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Connected Plant
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 the Industrial Internet of Things, speakers at POWER’s inaugural Connected Plant Conference on February 15 in Dallas said. Randy Bickford, president and CTO of software firm Expert […]
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GAS POWER Direct–Feb. 15, 2017
Gas Power Direct Current Issue | Find a Job | Post a Job Developer of 550-MW Gas Power Plant Commits to Voluntary GHG Emission Reductions In a step that it hopes will be emulated by developers of new natural gas generation facilities in the U.S., NTE Energy has voluntarily committed to drastically slash greenhouse […]
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Solar
Solar-Plus-Storage Could Increase Consumption and Emissions, Study Suggests
Pairing energy storage with rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems has been widely touted as the path for greater deployment of renewable energy, but a new study from researchers at the University of Texas suggests doing so may actually increase overall energy consumption and emissions. The study, “The Impacts of Storing Solar Energy in the Home […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Southern California Braces for Possible Natural Gas Constraints
Though Southern California weathered last summer without major natural gas supply constraints that were feared as a result of the 2015–2016 leak from the Aliso Canyon storage field, a blast of cold weather this week has forced Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) to withdraw stored gas from the still-damaged facility to maintain reliability. The limited […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Petitioners File Briefs in NSPS Case Days after Change of Administration
Having been denied a request for an extended schedule, petitioners in an ongoing lawsuit challenging the merits of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for coal-fired power plants late on January 23 filed a series of briefs with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The briefs filed […]
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Gas
FirstEnergy Unloading Five Plants in Virginia and Pennsylvania
As part of its ongoing drive to exit competitive power markets, FirstEnergy Corp. said on January 23 that it has agreed to sell four natural gas–fired power plants in Pennsylvania and its competitive share of a pumped-storage hydroelectric plant in Virginia to private equity firm LS Power Equity Partners III. FirstEnergy announced last year that […]
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GAS POWER Direct–Jan. 18, 2017
Gas Power Direct Current Issue | Find a Job | Post a Job DOE’s Quadrennial Review: 8 Trends That Are Shaping the U.S. Electric System Beyond major reliability events that have prompted regional blackouts in the past, the U.S. grid faces “imminent danger from cyber attacks,” warns the second installation of the Obama administration’s Quadrennial […]
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Legal & Regulatory
State Opposition to Wind Power Spikes as Trump Prepares to Take Office
Amazon’s latest wind farm in coastal North Carolina has completed construction and is weeks from beginning operations—and state legislators have just asked the incoming Trump administration to shut it down. The $400 million, 208-MW, 104-turbine project, built by Apex Renewables near Elizabeth City and backed by financing from Iberdrola Renewables, is supposed to power Amazon’s […]
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Renewables
Renewables Again Lead Capacity Additions in 2016 as Coal Production Continues to Fall
For the third straight year, renewable generation accounted for the majority of new utility-scale capacity additions in the U.S. during 2016, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on January 10. The EIA estimated that the U.S. added 24 GW of new utility-scale generation in 2016, of which 63% was renewables, almost all of it wind […]
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Gas
U.S. LNG Exports Surge in 2016—But Not Where They Were Expected [Updated]
The U.S. took a big step toward becoming a major exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2016 as Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass export terminal in Louisiana came online early last year and upgrades to the Panama Canal that opened in June made shipments to the Pacific region considerably easier. Data from the Department of […]