Business

ABB to Refurbish Generators at Two Swiss Hydro Plants. ABB on April 20 said it had received $20 million of orders from two power utilities managed by Axpo, a leading Swiss power utility, to refurbish the generators at two of its hydroelectric power plants. The plants are located in the mountainous canton of Wallis (Valais) […]

In March, Cambridge Energy Research Associates hosted its 30th annual CERAWeek, a conference that is renowned for high-profile attendees from around the world.

Industrial control systems (ICSs) manage global industrial infrastructures, including electric power systems, by measuring, controlling, and providing a view of control processes that once were visible to the operator but now are not. Frequently, ICSs are not viewed as computers that must operate in a secure environment, nor are they often considered susceptible to cybersecurity threats. However, recent cybersecurity failures have proven these assumptions wrong.

Dr. Daniel Yergin, chairman of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, is a Pulitzer Prize–winning author; leading authority on energy, international politics, and economics; and a recipient of the United States Energy Award for “lifelong achievements in energy and the promotion of international understanding.” He recently spoke with POWER about his latest book—and more.

The March 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami that destroyed a number of Japanese power plants—most notably, four nuclear units—hit quickly. Almost as speedy were calls to take all other nuclear units out of service for safety reviews. What will take much longer is developing a new, sustainable energy plan to fill the generation gap left by a potential total lack of nuclear power.

Online learning is opening up new opportunities for those unable to attend classes on campuses. Bismarck State College and the University of North Dakota, for example, offer innovative online courses and degree programs to students who want successful careers in the electric power industry.

Despite a quiet 2011, this year promises to be one of the biggest for power industry mergers in quite some time—if FERC lets it happen.

Scaling back and outright expiration of government subsidies will make financing renewable energy projects more difficult in the future, according to experts at the law firm of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo. But there will still be a greater appetite for renewables than there is supply, so it should still be possible to find the funds to build the projects.

Consider state clean energy funds as potential replacement funding sources for future clean energy projects.

The end of the long-running flap over access to markets for rare earth minerals may be in sight, driven by a combination of political and diplomatic pressure at high levels and the normal workings of the marketplace.


The power industry has not done a good job grooming and mentoring the next generation of leaders and, as a result, is facing a leadership gap as the current generation approaches retirement, two executive search professionals told MANAGING POWER. While prospects for entry-level recruitment have improved, it will be five to 20 years before this cohort is ready to lead. In the near term, a renewed focus on grooming future leaders is critical.

Lack of customer participation—or outright customer resistance—is likely to kill at least one of your utility’s strategic initiatives. Perhaps it already has. But utilities can take a variety of easy steps to prevent the wounding or premature death of strategic initiatives such as smart meters, new rate and efficiency programs, or capital construction projects.

Washington’s greenhouse gang has learned that global warming is a losing issue. They’re back with a new strategy.


Three South Korean Firms Opt for MHI’s J-Series Turbines. Japanese firms Marubeni Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) on March 22 said they had been jointly awarded orders for three large-scale combined cycle electric power projects in Korea totaling 3,800 MW. The plants are the 950-MW 2nd Pyeongtaek Combined Cycle Power Plant, the 1,900-MW Dongducheon […]

Unpredictable periods of operation are one of the disadvantages of wind and solar technologies. If there were an economic means of storing the energy from the time of production to the time of demand, the value of renewable energy sources would greatly increase. Here are some ideas for how to bridge that gap.

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CSP Giants Form Alliance. Concentrating solar power companies Abengoa, BrightSource Energy, and Torresol Energy in early March formed the Concentrating Solar Power Alliance, an organization dedicated to educating U.S. regulators, utilities, and grid operators about the unique benefits of concentrating solar power (CSP) and of thermal energy storage. The U.S. has more than 500 MW […]

A year has passed since Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was destroyed by earthquake and tsunami. What is the economic price Japan must pay?

Chinese state entity State Grid Corp. of China (SGCC) and battery maker BYD in January said they had finished construction on what they call “the world’s largest battery energy storage station”—a project in Zhangbei, Hebei Province that combines 100 MW of wind and 40 MW of solar capacity, a smart power transmission system, and 36 MWh of energy storage in arrays “larger than a football field.”

Putting more money and effort into information and information technology will pay solid returns when it comes to understanding and adapting to the world around us, including our changing climate.

A new project planned by RWE and partners Nexans, the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT), and Jülich is poised to mark another milestone for high-temperature superconductor (HTS) cable technology, which transports electricity without losses when cooled down to about –200C (–392F).

The energy trading business is changing as Wall Street adjusts to the requirements of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. What does that mean to you?

The ambitious Desertec project—a $9 billion initiative to develop, harness, and transmit 2,000 MW of renewable power from North Africa and the Middle East to Europe by 2050—has been trumped by a vaster concept that spans Asia and Australia.

Is your organization being held back by a “server hugger?”

RusHydro Inaugurates New Unit at Restored Sayano-Shushenskaya Hydropower Plant. RusHydro —a hydroelectricity company that is majority-owned by the Russian Federation—announced in mid-December that it had put its first brand new hydropower unit into commercial operation at its Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant on the Yenisei River, near Sayanogorsk in the Republic of Khakassia. Following the catastrophic accident […]

Eliminating the negative and accentuating the positive in the workplace. Here’s the roadmap.

The Philippine Coal Plant Users’ Group (PCPUG), the leading nonprofit organization involved in generating electricity in the Philippines, recently held a conference introducing its mission and vision.

The EU has poured billions of dollars in support of the development of wind and solar projects over the past decade. Have the Europeans now lost their appetite for all things green?

A universal reality for U.S. power generation developers is the challenge of obtaining funding in today’s tight credit markets.

For the past 15 years, Vietnam has enjoyed enviable gross domestic product increases, averaging 7% annually. That kind of economic growth increases power demand, but financing new capacity remains a challenge. Reaching its ambitious capacity growth goals will require Vietnam to expand its financing and vendor base, attract foreign investment, and ensure future fuel supplies in a region thick with competition for those resources.