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 News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide FirstEnergy Looks to Exit Competitive Business, Shutter or Sell Ohio Nuclear Plants Financially hemorrhaging in 2016 due to uneconomic power plants in its fleet, FirstEnergy Corp. said it may exit the competitive generation business by mid-2018, and shutter its […]
Southern Co.’s Kemper County integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) project, stricken by steep cost increases and an in-service date delayed again to mid-March, isn’t economically viable in the face of projected long-term natural gas prices, the company said. Southern Co. subsidiary Mississippi Power reported that integrated operation of the facility’s two gasifiers and combustion turbines […]
Financially hemorrhaging in 2016 due to uneconomic power plants in its fleet, FirstEnergy Corp. said it may exit the competitive generation business by mid-2018, and shutter its nuclear plants in Ohio, even though it will back legislation to subsidize nuclear power. In a fourth quarter earnings call on February 22, officials from the Akron, Ohio–based […]
February 22, 2017 06:45 AM Eastern Standard Time CAMBRIDGE, Ontario–(BUSINESS WIRE)–BWX Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:BWXT) announced today that its subsidiary BWXT Canada Ltd. (BWXT Canada) has been awarded a four-year amendment to its existing Master Services Agreement (MSA), which went into effect on January 1, 2015, for feeder inspection services at Bruce Power, located near Kincardine, […]
More than 7,500 pages of emails and other records released by the Oklahoma attorney general’s office to the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) reveal a “close and friendly” relationship between the former office held by Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) new administrator, and the fossil fuel industry, the CMD alleged. The emails […]
Abdullah Economic City, a unique urban development project which was started in 2005 and constitutes the largest building project in the history of Saudi Arabia. Located on the coast of the Red Sea between the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, this new city is set to become the country’s second economic centre in […]
In a final 52–46 vote, the Senate on Friday confirmed Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The vote was mostly along party lines. Every Republican present except Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) voted for Pruitt (Sen. John McCain [R-Ariz.] did not vote because he is at […]
A state court ordered Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to turn over more than 2,500 emails his office withheld from open records requests relating to communications with coal, oil, and gas corporations. The order came a day before the Senate is poised to confirm him as President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection […]
Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide Don’t Just Connect Your Plant—You Need to Model It, Experts Say Remote and online monitoring of plant performance parameters is an important step toward a fully connected plant, but alone it’s not enough to exploit the real value in […]
Eco-efficient First Solar modules have 67% lower CO2 footprint than Crystalline Silicon modules (Graphic: Business Wire) February 16, 2017 09:00 AM Eastern Standard Time PARIS & TEMPE, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) today announced that Photosol, a French photovoltaic (PV) solar energy company, has selected its high performance, lower-carbon, thin film modules to power 14 […]
February 16, 2017 10:00 AM Eastern Standard Time PITTSBURGH–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Power management company Eaton today announced contracts to lead life extension and electrical modernization projects at four hydropower facilities in Kentucky and Tennessee. Eaton received the contracts from Aponte Power Services, which is working directly with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Nashville District. The projects will […]
February 16, 2017 11:26 AM Eastern Standard Time BURLINGTON, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mint Energy is now serving competitive electric supply in both AEP Ohio and Dayton Power & Light (DP&L). “As we continue our expansion into PJM, I am excited to add the Ohio Market to the Pennsylvania and Illinois territories that we currently serve. We are […]
Veolia to operate three wastewater plants, enhance environmental compliance, bolster local economy and employment February 15, 2017 10:23 AM Eastern Standard Time BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The city of Jackson, Mississippi has signed a 10-year operations and management agreement with Veolia Water North America – South, LLC, a part of Veolia Environnement (Veolia). Veolia, the global leader in environmental […]
February 13, 2017 05:35 PM Eastern Standard Time SYDNEY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–First Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) today welcomes the news that Genex Power Limited (ASX: GNX, Genex Power) has achieved financial close for the Kidston Phase One Solar Project in Queensland, Australia. First Solar will supply 63 megawatts (MW)dc of advanced thin-film photovoltaic (PV) modules to the project […]
Protecting customers by ensuring electricity grid reliability is a top priority for Xcel Energy February 14, 2017 11:20 AM Eastern Standard Time MINNEAPOLIS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Xcel Energy announced today it is partnering with Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) to create a new threat information sharing community. The new community will enhance the energy sector’s […]
The utility owners of the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) in Arizona have voted to shut down the 2,250-MW coal-fired power plant in December 2019. The decision to close the plant on tribal land near Page along the border with Utah was based on the “rapidly changing economics of the energy industry,” which has seen natural […]
A large swath of the central U.S. set a North American wind penetration record of 52.1% early in the morning on February 12, the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) reported. The regional transmission organization (RTO), whose footprint spans 550,000 square miles from the Canadian border in Montana and North Dakota to parts of New Mexico, Texas, […]
A group of power companies have filed a federal lawsuit against the State of Illinois, challenging a recently enacted law that creates subsidies for Exelon’s uneconomic nuclear power plants. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed on February 14 in the Northern District of Illinois are the Electric Power Supply Association (EPSA), Dynegy, Eastern Generation, NRG […]
An explosion at EDF Energy’s Flamanville nuclear power station in France has been controlled, the utility said. The blast, which rocked Unit 1 at the nuclear plant on France’s northern coast at around 9:45 a.m. local time on February 9, stemmed from a fire originating from a fan located under the generator, EDF Energy said […]
Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide Explosion Rocks Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant in France An explosion at EDF Energy's Flamanville nuclear power station in France has been controlled, the utility said. The blast, which rocked Unit 1 at the nuclear plant on France's northern coast […]
February 07, 2017 11:00 AM Eastern Standard Time HERNDON, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Greensmith Energy, the leader in energy storage solutions and software, announced today that Oncor Electric Delivery (Oncor) has selected Greensmith as the software provider for its microgrid facility in Dallas, Texas. Oncor’s advanced microgrid consists of: a carport PV array, ground mount PV array, microturbine, diesel generators, […]
February 07, 2017 12:36 PM Eastern Standard Time DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “Hybrid Power Solutions Market – Global Forecast to 2021” report to their offering. “Hybrid Power Solutions Market – Global Forecast to 2021” Tweet this The global hybrid power solutions market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 8.1% from […]
February 02, 2017 04:31 PM Eastern Standard Time HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dynegy Inc. (NYSE: DYN) and Illinois Power Generating Company (Genco), an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Dynegy, announced that Genco emerged earlier today from its Chapter 11 restructuring after successfully implementing its plan of reorganization, approved January 25 by the Southern District of Texas Bankruptcy Court. With Genco […]
February 03, 2017 07:46 AM Eastern Standard Time HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE:NRG) and its subsidiary Reliant, the premier retail electricity provider in Texas, have teamed up with the NFL to provide 100% Green-e certified renewable energy to NRG Stadium, site of Super Bowl LI, and the George R. Brown Convention Center, location of the […]
Move sets new standard for PERC (passivated emitter rear contact) solar panels February 03, 2017 10:10 AM Eastern Standard Time HILLSBORO, Ore.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SolarWorld, the largest U.S. crystalline silicon solar panel manufacturer for more than 40 years, announced today that it has doubled the duration of its workmanship warranty on its entire portfolio of solar panel […]
February 02, 2017 02:57 PM Eastern Standard Time HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order today clearing the path for Dynegy Inc. (NYSE: DYN) to complete its acquisition of ENGIE’s United States portfolio—9,017 megawatts of generation capacity located in the ERCOT, PJM, and ISO-New England electricity markets. “This marks another major milestone […]
President Donald Trump’s drive to roll back federal regulations, especially from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), will not be simple or smooth, a veteran Washington, D.C., attorney said at a utility conference on February 8. Speaking at the Energy, Utility, and Environment Conference (EUEC) in San Diego, Calif., Thomas Lorenzen, a partner with D.C.–based law […]
Denmark’s DONG Energy is the latest in a string of power companies that are shunning the use of coal in future generation fleets. The company said on February 8 it will stop burning coal completely by 2023 in its power stations, replacing it with sustainable biomass. The measure is part of a company-wide transformation towards […]
As House Republicans issued a bill to dismantle the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week, a House committee held a hearing on how to make the agency “great again,” and former EPA employees expressed serious concerns about the looming nomination of Scott Pruitt to head the agency. The bill (H.R. 861), which seeks to […]
Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide As Trump Takes Over, Who Wields Power? What do we know as of February 1 about key Trump appointees responsible for administering White House policies affecting the power generation industry? Not much. Read More Advertisement Meeting Production, Compliance […]