Business

Shareholders of Mississippi Power will have to absorb the majority of outstanding costs resulting from the scuttled Kemper County coal gasification project, as the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) on February 6 approved a settlement for the remaining liabilities associated with the much-touted “clean coal” plant. Mississippi Power in a statement said it “is pleased […]

American Electric Power (AEP), one of the nation’s largest power generators, will pursue a strategy to reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 60% from 2000 levels by 2030, and 80% from 2000 levels by 2050. AEP expects to achieve carbon reductions through a variety of actions, including investments in renewable generation and advanced technologies […]

Exelon Generation will shutter its Oyster Creek Generating Station in October 2018—more than a year before it is required to close the single-unit reactor as part of an agreement with the state of New Jersey. Exelon agreed in 2010 to close the unit by December 2019—10 years before its license to operate expires—after it decided […]

China’s State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission reorganized and transferred China Nuclear Engineering & Construction Corp. (CNEC) to China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) on January 31, forming a new giant in the nuclear power industry. The combined company is estimated to have nearly $100 billion in combined assets and almost 150,000 employees, according to data […]

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) in December 2017 announced a plan to build three natural gas-fired power plants in the country, thanks to a $2.8 billion pipeline project that would bring natural gas from the southern part of the African nation to its northern region. The plants, sited in Abuja, Kaduna, and Kano, would […]

Increasing uncertainties concerning low forecasted load; construction financing constraints and reversals; state certification hurdles; and challenges to nuclear profitability posed by the growing share of coal plants beset the nuclear industry in the early 1970s. The nuclear suffered a renewed economic meltdown and fierce public pushback in the aftermath of the Three Mile Island accident […]

GE has operated its monitoring and diagnostics center for nearly two decades, examining the performance and health of customers’ power plants and other generating assets around the world. Understanding some

Digital tools can benefit power plants of all types, yet adding the necessary instrumentation can be costly. However, some of the latest technology doesn’t have to break the bank. Installing WirelessHART

Artificial intelligence and machine learning aren’t just fictional pieces of futuristic Hollywood movies. Power plants can deploy these innovative technologies today to more accurately predict the condition

The North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) standard on physical security—known as Critical Infrastructure Protection-014 (CIP-014)—includes six basic requirements, but perhaps the most

Multiple disparate trends could forcefully reshape power systems around the world. As electricity markets transform, technologies advance, industries converge, consumption patterns change, environmental

Distributed energy resources have changed the power generation sector, disrupting traditional markets and distribution models. Those working in the field tell POWER that research and development will continue

One of the most important items on President Trump’s first-year agenda was the implementation of tax reform in the U.S. Republican lawmakers worked tirelessly as the calendar year drew to an end to get a new

Although it may seem as if gas turbines have only recently become the technology of choice for new U.S. power plants, a lot of gas turbine units have been in service for decades. Control systems have evolved

With a broadening portfolio of generation technologies and rapidly changing demands, effectively combining and integrating diverse technologies is important to a reliable power grid. Siemens’ SIESTART

Turbophase enables combustion turbine owners and power grids to increase flexibility, power, and efficiency, which is critical at a time when dispatch of renewable energy is growing. Combustion turbines

The world’s energy transition took an interesting turn at the end of 2017 as global power firm Engie announced it would switch all its gas operations to biogas and renewable hydrogen, the UK slashed its

Russia’s nuclear engineering and construction firm Rosatom in December brought the fourth unit at its Rostov nuclear power plant (NPP) near Volgodonsk in southern Russia to first criticality. Later that

Polish Energy Company Puts Large Coal-Fired Unit Online. Enea , the Polish state-owned energy company, in December inaugurated what it calls the largest coal-fired power generation unit in Europe. The company

The news has been filled with high-profile sexual harassment cases recently. Although more women seem to be coming forward lately to tell their stories and bring misconduct to light, it’s far from a new

Documents obtained by The Washington Post show the Trump administration is prepared to ask Congress to cut the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) renewable energy and energy efficiency programs by as much as 72% in fiscal year 2019. The newspaper in a January 31 report says Congress likely would not support many of the cuts, but […]

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal heralded the following: “Power Plants Bloom Even as Electricity Prices Wilt.” Understandably, the WSJ editors are excited about the current spate of combined cycle construction projects. I’m also pleased about the growth in our sector (Figure 1). But I’m less sanguine about our ability to execute all […]

The nuclear power industry is struggling in the U.S. Several reactors are at risk of early closure due to difficulty competing in the wholesale power markets. New units being built in South Carolina have been abandoned, while the only other nuclear construction project in the U.S.—the Plant Vogtle expansion in Georgia—is behind schedule and over […]

Corrosion monitoring, control and prevention is an ongoing battle in today’s power plants. Two of the strongest indicators of how well that battle is being waged is to monitor the corrosive salts of chloride and sulfate.

Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) President and CEO Ralph Izzo gave NRG Energy a tongue-lashing for its pointed opposition of subsidies for PSEG’s two New Jersey nuclear power plants. The tense moment at a January 25 legislative hearing that sought to revive the measure is illustrative of a growing chasm within the power sector about the […]

The rapid growth of distributed energy resources (DERs) is spawning new financing models that could send growth for the fledgling sector soaring, upending the power sector at an even more breakneck pace. Industry executives at Distributech 2018 in San Antonio, Texas, this week noted that several trends are driving the growth of DERs, which are […]

Several possible suitors for SCANA Corp. emerged last fall when it became evident the South Carolina utility needed a lifeline, after SCANA subsidiary South Carolina Electric and Gas Co. (SCE&G) and state-owned Santee Cooper pulled the plug on the V.C. Summer nuclear project (Figure 1). Now the question is whether those who lost out to […]

The global solar industry on January 23 reacted to President Trump’s announcement on Monday that the U.S. will enact a 30% tariff this year on imports of solar cells and modules, a levy that could begin as soon as next month. Some groups said they will take a “wait and see” approach to the charge, […]

SANTIAGO, CHILE (January 18, 2018) — Building Energy SpA, a multinational company operating as a global integrated IPP in the Renewable Energy Industry, announces the constitution of Building Energy Andes SpA, a Joint Venture with Scotta Group aimed to the development, construction and operation of renewable energy assets in Chile. Scotta Group is an Italian […]

Wärtsilä and Schneider Electric have signed a global cooperation agreement to bring together their individual products and services, along with those of third parties, for the purpose of cooperating on data center projects. The deal focuses on hyperscale data center projects with at least a 10-MW electrical load. The objective of the cooperation is to […]