Business

Before the official start of its Minds + Machines event in San Francisco this week, GE announced the launch of its “Digital Power Plant” during a briefing for the trade press. A formal announcement was to follow in the afternoon. Dick Ayres, general manager of software solutions, power generation services, explained that the company’s Predix […]

In its latest effort to ram down carbon emissions and address air pollution, China will strictly limit public financing to coal and other high-carbon projects and begin a national program in 2017 to cap and trade greenhouse gas emissions.  The country’s emission trading system will cover power generation, steel, cement, and other key sectors. China […]

In presentations to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the nation’s regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs) on Sept. 17 outlined measures they are taking to prevent issues if faced with extreme weather this winter.  The measures are to prevent widespread generation outages as occurred during the Jan. 6–7, 2014, polar vortex. […]

Duke Energy Indiana reached a settlement agreement with some of the state’s key consumer groups related to operating costs at its Edwardsport integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) coal power plant. The deal was submitted to state regulators on Sept. 18 and is subject to Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) approval. If approved, it would resolve […]

NRG Energy has embarked on a “reset” that will see a separation of its core distributed generation and fossil fuel businesses.  The company, headquartered in Princeton, N.J., wants to “simplify” NRG Group to cut down expenses and debt. In a transition that will begin now and be fully effective on Jan. 1, 2016, it will separate […]

Exelon has optimized the efficiency of its operations, maintenance, and engineering staff. By automating data collection, plant engineers now focus on analyzing data rather than manually collecting data and risking radiation exposure. Download this case study to get more details then go here to learn more about Condition Based Maintenance (CBM) for Power Generation.

Entergy’s 850-MW James A. FitzPatrick nuclear plant located near Oswego, N.Y., may be the next reactor doomed to close on profitability woes.  Entergy’s CEO Leo Denault told attendees at the Barclays CEO EnergyPower Conference on Sept. 10 that the company will need to decide by the end of this year whether to go forward with […]

Duke Energy has settled a 15-year-old lawsuit for allegedly violating the Clean Air Act when it made modifications at 13 coal-fired power units in North Carolina.  The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ’s) original case filed in 2000 focused on 25 Duke Energy coal units. As it has in more than […]

European Union (EU) officials have approved General Electric’s (GE’s) $9.5 billion acquisition of Alstom’s power business, but conditions to which the two companies agreed to cement the deal will drastically reshape the world’s heavy-duty gas turbine market.  The European Commission, the 28-country union’s executive body, granted its approval to the much-watched proposed merger, but only […]

Warren Buffett bought Nevada’s NV Energy two years ago, a move widely seen as a play for solar and renewable generation. That’s working out. But as the company transitions away from legacy coal and high-priced renewable contracts signed years ago, large customers are rebelling, and the company faces a challenge to keep its big dog […]

ABB Snags $450M Contract for Norway-UK Undersea Link. ABB on July 14 won a $450 million contract to supply high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter stations at both ends of the North Sea Network (NSN), a

In the early 2010s, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) was staring down the barrel of dangerously low reserve margins, a combination of growing demand and an energy-only wholesale market that

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is facing major population growth over the next several decades and, with it, rapidly growing electricity demand. In 2013, the country generated 292.2 TWh of electricity, which

It’s certainly no secret that for many years, the power industry has been a top target for hackers around the world. However, whereas in the past, many of these attacks were relatively easy to block using

Gas-fired power is hot, at least in North America, and quite a few smaller utilities and generators that have never owned a gas turbine plant have begun looking at building one. For large investor-owned companies with plenty of institutional experience in power plant construction, it may be business as usual, but for smaller firms that […]

An official four-year-long investigation into the Solyndra debacle confirms that the bankrupt maker of cylindrical solar photovoltaic panels misled the Department of Energy (DOE) to get a $535 million federal loan guarantee, but it also reveals that the DOE didn’t properly vet those facts, missing opportunities to catch inaccuracies, possibly due to political pressure. The […]

The Department of Interior (DOI) has approved the 485-MW Blythe Mesa Solar project, a photovoltaic (PV) project that will be built in Riverside County, Calif. RRG Renewables’ project will be built on 3,587 acres of private land—”primarily lands that have already been disturbed by agricultural use,” the agency pointed out—under the jurisdiction of Riverside County […]

The U.S. and China on Tuesday finalized a memorandum of understanding that will allow them to jointly advance carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) and other clean coal technologies for commercial use.  The agreement between the Department of Energy (DOE) and China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) was set up on Aug. 26 during the U.S.–China […]

Kyushu Electric Power Co.’s restart of Sendai 1—the first Japanese reactor to begin operation under new safety standards after the Fukushima disaster—hit a technical hiccup last week, prompting the company to halt ramp up of power output. The utility said on Aug. 21 that it had suspended increasing output at the unit after an alarm […]

The final hurdle for Exelon Corp.’s purchase of Pepco Holdings Inc. (PHI) became the ultimate stumbling block, as the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia (DCPSC) could not be persuaded that the merger was in the public interest. The DCPSC—an independent agency established by Congress to regulate electric, natural gas, and telecommunications companies […]

Southern Co. and AGL Resources—the largest natural gas–only distribution company in the U.S.—have agreed to merge in a deal that will make AGL Resources a wholly-owned subsidiary of the giant electric company. The transaction announced on Aug. 24 has an enterprise value of about $12 billion, including a total equity value of approximately $8 billion. […]

The power generation industry is undergoing a period of rapid transformation. A growing number of operators are considering the adoption of condition-based maintenance (CBM).  This whitepaper discusses the forces that are driving demand for CBM, how CBM works and why it is an effective alternative to planned maintenance strategies.
Find out more about CBM for Power

U.S. wind power is becoming more widespread and costs are generally on the decline, but the sector is troubled by policy uncertainties, a new report from the Energy Department says.   After a lackluster year in 2013, wind power capacity additions in the U.S. rebounded nearly 8% in 2014, driven by recent improvements in the […]

On August 3, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a much-anticipated suite of regulations, featuring the final Clean Power Plan’s guidelines for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing power plants under Clean Air Act section 111(d). This package has sparked great interest, and early reactions run the gamut from enthusiastic support to entrenched opposition. […]

Nearly two years after Japan’s last nuclear power plant was shut down for safety checks, Kyushu Electric Power Co. has started up the 890-MW Sendai-1. The event marks a significant milestone for the country’s nuclear sector, which was crippled by the Fukushima disaster in 2011.  Kyushu started up Sendai-1 at 10:30 a.m. local time and […]

Though most power generators and states might have preferred to not deal at all with a new rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions, the final Clean Power Plan (CPP), released August 3, gives most of the power industry most of what it asked for in terms of revisions to the 2014 proposed plan. In any regulatory […]

In a deal said to be the largest ever involving electric cooperatives, a group of 12 cooperatives completed the purchase of Alliant Energy’s electric service territory in southern Minnesota, which serves more than 43,000 customers. The agreement was signed in September 2013 between Interstate Power and Light Co. (IPL)—Alliant’s Iowa utility—and Southern Minnesota Energy Cooperative […]

Ameren Missouri has dropped plans to build a second nuclear unit at its Callaway Energy Center, citing shaky economics in the context of cheaper renewables, low demand, and other factors for its decision. “While we continue to believe nuclear power must be an important clean energy source for our company and country, as evidenced by […]

Australia Slashes Its Renewable Target to 33 TWh. The parliament of coal-rich Australia on June 23 approved legislation to slash the country’s Renewable Energy Target from 41 TWh to 33 TWh. The contentious bill passed after a compromise agreement in May (see “Australian Lawmakers Strike RET Deal” in POWER’s July 2015 issue). Australia’s RET, which […]

Courtesy: SaskPower There was no debate among our editorial team when it came to selecting the most interesting and worthy project worldwide for this year’s top award. Boundary Dam Power Station Unit 3 is the world’s first operating coal-fired power plant to implement a full-scale post-combustion carbon capture and storage system. It did so more […]