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.
Duke Energy will swallow $30 million in runaway costs associated with operating its five-year-old 618-MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) facility in Edwardsport, Indiana, if a settlement the company reached with Indiana consumer groups last week is approved. Duke declared Edwardsport Generating Station “in service” in June 2013, despite a series of hiccups that delayed […]
The project to expand the two-unit Plant Vogtle in Georgia with two new AP1000 reactors has suffered debilitating delays and mounting costs.
The project to expand the two-unit Plant Vogtle nuclear power station in Georgia with two new AP1000 reactors has suffered debilitating delays and mounting costs. The project is owned by four partners: Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power (45.7%), Oglethorpe Power Corp. (OPC, 30%), Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power, 22.7%), and Dalton Utilities (1.6%). Units […]
Hurricane Florence floodwaters have breached a cooling lake dam at Duke Energy’s Sutton Plant in Wilmington, North Carolina, releasing water into the Cape Fear River and flooding the footprint of the gas plant at the site, which has been shut down. The company’s latest update signals mounting troubles at the site, where Duke Energy shuttered […]
September 20, 2018 GE Gas Turbine Blade Issue Concerns Analyst Lead analyst Stephen Tusa lowered J.P. Morgan’s rating on GE stock after “checks on two initial U.S. installations revealed failures of the first stage blade of GE's H-frame gas turbine,”… Read More Sponsored Content MD&A Provides Comprehensive Services Worldwide as a Trusted OEM-Alternative Mechanical Dynamics […]
The world’s first 3-D printed burner for an industrial gas turbine has been in operation for one year with no reported issues. Siemens, which installed the burner for the 32.8-MW SGT-7000 gas turbine at E.ON’s combined cycle power plant in Philippsthal in the German state of Hessen said on September 19 that it has been […]
The Vogtle nuclear expansion’s “ever-escalating” cost is concerning several members of Georgia’s General Assembly, according to a letter sent to partners building the much-delayed project. Twenty lawmakers from both houses of state government—19 Republicans and one Democrat—sent a letter to the board of directors at Georgia Power Co., Oglethorpe Power Co. (OPC), and Municipal Electric […]
The Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in New Jersey, the oldest operating nuclear plant in the U.S., was shut down on September 17, 2018. For more, see “Oldest U.S. Nuclear Plant Shuts Down.” Visit our video archive
September 13, 2018 Lawsuits Raise Stakes on Vogtle Nuclear Expansion Vote As a vote by owners on the fate of the Vogtle nuclear expansion project hangs in the balance, the City of Jacksonville, Florida, and JEA—the city’s municipal utility that serves… Read More IAEA: Global Nuclear Power Industry Is ‘Struggling’ Nuclear power’s share of the […]
Xcel Energy on September 12 launched a drone to inspect electric power lines near Fort St. Vrain Generating Station in Platteville, Colorado—marking the first flight by a U.S. utility beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) during ongoing inspections. Xcel on Wednesday launched a 35-pound drone that is equipped with two cameras, as local, state, and federal […]
Fluor drives digital transformation with artificial intelligence solution to monitor status of global projects and drive significant project cost savings IRVING, Texas (September 13, 2018) and ARMONK, New York–Fluor Corporation(NYSE: FLR) and IBM(NYSE: IBM) announced today the use of artificial intelligence-based systems to predict, monitor and measure the status of engineering, procurement, fabrication and construction […]
September 10, 2018 08:45 AM Eastern Daylight Time WARRENVILLE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Fuel Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTEK), a technology company providing advanced engineering solutions for the optimization of combustion systems, emissions control and water treatment in utility and industrial applications, today announced the receipt of multiple air pollution control (APC) contracts from customers in the US and […]
September 10, 2018 04:05 PM Eastern Daylight Time SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Bloom Energy (NYSE:BE) will preview a new high-efficiency, Bloom Energy Server-based solution for generating clean electricity from waste biogas at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Climate Tech Marketplace, which is an affiliate event of the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco […]
ROSEMEAD, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As part of its ongoing efforts to protect customers and communities from the growing risk of wildfires, Southern California Edison proposed additional wildfire safety measures in a filing today with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The proposed $582 million Grid Safety and Resiliency Program (GS&RP) aligns with the wildfire mitigation plans required […]
September 12, 2018 03:43 PM Eastern Daylight TimeOMAHA, Neb.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Kiewit engineering and construction experts will attend and present at the Gastech Conference & Exhibition in Barcelona, September 17-20. Exhibition attendees can visit stand #C145 to learn about Kiewit’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for the global gas, LNG and energy industries. “Gastech offers an […]
Nuclear power’s share of the world’s power generating mix could shrink dramatically from 10% in 2017 to just 5.6% in 2050 as the industry struggles with “reduced competitiveness,” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) suggested in a new report. The international organization based in Vienna, Austria, that works to promote the peaceful use of nuclear […]
Scientists appear to have unraveled the mystery of uranium ore found at a mine in Oklo region of the Central African state of Gabon that exhibits a lower proportion of uranium-235 (U-235)—the fissile sort. According to an August 10 bulletin from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the first response that physicists had when […]
Companies collaborate to offer smart module, accelerating installation and delivering more solar power to homeowners FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, Sept. 6, 2018 – Panasonic Eco Solutions of North America and global leader in smart energy, SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. (“SolarEdge”) (NASDAQ: SEDG), today introduced the HIT® S Series Module, a new premium smart module for the U.S. residential […]
September 6, 2018 Crucial to Decarbonization, Costs Dim Prospects for Nuclear Power A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) interdisciplinary study found that nuclear power has the potential to contribute greatly to the achievement of deep decarbonization goals, yet despite its promise, cost… Read More Sponsored Content GE’s Reservoir helps utilities store the sun for a […]
Terrestrial Energy USA, a company that is developing a fourth-generation molten salt nuclear reactor, has joined forces with Southern Co. and several U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national labs, in a research and development (R&D) project that seeks to pin down whether its reactor technology can produce hydrogen efficiently using nuclear heat and power. The […]
Seventeen states have asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reject the Trump administration’s efforts to further delay the court’s decision on legal challenges to the Clean Power Plan. In a filing with the court on September 4, the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, […]
President Trump campaigned on a promise to reduce regulation and control regulatory costs. One of his first actions after taking office was to issue an executive order calling for the elimination of two existing regulations for every one new regulation issued. Toward that end, the Trump administration has acted or sought to reverse more than […]
Along with producing power from 99 turbines, the 309-MW Hornsdale Wind Farm in South Australia has helped trial new technologies that could ramp up power system security and reliability. At first glance, the
August 30, 2018 Coal’s ACE in the Hole? New Rule Still Faces Headwinds The Trump administration has extended a potential lifeline to coal-fired power plants with its Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule. Now the debate is about how much the plan will actually… Read More FirstEnergy Throws in the Towel on Coal Plants FirstEnergy Solutions […]
NTE Energy on August 28 formally began operations of its 475-MW Kings Mountain Energy Center (KMEC) natural gas–fired plant in Cleveland County, North Carolina, marking the third major milestone in recent months for gas-turbine giant Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) Americas. The $500 million KMEC facility features MHPS G-Series advanced-class gas turbine technology. Owned and […]
Lawmakers in California’s Assembly on August 28 cleared a key vote on a bill that would require the state to obtain 100% of all retail electricity sales from renewable and zero-emissions resources by 2045. The state’s Assembly voted 43–32 in favor of SB 100. The bill, which now heads to the state Senate for a […]
A spate of major power companies—including American Electric Power (AEP) and Southern Co.—have acquiesced to investor pressure and announced drastic cuts to their generating fleet carbon emissions over the long term. Industry group Edison Electric Institute (EEI) this week launched an official industry-designed template to help its member utilities better inform investors about their environmental, […]
23rd August 2018 The Chinese company BYD, Build Your Dreams(Shenzhen) and theBelgian company CMI, Cockerill Maintenance & Ingénierie signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 18th July to lay the foundation of their close cooperation and their future common developments. InMarch 2018,CMI, Cockerill Maintenance& Ingénierie, based in Belgium, ordered one 1.26MW/1.34MWh Lithium battery energy storage fromBYD, […]
Advanced technology from MHPS delivered on schedule for largest single block power plant in the US Lake Mary, Florida—(August 23, 2018) Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) on August 23 announced a successful first fire for the Dominion Energy Greensville County Power Station located in Emporia, Virginia. Designed to generate 1,558 MW, the plant operates three M501J […]
August 23, 2018 Fate of Vogtle Nuclear Expansion Hinges on Minority Owners On August 8, Georgia Power announced that its revised capital and construction cost forecast for its share of the Plant Vogtle expansion project had increased from $7.3 billion to $8.4… Read More Sponsored Content How to Optimize Your Power Plant Asset Management System […]