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.
One week after a catastrophic fire at the North Hyde electrical substation plunged the UK’s flagship Heathrow Airport into chaos, questions are mounting about what went wrong—and what the incident reveals about the vulnerabilities in Britain’s aging power infrastructure. A massive explosion and fire that erupted around 8:20 p.m., on Thursday, March 20, at the […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store March 27, 2025 DOE Reissues $900M Nuclear SMR Opportunity, Scraps Community Criteria to Focus on Technical Merit The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has reissued a $900 million funding opportunity to accelerate deployment of Generation III+ small modular reactors (SMRs), removing community […]
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has reissued a $900 million funding opportunity to accelerate deployment of Generation III+ small modular reactors (SMRs), removing community benefit requirements and shifting the focus solely to technical merit—a move that reflects the Trump administration’s revised energy and industrial priorities. The funding opportunity announcement (FOA)—officially designated DE-FOA-0003485—was first issued […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store March 20, 2025 How Virtual Power Plants Enhance Grid Operations and Resilience A virtual power plant (VPP) is a network of decentralized, small- to medium-scale power generating units, flexible power consumers, and storage systems that are aggregated and operated as a single… […]
Energy experts have called for bold reforms—from transmission planning to permitting streamlining and faster interconnection approvals—to prevent further volatility and ensure PJM Interconnection meets its reliability mandate without disproportionately burdening consumers. During a March 19 webinar hosted by Advanced Energy United—a trade group that advocates for policies supporting the transition to 100% clean energy—industry experts […]
Advanced nuclear firm Oklo has signed an Interface Agreement (IAG) with Idaho National Laboratory (INL), marking a key regulatory milestone in the siting and environmental review of its first commercial Aurora powerhouse—a compact passive fast-spectrum reactor—targeted for deployment at INL by late 2027. The IAG with INL—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-owned and funded national […]
The Trump administration has released a second loan disbursement of $56.8 million to Holtec International as part of an up to $1.52 billion loan guarantee for the restart of the 800-MW Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan. The funding, a key step in reviving the shuttered facility, reinforces a loan guarantee initially issued under the Biden […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store March 13, 2025 Trump's EPA Set to Undo Limits on Power Plant Emissions The Trump administration has announced several regulatory rollbacks designed to curb limits on power plant emissions, along with cutting protections for air and water quality. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) […]
A coalition of large energy users—including Google, Amazon, Meta, Occidental, and Dow—have pledged their support for tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. The cross-industry commitment, announced on the sidelines of CERAWeek by S&P Global in Houston, marks the first time large energy users beyond the nuclear sector have collectively backed such an extensive expansion of […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store March 6, 2025 Lawmakers Scrutinize Power Sector's Future as Surging Demand Raises Alarms In a hearing that underscored the mounting challenges facing the American power sector, industry leaders warned Congress that the nation’s power infrastructure is approaching a precarious juncture as unprecedented […]
In a hearing that underscored the mounting challenges facing the American power sector, industry leaders warned Congress that the nation’s power infrastructure is approaching a precarious juncture as unprecedented demand growth collides with retiring baseload generation. At the House Energy Subcommittee hearing on March 5, titled “Scaling for Growth: Meeting Demand for Reliable, Affordable Electricity,” […]
PPL subsidiaries Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) and Kentucky Utilities Company (KU) have proposed to upgrade environmental controls at a 1974-built coal unit, build two new gas-fired power plants at a combined cost of $2.8 billion, and add 400 MW of battery storage. The measures seek to significantly boost the companies’ capacity to ready […]
Data center power demand is accelerating, pushing the grid to its limits and prompting tech giants to bet on next-generation nuclear reactors. But given steep costs, regulatory hurdles, and uncertain
The China Global Power (CGP) Database, developed by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center, systematically tracks power plants outside of China that are financed through Chinese foreign direct investment and its two major policy banks—the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China. As of mid-2022, China-backed investments supported 648 power plants across 171.6 […]
Since 2013, when China launched its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), interest in the measure has been sharply divided. Proponents in Beijing and across the Global South view the BRI as a transformational
Policy upheavals have cast uncertainty over the future of carbon capture and storage in the power sector, though its momentum is widely expected to continue. In November 2024, the Global CCS Institute, an
Advanced nuclear plant developer Last Energy will build 30 microreactors at a site in Haskell County, Texas, a measure aimed at meeting the growing power demands of data centers across the state. The development comes as Texas faces increasing pressure to ramp up its power supplies to address an expansion of energy-intensive industries. The Washington […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store February 27, 2025 Kemmerer 1—TerraPower’s Pioneering Fourth-Generation Nuclear Project—Hits Key NRC Milestone Ahead of Schedule The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has completed its draft safety evaluation (SE) a month ahead of schedule—albeit with open items—for TerraPower’s Kemmerer Power Station Unit 1, […]
In a bid to stave off an escalating power crisis, NAES, one of the largest independent power plant operators in the U.S., and Gecko Robotics, a leader in AI-driven robotic inspection and predictive maintenance, have moved to champion a prominent role for the nation’s existing fleet, launching a $100 million strategic partnership to bolster their […]
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has completed its draft safety evaluation (SE) a month ahead of schedule—albeit with open items—for TerraPower’s Kemmerer Power Station Unit 1, a pioneering 345-MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) under development in Wyoming. Editor’s note: This article was substantially updated on Feb. 27 at 11 a.m. CST to provide deeper […]
Constellation Energy’s ambitious plan to restart the Three Mile Island Unit 1 as the Crane Clean Energy Center (CEC) is proceeding ahead of schedule, shooting for a 2028 start date, despite a new report that suggests Microsoft may be re-evaluating its data center strategy. Just five months after Constellation announced a landmark 20-year power purchase […]
Nuclear technology firm Terrestrial Energy has quietly been making progress on its Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) technology, laying the crucial groundwork for a commercial fleet by the early 2030s. Terrestrial Energy Simon Irish answered key questions about the company’s deployment timeline, market positioning, and competitive edge, offering an inside look at the company’s strategy […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store February 20, 2025 Space-Based Solar Power: The Future of 24/7 Clean Energy Generation Imagine a field of solar panels floating silently in the endless day of Earth’s orbit. Unlike their terrestrial cousins, this space-based solar array never faces nighttime, clouds, or atmospheric […]
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has proposed to sharply reduce its hourly service fees—by more than 50%—for advanced nuclear reactor applicants and pre-applicants in a move designed to incentivize innovation and accelerate the deployment of next-generation nuclear technologies. In a proposed rule published in the Federal Register on Feb. 19, the regulatory body moved to […]
Last Energy has formally launched the UK’s nuclear site licensing (NSL) process for plans to develop four 20-MWe microreactors in South Wales, becoming the first small modular reactor (SMR) developer to make the move. The UK Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) on Feb. 17 confirmed the U.S.-based nuclear technology firm’s entry into the critical licensing […]
Vantage Data Centers, a prominent developer and operator of data center campuses, is teaming with VoltaGrid, an innovative microgrid power generator, to deploy more than 1 GW of power capacity across Vantage’s expanding North American data center portfolio. The strategic partnership, unveiled on Feb. 11, will set a “new benchmark for speed, reliability and energy […]
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store February 13, 2025 TVA, Type One Energy Ink Deal to Develop Commercial Fusion Power Plant The pursuit of energy from fusion technology has taken another step forward, with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) entering into a cooperative agreement with Type One Energy […]
As power plants confront aging infrastructure, surging demand, and the sweeping changes of rapid electrification, operations and maintenance (O&M) are being redefined to tackle unprecedented challenges and
As the power sector grapples with aging infrastructure, stricter sustainability mandates, and the rapid integration of renewables, innovation in operations and maintenance (O&M) has become critical to
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store February 6, 2025 Arizona Utilities Announce Effort to Add More In-State Nuclear Power Arizona's three major electric power utilities said they will collaborate to explore adding more nuclear power generation in the state, possibly placing small modular reactors (SMRs) or building large […]