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Last month, POWER weighed the pros and cons of the various grid interconnection options available to distributed generation plants. This month we explore the technology choices for generating reactive power, or volt-amperes reactive (VARs), which utilities are willing to pay for as an ancillary service.

  This month’s issue of POWER commemorates 125 years of continuous publishing for the power generation business. The anniversary gives us all a chance to assess where we’ve been and where we’re going as a publication and as an industry. As power industry professionals, we all know the value of a rearview mirror—of remembering lessons […]

Cyber security and the grid; Harnessing the Yangtze;

Hydraulic system overhaul;

O&M problems not caused by cycling;

  State policy makers are characteristically reluctant to recognize that they have advanced a policy as far as they can, and that they must cede some control to fully realize its ultimate benefits. Ceding control often runs counter to policy makers’ political instinct to serve their constituents. Doing so is even harder when a new […]

This month we officially commemorate the 125th anniversary of the magazine that has been essential reading for owners and operators of power generating plants. As you read this brief history, you’ll see that—although we’re looking back at an illustrious past—the secret of POWER’s success has been its commitment to the future. As we look forward to the next milestone anniversary, we anticipate covering the latest developments in a new generation of power technologies. As always, our mission is to provide the best information and advice in the service of safely and efficiently powering the global energy industry.

Transporting large quantities of electric power over long distances via superconducting DC cables was first considered more than 40 years ago by two IBM scientists. With the recent advent of long-length commercial high-temperature superconductors (HTSCs) and the desire to move the U.S. to a hydrogen-based economy, SuperCables could revolutionize the marketing of electricity. Using HTSCs cooled by hydrogen, a SuperCable could simultaneously deliver electricity and hydrogen to end users for domestic and industrial consumption and to power fuel cell cars.

May 1885 POWER reported on the latest Twist Automatic Engine (Figure 1) in its cover story for the May 1885 issue. The editor explained that "each end of the cylinder has one main valve, for admission and exhaust, and one cut-off valve; all being plugs with partial rotary movement; and the cut-off valves being within […]

Npower plans big coal plant in UK / Berkeley boffins make thermoelectric discovery / Rinspeed’s roadster: Fast, fun, and green / Dead chickens, the weirdest renewable / Siemens celebrating three big deals / Nevada Power picks P&W, CH2M Hill / Scuderi’s air-hybrid engine / Ovation for huge new Chinese coal plant / PG&E dips toe into wave power / POWER digest

For the past 25 years, Cambridge Energy Research Associates has hosted an annual conference that has drawn the captains of the worldwide oil and gas and electricity industries. The 120 distinguished speakers at this year’s summit attracted more than 2,000 delegates from 55 countries, making it the largest and most diverse ever. Naturally, one of POWER’s contributing editors was there, too; here’s his take on what transpired.

Winter storms ravage Nebraska grid / Waste-fired plant coming to Arizona / Wartsila lands jobs in Azerbaijan, Sweden / Yet another controversial LNG project / Siemens lands two-gasifier order in China / IndyCars drink nothing but ethanol / New Otto/diesel engine to debut in Russia / POWER digest / Readers talk back