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.
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store April 21, 2022 White House Calls on Defense Production Act to Bolster EV Battery Supply When the White House signed an executive order to get to 50% electric vehicle (EV) sales share by 2030 while relying on American manufacturing, there were some […]
A Goldman Sachs private equity business is taking a stake in critical industry cybersecurity firm Fortress Information Security. The $125 million investment underscores a heightened awareness of supply chain vulnerabilities within the investor community. Fortress, which announced the investment from Goldman Sachs Asset Management Private Equity on April 19, said it also highlights a wider […]
The Department of Energy (DOE) will next week kick off its much-watched $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) program to bolster the existing U.S. nuclear fleet by issuing a guidance document that will set down criteria for a combined certification and a sealed bid auction process. The agency said in an April 6 update the […]
A sweeping new proposed rule published in the Federal Register by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on April 6 establishes new nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions budgets that will require fossil fuel–fired power plants in 25 states to participate in an allowance-based ozone season trading program starting in 2023. The proposal, which builds on the agency’s […]
The Arizona Corporate Commission (ACC) has delivered a major blow to the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District’s (SRP’s) urgent plans to expand the 575-MW gas-fired Coolidge Generating Station with 820 MW of fast-start capacity. The ACC in a 4–1 vote on April 12 denied approval of the public power utility’s Certificate of […]
Digitalization is furnishing nearly every facet of the power industry with new insights that promise value for generating assets, including refining efficiencies and shaving down operating costs. But though myriad solutions have been introduced, adoption by some power sub-sectors has been cautious, mainly because the advantages of the industrial internet of things (IIOT) are not […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store April 14, 2022 DOE Poised to Issue Guidance Document for Civil Nuclear Credit Program The Department of Energy (DOE) will next week kick off its much-watched $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) program to bolster the existing U.S. nuclear fleet by issuing […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store April 7, 2022 Homer City Coal Plant to Keep All Three Units Operating The Homer City coal-fired power plant will continue operating, according to multiple news sources in western Pennsylvania, where the plant is located. Owners of the three-unit, 1,884-MW generating station […]
A Wyoming court on April 5 sentenced NextEra Energy Resources affiliate ESI Energy to five years of probation and fined the wind power developer more than $8 million for three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). The violations include alleged failures to apply for “eagle take permits” (ETPs) at facilities in Wyoming […]
The U.S. Supreme Court on April 6 reinstated a Trump-era environmental rule that limited state and tribal roles in enforcing a section of the Clean Water Act (CWA) related to project certification. The order is a temporary triumph for eight states and three energy trade associations, including the National Hydropower Association (NHA). The high court’s […]
Natural gas generation’s future hinges on a precarious and exceptionally volatile set of issues that the conflict in Ukraine intensified. Experts from the full natural gas chain shed light on how that
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store March 31, 2022 Largest CCGT Plant in Southeast Asia Now Fully Operational The third unit of what is now the largest combined cycle gas turbine power plant in Southeast Asia has entered commercial operation, according to officials with Edra Energy Sdn Bhd,… […]
Funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will allow research organization GTI and its partners to proceed to the next phase of a project exploring how stored hydrogen can be used for load-following to improve the capacity factor of a natural gas combined cycle power plant. The project is exploring a system that could […]
The Biden administration and the European Commission launched a multi-pronged effort that will dramatically ramp up U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to the European Union (EU) but also reduce overall natural gas demand in the U.S. and EU through “accelerated market deployment” of clean energy measures. The measures are part of strategic energy cooperation […]
Investor-owned electric companies are thoroughly reviewing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) broad new proposed rule that requires registrants to disclose climate-related risks and governance, and plan to remain engaged with the regulatory agency as the rulemaking continues. The proposed rule, which the SEC approved 3–1 on March 21, has drawn intense interest from the […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store March 24, 2022 New Jersey’s Last Two Coal Power Plants to Close within Months The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) approved a petition filed by Atlantic City Electric Co. (ACE) that modifies power purchase agreements (PPAs) and power sales agreements […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store March 10, 2022 Pressure on U.S. Nuclear Power Could Mount if Sanctions Imposed on Russian Uranium Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ensuing sanctions may have a limited immediate impact on the U.S. nuclear industry, despite its reliance on uranium imports. Potential implications […]
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ensuing sanctions may have a limited immediate impact on the U.S. nuclear industry, despite its reliance on uranium imports. Potential implications over the longer term, however, require urgent action, officials from the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) said. NEI CEO and President Maria Korsnick told reporters at the ongoing CERAWeek by […]
Texas-based CPS Energy, the largest municipally owned electric and natural gas company in the U.S., has entered into a 15-year commercial agreement to explore installing up to 15 MW of geomechanical pumped storage (GPS). The agreement will kick off with a pioneering 1-MW project that will pump water into drilled wells and store it under […]
Eighteen bipartisan U.S. Senators are backing a bill that would direct the president to declare a national emergency and prohibit imports of Russian energy commodities, including crude oil, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and coal. While the measure does not include Russian uranium, a senior Department of Energy official said addressing U.S. reliance on […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store March 3, 2022 Conflict in Ukraine Threatens Nuclear Power Plants and Radioactive Waste Disposal Facilities; Operations Continue In its most recent update on the status of Ukrainian nuclear power plants (NPPs), issued to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on March 2, […]
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in a dramatic reversal on Feb. 24 threw out a key environmental review that staff applied to subsequent license renewal (SLR) approvals for units at Turkey Point and Peach Bottom nuclear plants in 2019 and 2020, deeming their applications “incomplete.” In a series of orders, the federal regulatory agency’s three […]
Xcel Energy is exploring a role as operator of the 462-MWe Carbon-Free Power Project (CFPP), potentially becoming a key member of the first-of-its-kind small modular reactor (SMR) power plant that is under development at an Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site in Idaho Falls. The development is another sizable step for the six-module NuScale Power VOYGR project. […]
Gas power technology developers are exploring new roles and applications to ensure gas power will remain relevant as power markets embrace decarbonization. At the end of 2020, about 1,600 GW of gas turbines
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.
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 […]
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 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 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 […]
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 […]