminate natural gas service to five Texas gas-fired power plants—a combined 2 GW—“at any time” after Jan. 23. If escalated, the issue could pose new hurdles for the state’s electricity security as […]

  • ERCOT Confident Generators Deficient During Uri Freeze Debacle Ready for Winter

    The vast majority of 324 electric generation units and transmission facilities in Texas have fully met or “go beyond” new state winter weatherization requirements, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said in a final readiness report filed with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) on Jan. 18. Onsite inspections at 302 generation units […]

  • POWERnews—Jan. 20, 2022

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 20, 2022 Vistra Claims ‘Extortion’ by Pipeline Company, Says Natural Gas Supply to Texas Power Plants Threatened Two Vistra Corp. subsidiaries have alleged in a complaint filed with the Texas Railroad Commission that a major natural gas pipeline firm has threatened […]

  • POWERnews—Jan. 13, 2022

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 13, 2022 20 ‘Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters’ Hit U.S. in 2021 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), which calls itself “the Nation's Scorekeeper in terms of addressing severe weather and climate events," reported […]

  • Japan Bolsters Fuel Ammonia Combustion at Gas Turbines, Coal Boilers

    Japan is furnishing $500 million (59.8 billion yen) to much-watched projects that will develop and demonstrate 100% fuel ammonia combustion technology for gas turbines and 50% co-firing at coal boilers, as part of an effort to build out the nation’s supply chain for fuel ammonia. The country’s national research agency New Energy and Industrial Technology […]

  • BOEM Launches Offshore Wind Actions for California, Gulf Coast, New York Bight

    The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is pushing forward with offshore wind energy environmental assessments (EA) for coastal areas in California and the Gulf of Mexico. This week, it also set a wind auction date for the New York Bight, an area comprising more than 480,000 acres offshore New York and New Jersey. The Department […]