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.

  • In First for the U.S., Vineyard Wind Achieves $2.3B Financial Close for Offshore Wind Farm

    Vineyard Wind 1, an 800-MW phase of an offshore wind project offshore Massachusetts, has achieved financial close. The milestone, a first for a U.S. commercial-scale offshore wind farm, now allows Vineyard Wind to provide its contractors with a notice to proceed with construction.  Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between AVANGRID subsidiary Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen […]

  • POWERnews—Sept. 9, 2021

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   September 9, 2021 Moss Landing Battery Project Offline After Overheating The first phase of the battery storage project at the Moss Landing complex in California was taken offline after an overheating issue caused some parts of the installation to be… Sponsored Content […]

  • Chevron Exploring Equity Interest in Mitsubishi Power and Magnum Green Hydrogen Hub in Utah

    Chevron is poised to acquire an equity interest in the Advanced Clean Energy Storage project, a developing green hydrogen hub that could support more than 1 GW of electrolysis facilities and store 5,500 metric tonnes of their produced green hydrogen in salt caverns near Delta, Utah. The integrated energy giant on Sept. 9 announced that it […]

  • Siemens Gamesa Launches World’s First Fully Recyclable Wind Turbine Blade

    Siemens Gamesa has launched what it says is the world’s first wind turbine blade that can be used at a commercial offshore wind farm and recycled at the end of its lifecycle. The company already has agreements with three major customers—including RWE and EDF Renewables—for the installation of the blades at offshore wind farms. The […]

  • TotalEnergies Seals $10B Deal to Develop Fuel Supplies, Power Generation for Iraq

    TotalEnergies, the French oil and gas multinational company formerly known as Total, has bagged deals representing a total $10 billion with the government of Iraq to help the resource-rich country address power shortages. The company said on Sept. 6 that following the agreements with the Iraqi Ministries for oil and electricity and the country’s National […]

  • POWERnews—Sept. 2, 2021

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   September 2, 2021 NRC Cites Problems at Vogtle, May Increase Project Oversight Continuing issues with the two-unit expansion of the Vogtle nuclear power plant in Georgia have led federal regulators to say they are considering increasing oversight of the project. The U.S.… […]

  • Entergy: Hurricane Ida Took Out Eight Critical High-Voltage Transmission Lines

    Moving quickly after devastating winds from Hurricane Ida on Aug. 29 took out eight critical high-voltage lines and blacked out New Orleans, Jefferson, and two other Louisiana parishes, Entergy hashed out two options. One—the “preferred solution”—was to restore some of the critical transmission lines that tie Greater New Orleans to the larger MISO grid, and […]

  • Drought-Crippled Hoover Dam, Glen Canyon Hydropower Plants Operating at Substantially Decreased Capacity

    The iconic 2-GW Hoover Dam and 1.3-GW Glen Canyon Dam hydropower plants are operating at substantially reduced capacity, paralyzed by enduring drought conditions across the West, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) has revealed. Weeks after USBR on Aug. 16 declared the first-ever federal water shortage at Lake Mead, the agency told POWER this week […]

  • THE BIG PICTURE: Critical Mineral Concerns

    The shift to a clean energy system is set to drive a significant increase in requirements for critical minerals. Under an International Energy Agency (IEA) scenario that meets the Paris Agreement goals, clean energy technologies’ share of total critical mineral demand will likely soar over the next two decades to over 40% for copper and […]

  • The Human Side of Digital Adoption

    A pervading theme at the ongoing 5th annual Connected Plant Conference has been to explore the human side of digital adoption. Attendees have so far heard from several experts who are deeply involved in the future of the power plant workforce. Steven Ford, Compliance and Support manager at Southern Co.’s Plant Barry, in his presentation […]

  • A Big Splash for Marine Power: Minesto’s Underwater Kite

    After more than a decade of development, Minesto’s novel underwater “kite” technology kicked off commercial operation with a 100-kW project in the Faroe Islands. Despite some hiccups, the pioneering

  • Energy Transition Facing Potentially Debilitating Critical Mineral Supply Gap

    Building new solar PV plants and wind farms, and supporting an expansion of electric vehicles (EVs) and green hydrogen as is planned to meet decarbonization goals, will dramatically expand demand for copper

  • POWERnews—Aug. 26, 2021

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   August 26, 2021 California Will Add Gas-Fired Units to Increase Power Supply The California Energy Commission (CEC) has approved licenses for gas-fired power units to help the state cope with continued electricity shortages. The move comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier declared… […]

  • JERA Kicks Off Hydrogen Co-Firing Pilot at LNG Power Plant

    JERA has received the Japanese government’s green light for a pilot project to demonstrate 30% hydrogen co-firing at an existing large-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) thermal power plant by 2025. The project is Japan’s “first initiative to use a large amount of hydrogen as fuel in a large-scale commercial LNG thermal power plant,” the company […]

  • Japanese Firm Unveils Ship Dedicated to Storing and Transmitting Offshore Wind Power

    A Japanese firm has set out to shake up energy storage and transmission with a freshly launched “power transfer vessel” concept that is designed to carry electricity from offshore wind farms to shore. The company’s first electric ship model, which will have an energy storage capacity of 200 MWh, is slated for completion in 2025. […]

  • Regulators Rattle AEP’s Plans to Operate 4.2-GW of Coal Power Through 2040

    The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) on Aug. 23 rattled American Electric Power’s (AEP’s) plans to operate the 2.9-GW John Amos and 1.3-GW Mountaineer coal power plants through 2040 when it partly denied cost recovery for expenses that the West Virginia plants need to comply with the federal Steam Electric Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG) rule. The […]

  • POWERnews—Aug. 19, 2021

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   August 19, 2021 EIA: Large-Scale U.S. Battery Power Capacity Slated for Fourfold Expansion in Two Years Large-scale battery power capacity in the U.S. surged 35% over 2020 to reach 1,650 MW, and according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), utilities are planning […]

  • Breakthrough: Laser-Powered Fusion Experiment Nears ‘Ignition’

    An experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) National Ignition Facility (NIF) appears to have approached fusion ignition as it recreated the extreme temperatures and pressures at the heart of the sun for a tiny fraction of a second. The momentous step has fueled new optimism for fusion energy. The experiment on Aug. 8 “was […]

  • EIA: Large-Scale U.S. Battery Power Capacity Slated for Fourfold Expansion in Two Years

    Large-scale battery power capacity in the U.S. surged 35% over 2020 to reach 1,650 MW, and according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), utilities are planning to ramp up that capacity by 10 GW over the next two years. In a newly released report, Battery Storage in the United States: An Update on Market Trends, […]

  • PSEG Agrees to Sell 6.8-GW Fossil Fleet to ArcLight Capital

    Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) has agreed to sell its 6.8-GW portfolio of non-nuclear generating assets—a fleet of 13 gas plants—to a fund controlled by ArcLight Capital Partners LLC for about $1.92 billion. The sale, which effectively sets up its exit from the competitive generation business, is expected to be completed late in the fourth […]

  • Nuclear First: 3D-Printed Safety-Related Components Installed at Browns Ferry

    Marking a notable milestone for nuclear component additive manufacturing, four 3D-printed fuel assembly channel fasteners have been installed and are now operational at Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 2 in Athens, Alabama. Channel fasteners are a type of bracket that attaches to the top of the nuclear fuel assembly to hold […]

  • Hydropower Levels Under Careful Watch as Drought Ravages the West

    Intensifying drought conditions in California and historically low water levels at the Oroville Dam on Aug. 5 forced the state’s Department of Water Resources (CDWR) to shut down the 644-MW Edward Hyatt Power Plant—the fourth largest energy producer of all California’s hydroelectric facilities. Similar conditions across the West are prompting a careful watch over hydropower facilities.

  • POWERnews—Aug. 5, 2021

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   August 5, 2021 Group Buys Pennsylvania Coal Refuse Plants to Power Bitcoin Mining A digital mining company has an agreement to purchase a second power plant in Pennsylvania, as the group increases its coal refuse reclamation operations in the state to provide […]

  • Urgency Ramping Up to Commercialize Nuclear Accident Tolerant Fuels by 2025

    Marking another milestone in an industry-led accelerated quest to commercialize accident tolerant fuels (ATF), nuclear fuel test rods containing Westinghouse’s EnCore technologies that completed their inaugural cycle at Exelon’s Byron nuclear plant have shipped to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). While initial visual inspections show “no signs of degradation,” the irradiated fuel will now be […]

  • 1.2-GW Dedicated Hydrogen-Fired Power Plant Starts Taking Shape in Texas

    Entergy Texas will seek approval for a 1.2-GW hydrogen and natural gas–fired combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power facility in Orange County, Texas. The Beaumont-based Entergy Corp. subsidiary on July 29 announced it intends to file a Certificate for Convenience and Necessity with the Public Utility Commission of Texas “within the coming months” to build […]

  • The Remarkable Responsibility of Coal Refuse Power

    West Virginia’s only remaining coal refuse–fueled facility, the 80-MW Grant Town Power Project, is a 2021 Top Plant winner for powering on, despite challenges, to remediate 530,000 tons of coal refuse annually while reclaiming roughly 30 acres of land per year. 

  • Taean IGCC: Continued Operation, Continued Achievement

    Korea Western Power’s Taean Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) Power Plant this year marked 4,000 hours of consecutive accident-free operations, setting a new world record for IGCC power plants

  • China Starts Up Turbines at 16-GW Hydro Project After Four-Year Construction Period 

    China in late June began operating two of the world’s first 1-GW hydropower turbines at the Baihetan Hydropower Station in southwest China. When the project’s 16 generating units are completed by July 2022

  • South Africa Nuclear Regulator Furthers New Nuclear Build Process

    South Africa’s longstanding ambitions to expand its nuclear power capacity gained some ground this July, after the nation’s nuclear regulator announced it would convene a public hearing relating to a

  • Biden Signs National Security Memo Addressing Industrial Control System Cybersecurity 

    The Biden administration is moving to add more safeguards to the nation’s critical infrastructure by establishing a new voluntary public-private collaboration that will focus wholly on industrial control systems (ICS) cybersecurity. The administration formally launched the “Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Initiative” in the “National Security Memorandum on Improving Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Control Systems” signed by […]