Business
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Legal & Regulatory
Wind Power Faces a Post-PTC ‘Valley of Death’
Wind power capacity in the U.S., whose explosive growth has tripled since 2008—even overtaking hydropower to become the nation’s largest source of renewable electricity—could face a period of stagnation once the production tax credit (PTC) is phased out in 2021. Analysts at WINDPOWER 2018 in Chicago last week called the period between 2021 and 2026 […]
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Press Releases
Framatome signs multimillion-dollar contract with Dominion Energy to provide fleet-wide steam generator services
(MAY 17, 2018) —Framatome signed a multimillion-dollar contract with Dominion Energy to provide steam generator services to the company’s entire nuclear reactor fleet. Scheduled to take place during eight outages from 2018 to 2020, the inspection and maintenance work will support the continued generation of low-carbon electricity from the Dominion fleet. At nuclear energy facilities, […]
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IIOT Power
DOE Lays Out How Power Sector Could Win the Cybersecurity Battle
Cybersecurity threats are outpacing the energy sector’s “best defenses,” and costs of preventing and responding to cyber incidents are straining company efforts to protect critical infrastructure, the Department of Energy (DOE) warned as it released a comprehensive five-year cybersecurity strategy for the industry. The Multiyear Plan for Energy Sector Cybersecurity, dated March 2018 but which […]
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O&M
GE Sets Sights on MHPS and Siemens Customers
Drawing on decades of gas turbine experience, GE’s Power Services business announced on May 16 that it is expanding its cross-fleet service offerings to a broader portion of the F-class market, including Siemens’ SGT6-5000F and SGT-800 models, and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems’ (MHPS’s) 501F technology. “GE is proven as one of the technology leaders and […]
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Renewables
GE Will Take on Alstom Stakes in Energy Joint Ventures for $3.2B
GE will buy Alstom’s stakes in three energy joint ventures (JVs) the companies formed when GE acquired Alstom’s energy business nearly three years ago. Alstom and GE on May 4 signed an agreement that essentially sets out a plan for Alstom to exercise put options on JVs it formed with GE pertaining to their renewables […]
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Press Releases
M&I Electric announces $5M Dredge vessel power and control system project award
HOUSTON, May 16, 2018 — American Electric Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of power delivery solutions for the global energy industry, announced today that its M&I Electric business has been awarded a $5M project award for a complete power and control system for a new dredge vessel for a leading US Gulf Coast dredging company. […]
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Press Releases
Siemens supplies SGT-800 gas turbines to Panama for the first time
Siemens has received its first order from Panama for six SGT-800 gas turbines. The industrial gas turbines, along with a steam turbine, will provide approximately 440 megawatts of electrical power as part of a flexible combined cycle power plant. This could cover the power demand of approximately 1.9 million residents of Panama. Siemens’ customer is […]
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Press Releases
South Carolina Electric & Gas Company replaces more than 40% of its nuclear project capacity with purchase of natural gas-fired power plant
CAYCE, S.C. (May 9, 2018) — South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G), principal subsidiary of SCANA Corp. (NYSE: SCG), announced today that it has completed its purchase of the Columbia Energy Center, a natural-gas-fired power plant in Gaston, S.C. (Calhoun County), from LS Power for approximately $180 million. SCE&G included the purchase of the 540-megawatt combined cycle gas […]
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Press Releases
NTE Energy Announces Development of South Carolina’s Newest and Most Efficient Power Plant
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (May 9, 2018) — NTE Energy (NTE) announced that its next power plant will be the approximately 1,000-MW natural gas-fired Anderson County Energy Center located in Anderson County, South Carolina. This state-of-the-art electric generation facility will represent an investment of more than $1 billion in South Carolina, and will feature some of […]
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Renewables
Gas-Fired Generation Will Top 2018 Capacity Additions
The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) latest report on the nation’s power generation inventory expects 32 GW of new capacity will enter commercial service this year, the most in at least at decade. And for the first time in five years, renewable energy sources will not make up the majority of that new generation. Nearly […]
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Gas
Siemens Plans Temporary Shutdown of Power & Gas Division
Siemens, one of the world’s largest turbine manufacturers, said it plans to temporarily shut its Power & Gas (PG) division operations worldwide in an effort to cut costs. The Germany-based energy giant in a May 7 news release said, “The shutdowns are part of a comprehensive package of measures, which also includes issues such as […]
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Gas
MHPS Tops GE, Siemens in Gas Turbine Market
A report from Barclays Plc said Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) received more than half of all global orders for gas-fueled turbines in the first quarter of 2018, the company’s best-ever performance in a market that has seen traditional gas turbine manufacturers struggle in recent months. The market report from the London, UK-based multinational investment […]
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Press Releases
Carboline Breaks Ground on New Fire Protective Lab
St. Louis, Missouri, May 2, 2018 – Carboline has broken ground on a state-of-the-art full-scale passive fire protection testing facility at its Research, Development, & Innovation (RD&I) Center. This $4 million investment is scheduled to be complete by the end of the 2018 calendar year. The new space will be the first manufacturer owned UL-approved […]
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Press Releases
New Report Details Grid Resiliency Risks Posed by Nuclear Plant Closures
WASHINGTON (May 3, 2018) — A new report released today by IHS Markit outlines the severe grid resiliency, environmental and financial consequences for customers served by the PJM Interconnection Energy Market (PJM) that will likely result from uneconomic nuclear plant closures. PJM operates the world’s largest competitive wholesale electricity market and coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Kentucky Coal Plant’s Future in Doubt
An electric cooperative that provides wholesale power and services to customers in 22 counties in western Kentucky has told state regulators it intends to end an operating agreement at a 312-MW coal-fired plant in Henderson, which could lead to the plant’s retirement. Big Rivers Electric on May 1 told the state Public Service Commission (PSC) […]
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Legal & Regulatory
More Gas, Renewables in Dominion’s Future
Dominion Energy plans to build eight new natural gas-fired power plants and speed the pace of its renewable energy efforts, according to the utility’s integrated resource plan (IRP) filed with Virginia regulators on May 1. The company also said its future plans focus on regulations on carbon emissions in part because Virginia is considering joining the […]
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IIOT Aerospace
FAA Initiative Highlights Best Practices for Flying Drones BVLOS
A three-year-long initiative spearheaded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in collaboration with industry has yielded a blueprint that establishes best operational and safety practices and recommended technologies for flying commercial drones beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS). As part of the FAA’s 2015-chartered Pathfinder Initiative, the agency partnered with three private companies to […]
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Energy Storage
Renewable Energy Storage Takes Off in Europe
Just weeks after the 12th International Renewable Energy Storage Conference (IRES2018) concluded in Düsseldorf, Germany, newly announced figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) confirmed that battery storage technologies coupled with rapidly expanding renewables are blunting new fossil fuel investments. BNEF’s 2017 figures show that over $330 billion was invested in renewables with comparative costs […]
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Coal
German Giants Swap Assets and Reshape Energy Sector
Germany’s electricity sector faced a renewed, violent shakeup in March as two of its biggest utilities, E.ON and RWE, announced a complex asset exchange that experts said points to the death of the
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Gas
MHPS Will Convert Dutch CCGT to Run on Hydrogen
Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) in March said it would work with the Netherlands Carbon-Free Gas Power project to support the conversion of the country’s 1.32-GW Magnum gas-fired power plant to run
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T&D
POWER Digest [May 2018]
NTPC Commissions First Unit of Lara Project. The first unit of the 4,000-MW super thermal power project in Chhattisgarh in India was commissioned in late March by NTPC. The coal-fired plant, a $4.62
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Legal & Regulatory
Challenges for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Licensing Accident Tolerant Fuel
After the meltdowns at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March 2011, Congress directed the Department of Energy (DOE) to support development of new fuel designs that could tolerate loss-of-cooling
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Legal & Regulatory
Upheaval and Innovation in Wastewater Management
Regulatory uncertainty, changing resources, and an industrywide drive to cut costs and boost flexibility and efficiency are among a growing list of challenges that are prompting new approaches to treat power
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Renewables
Power Mix Comes Down to Cost
It’s not a secret that the North American power mix is changing. Renewable energy and natural gas are picking up market share while coal-fired generation shrinks and nuclear power remains stagnant at best
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Renewables
Distributed Gas Generation: Big Power in Small(er) Packages
The traditional electricity grid is being transformed, as more businesses look to control their costs by producing their own power. A need for reliable backup power, the push for more resiliency in generation
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Renewables
Offshore Wind May Finally Be Here (Really)
New low prices for offshore wind energy projects in Europe have excited policymakers up and down the East Coast about prospects in the U.S. and emboldened some to finally pull the trigger on long-mooted plans
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O&M
Offshore Wind Has Taken Off in Europe
A sharp surge in new, larger offshore wind installations in Europe throughout 2017 dramatically shows the viability of a technology that has truly come of age. As costs fall and generation capacity increases
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T&D
Facing a Supply Crunch, ERCOT to Revamp Reserve Margin Targets
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on April 30 updated its summer 2018 planning reserve margin to 11% based on resource updates, but it warned that the regional grid serving most of Texas could still suffer rotating outages under extreme conditions. In its final Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy (SARA) report for the upcoming […]
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Press Releases
OSIsoft announces partnership with Kansai Electric Power to enhance power plant operation
(April 27, 2018) — Kansai Electric Power and OSIsoft LLC unveiled a venture to help power producers improve the efficiency and operation of their thermal power plants with data. Kansai Electric Power will collaborate with its customers at every stage, from planning a new thermal plant to running a facility. The Kansai-Value Creation Service, or […]
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Press Releases
Siemens Gamesa secures its largest ever wind turbine order of 300 MW in India
It is also the company’s first order for the SG 2.1-122 turbine Siemens Gamesa will install 143 turbines and maintain the complex for 10 years Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy’s positioning in India has received an important boost with this order, its largest ever in this market. Under the terms of the EPC contract entered into […]