Sonal Patel
Articles By

Sonal Patel

  • Jackson Generation Pioneers North America’s First M501JAC Gas Turbines

    The Jackson Generation plant, a 1.2-GW combined cycle power plant in Elwood, Illinois, debuted North America’s first M501JAC gas turbines. Developed by J-POWER USA, the facility has emerged as a model for

  • SEIL Energy India: A Coal Plant Model for Performance and Sustainability

    SEIL Energy India Limited, the only coal plant to win a POWER Top Plant award this year, stands out for its advanced supercritical technology, exceptional operational performance, and commitment to

  • THE BIG PICTURE: Hydrogen Cofiring at U.S. Gas Power Plants (Infographic)

    While natural gas power accounted for 43% of total U.S. power generation in 2023, several state and federal policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions are bolstering interest in hydrogen cofiring. These policies include the Environmental Protection Agency’s recently finalized Carbon Pollution Standards, federal production tax credits, and the federal hydrogen hub program. However, only […]

  • Italy to Debut Industrial Sand Battery

    Italian firm Magaldi Group, a specialist in ultra-high-temperature material handling, is poised to deploy its first large-scale application of a novel thermal energy storage system that uses a fluidized bed of

  • DOE Finalizes $1.52B Palisades Loan for First-Ever U.S. Nuclear Plant Recommissioning

    Marking the first-ever revival of a nuclear power plant in the U.S., the Department of Energy (DOE) on Sept. 30 finalized a $1.52 billion loan guarantee to Holtec International to support the recommissioning of the 800-MW Palisades nuclear plant in Covert Township, Michigan. Separately, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded electric cooperative Wolverine Power […]

  • POWERnews—Sept. 26, 2024

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   September 26, 2024 Google Could Use Small Nuclear Reactors to Power Data Centers Google's top executive confirmed the company is working on large-scale data centers that would use more than 1 GW of power. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, in […]

  • Demonstration to Convert Kentucky Coal Mine to Pumped Hydro Secures Federal Funding

    A project that will demonstrate the conversion of a former coal mine in Bell County, Kentucky, into a utility-scale 287-MW pumped storage hydroelectric facility has garnered federal backing from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED). Rye Development, a pumped storage hydropower developer, on Sept. 25 secured $12.1 million—the first tranche […]

  • UK SMR Competition Narrows Contenders to Four Nuclear Designs

    The UK government has narrowed its shortlist of technologies competing in its flagship Small Modular Reactor (SMR) competition to four candidates. On Sept. 25, it announced that Westinghouse, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH), Holtec Britain, and Rolls-Royce SMR remain in the running to negotiate potentially multi-billion-pound nuclear technology development contracts under the fast-track initiative aimed at […]

  • Project Pele, DOD’s HTGR Mobile Nuclear Microreactor, Breaks Ground

    Groundbreaking has kicked off at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), where Project Pele—the Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) full-scale transportable microreactor prototype—will be placed for testing in 2026. When operational, the reactor will become the “first-ever Generation IV nuclear reactor to generate electricity in the U.S.,” the DOD said on Sept. 24. Project Pele, developed under a […]

  • Sage Snags Air Force Contract for Geothermal Power Demonstration in Texas

    The U.S. Department of the Air Force has awarded Sage Geosystems an initial $1.9 million contract to demonstrate its pioneering geothermal baseload power and energy storage system at an off-site test well in Starr County, Texas.  When completed as planned in 2025, the demonstration will become the first Geopressured Geothermal Systems (GGS) facility in the […]

  • How Pennsylvania Is Fostering A Nuclear Renaissance in the Making

    Pennsylvania has been a hotspot for nuclear power since the advent of commercial nuclear power, which it pioneered with first power from the 60-MW Shippingport Atomic Power Station near Pittsburgh in 1957.   Today, the state, the second-largest nuclear power generator in the U.S., hosts eight operating reactors. These include Constellation’s 2.77-GW Peach Bottom Atomic […]

  • POWERnews—Sept. 19, 2024

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   September 19, 2024 Idaho Falls Power Negotiating PPA for MARVEL-Inspired Aalo-1 Nuclear Fleet Municipal power utility Idaho Falls Power (IFP) has announced it is negotiating a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Aalo Atomics, a 2022-founded nuclear engineering firm inspired by Idaho National […]

  • ACU Secures NRC Permit to Build Research Molten Salt Nuclear Reactor

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted Abilene Christian University (ACU) a construction permit to build its Molten Salt Research Reactor (MSRR) facility on the university’s campus in Texas. The approval is the regulatory body’s first for a liquid-fueled advanced reactor, the first for a research reactor in decades, and its second for any advanced […]

  • Carbon Capture Projects at Gas-Fired Cane Run 7, Coal-Fired Four Corners Get Federal Awards

    Significant carbon capture projects—at Cane Run 7, PPL Corp.’s 691-MW gas-fired unit in Louisville, Kentucky, and Four Corners, a 1.5-GW coal-fired power plant in New Mexico—have separately secured federal awards from the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED). OCED has allocated $4.9 million to PPL Corp. subsidiary Kentucky Utilities Co. under […]

  • Idaho Falls Power Negotiating PPA for MARVEL-Inspired Aalo-1 Nuclear Fleet

    Municipal power utility Idaho Falls Power (IFP) has announced it is negotiating a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Aalo Atomics, a 2022-founded nuclear engineering firm inspired by Idaho National Laboratory (INL’s) MARVEL microreactor. Aalo on Sept. 16 confirmed it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the utility to explore the deployment of a fleet […]

  • POWERnews—Sept. 5, 2024

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   September 5, 2024 Major Project Rejected in Texas' Flagship Dispatchable Power Loan Program The Texas Energy Fund (TEF), a flagship loan program designed to boost the state's dispatchable generation, faced its first setback on Sept. 4 when the Public Utility Commission of […]

  • DOE Injects $430M to Revitalize, Modernize U.S. Hydropower Fleet

    The Department of Energy (DOE) has selected 293 hydroelectric projects across 33 states that will receive up to $430 million in incentive payments for capital improvements directly related to grid resiliency, dam safety, and environmental improvements. The funding, unveiled on Sept. 5, stems from the DOE Grid Deployment Office’s (GDO’s) Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity Incentives […]

  • Major Project Rejected in Texas’ Flagship Dispatchable Power Loan Program

    The Texas Energy Fund (TEF), a flagship loan program designed to boost the state’s dispatchable generation, faced its first setback on Sept. 4 when the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) denied Aegle Power’s loan application for a 1,292-MW combined cycle generating facility in Harlingen—its second-largest shortlisted facility. The PUCT said Aegle Power’s application, filed […]

  • Dry Fork Secures Federal Funding Under $1B Large-Scale Carbon Capture Pilot Program

    A project near Basin Electric’s Dry Fork Power Station, a 405-MW coal-fired power plant in Gillette, Wyoming, has become the first of four Department of Energy (DOE) selections to receive federal funding to kick off a large-scale carbon capture pilot. The DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) on Aug. 27 said it awarded the […]

  • Supreme Court Showdown: EPA Defends Carbon Capture Amid Power Industry Backlash

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has doubled down on its stance that carbon capture is “adequately demonstrated” in a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court as part of a bid to urge the high court to allow the agency’s contentious Carbon Pollution Standards to remain in effect while legal challenges continue. The Supreme Court […]

  • A Modular Power Plant Is Steaming Up Kenya’s Geothermal Efficiency

    Sosian Menengai Geothermal Power, Kenya’s newest geothermal power plant, is powered by modular technology that maximizes efficiency, reduces costs, and enhances scalability. Kenya’s scenic Rift Valley

  • THE BIG PICTURE: Geothermal Power Landscape (Infographic)

    According to the Global Geothermal Power Tracker (GGPT), a comprehensive dataset of geothermal power facilities, about 14 GW of geothermal power is operational worldwide. The U.S. has the largest installed capacity at 3,900 MW, followed by Indonesia (2,418 MW), the Philippines (1,952 MW), Türkiye (1,691 MW), New Zealand (1,042 MW), and Kenya (985 MW). Most […]

  • Nuclear Milestone: China’s HTR-PM Demonstrates Inherent Safety

    Chinese researchers have confirmed the first of two units of the 200-MWe high-temperature modular pebble bed (HTR-PM) demonstration project at the Shidao Bay site in Rongcheng, Shandong Province, successfully

  • POWERnews—Aug. 29, 2024

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   August 29, 2024 Texas Moves Forward with $5.38B in Loans for 10 GW of New Dispatchable Power Projects The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) has shortlisted 17 mostly gas-fired “dispatchable” generation projects—a combined 9,781 MW—that will advance to receive $5.38 billion […]

  • Texas Moves Forward with $5.38B in Loans for 10 GW of New Dispatchable Power Projects

    The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) has shortlisted 17 gas-fired “dispatchable” generation projects—a combined 9,781 MW—that will advance to receive $5.38 billion in loaned funds under the Texas Energy Fund (TEF) In-ERCOT Loan Program. The 17 proposed new projects in the PUCT’s loan portfolio, chosen from 72 applications, now proceed to a “due diligence” […]

  • BWXT Secures Contract to Advance Domestic Uranium Enrichment Pilot Plant

    BWXT Technologies has won a contract from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to evaluate options for deploying a centrifuge pilot plant that could establish a new domestic uranium enrichment capability suitable for national security purposes. The Lynchburg, Virginia–based company on Aug. 26 said the NNSA contract would kick off a yearlong engineering study as […]

  • TVA Boosts Nuclear Funding with $150M for SMR Development at Clinch River

    The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA’s) board of directors has approved an additional $150 million for the public power utility’s $200 million New Nuclear Program to boost continued design work and development of potential small modular reactors (SMRs) at TVA’s Clinch River site near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The combined $350 million funding for the project will […]

  • POWERnews—Aug. 22, 2024

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   August 22, 2024 TVA Boosts Nuclear Funding with $150M for SMR Development at Clinch River The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA’s) Board of Directors has approved an additional $150 million for the public utility’s $200 million New Nuclear Program to boost continued design […]

  • IAEA: Aging Nuclear Fleet Warrants Reactor Life Extensions, Much More New Capacity

    While global nuclear power capacity has remained at a consistent level over the past decade, newly released data from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) suggests that more than two-thirds of the world’s nuclear reactors are more than 30 years old, and nearly a third have been in operation for 40 years. According to the […]

  • POWERnews—Aug. 15, 2024

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   August 15, 2024 LS Power Acquiring Renewable Energy Assets in $2.5 Billion Deal A New York-based power and energy infrastructure group will acquire more than 3 GW of operating renewable energy assets, along with another 8 GW of projects under development, from […]