Business

Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser told a German newspaper the company will not reduce its workforce despite the economic downturn due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Kaeser, in an interview published April 11, said the company would likely continue having some employees work fewer hours at some of its facilities in Germany, and could extend that […]

Xcel Energy on April 6 announced the sale of the 760-MW Mankato Energy Center (MEC) gas-fired power plant in Minnesota, less than three months after purchasing the plant for $650 million from Southern Co. Xcel had said the MEC was an important piece of the utility’s goal to be carbon-free by 2050. Xcel reached a […]

Support Directed to First Responders, Community Relief Funds, and Teachers NRG Energy CEO, Mauricio Gutierrez, shares details of the company’s $2 million donation supporting COVID-19 relief efforts PRINCETON, N.J. – As the battle to contain the COVID-19 pandemic continues, NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NRG) announces broad efforts to aid those on the front lines of […]

Westminster, Colorado (April 9, 2020) – Tri-State has achieved a significant milestone in its transition to be a more flexible and even cleaner power supplier through its transformative Responsible Energy Plan. The cooperative’s board of directors, representing each utility member, approved a new partial requirements contract option that will deliver its utility members the flexibility […]

The need to reduce carbon emissions is real. In 2018, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that global emissions would need to reach net-zero (or carbon-neutral) by 2050 to prevent severe climate change impacts. Electricity is a major contributor—electricity generation was responsible for approximately 33% of total CO2 emissions in the U.S. in […]

Scientists at SSC RF TRINITI JSC, a subsidiary of Rosatom’s science division, this week announced they have developed a method of disinfecting and sterilizing medical instruments, clothing, equipment, and facilities using mobile devices for the production of concentrated ozone. The action is one of several initiatives undertaken by Rosatom, the Moscow-based Russian state nuclear corporation, […]

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) latest annual energy flow chart suggests that in 2019, for the second year in a row, wind and solar made up the largest increases in U.S. energy supply, but American consumption of energy fell after a record year in 2018. The national lab’s annual U.S. energy flow chart, or Sankey […]

esVolta, a developer and owner of utility-scale energy storage projects across North America, has been selected to deliver a new Lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery energy storage system for California Choice Energy Authority (CalChoice), a hybrid joint powers authority made up of five operational community choice aggregations (CCAs) in the cities of Lancaster, Pico Rivera, Rancho Mirage, […]

April 8, 2020 – Framatome was awarded a contract to deliver the reactor protection system for units 1 and 2 at the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant II in Russia. The contract includes planning, designing, manufacturing and implementing the system. This contract builds on the 2018 memorandum of understanding Framatome signed with Rusatom Automated Control Systems (RASU), a […]

PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest regional transmission organization (RTO), is intensifying its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, preparing campuses for worker sequestration and closely coordinating with generators and transmission owners across its system as they grapple with workforce and supply impacts. Although most of PJM’s employees—with the exception of system operators and other essential personnel—are […]

It’s a rite of spring for the U.S. nuclear power industry. Plant operators schedule refueling outages, taking a reactor offline not only to refuel but also to perform repairs or other maintenance, and facility upgrades. It’s a task made more problematic this year, as social distancing and travel restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic […]

The start of a new decade marks a critical moment for utilities. As the pace of change accelerates, industry leaders are facing choices that will determine which companies prosper in the new competitive landscape and which languish as slow-growth commodity businesses. West Monroe’s 2020 Energy and Utilities Outlook provides a guide to planning for a […]

The coronavirus pandemic is altering the power landscape, with utilities and other power generators forced to adjust for load disruptions. Power consumption is changing as commercial and industrial electricity users close their businesses, and load is shifting to the residential sector with workers now settled in home offices, and students practicing remote and distance learning. […]

As part of POWER magazine’s in-depth coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, its editors are curating a list of resources that may provide actionable information helpful to anyone involved in the world’s vast bulk power systems. Please write to editor@powermag.com if you know of additional resources that should be added to this page.  POWER Magazine’s Live […]

Siemens Energy completed “first fire” at Duke Energy’s Lincoln Combustion Turbine Station near Denver, North Carolina, on April 6. The accomplishment is a major milestone for the world’s first SGT6-9000HL gas turbine, confirming the engine and auxiliary systems, including the gas supply, lube oil system, control system, and startup systems, all work as designed. During […]

The U.S. power sector is rallying together to implore state and local governments to treat sector-wide “mission-essential employees” with higher priority and ensure they have top-level access to testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) amid the intensifying COVID-19 pandemic. In a four-page April 2 white paper presumably addressing federal leadership, the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council […]

Federal regulators with oversight over U.S. power matters have issued a series of actions over recent weeks to respond to the potentially devastating impact that COVID-19, the new coronavirus, could have on North American power workforce operations and reliability. POWER will update this post regularly with COVID-19 response news and documents from federal and state […]

Operators of the world’s nuclear reactors are doing more than keeping the lights during the coronavirus pandemic. Along with taking steps to protect their workforce, and having plans in place to keep their facilities running at a time of critical need for power, they also are using nuclear technologies to detect and fight COVID-19. From […]

This moment is like nothing we’ve seen before in our lifetimes—impacting all our communities and disrupting lives everywhere. We are all concerned for our loved ones and our future. In our business, given the nature of what we do and, in turn, the basic but essential actions we help enable others to do—turn on the lights, refrigerate […]

UK-based bolt tensioning experts TensionPro has launched HYCOBOLT, an advanced hydraulic coupling bolt designed to deliver high performance torque transmission for critical load rotating shafts and couplings.HYCOBOLT is direct retrofit replacement to conventional fitted bolts on rotating machinery, providing significant benefits through both operational improvements in coupling performance and time saving during plant maintenance periods. Unlike conventional […]

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management said it continues to work on issuing a permit for a $1 billion solar power project in Nevada, after already missing two deadlines to move the project forward. The proposed 690-MW Gemini solar farm in Nevada is one of the country’s largest proposed solar projects. It would be operated […]

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd. (MHPS) has begun commissioning T-Point 2, its newest combined cycle power plant validation facility that will eventually host the company’s much-watched autonomous combined cycle power project. The 566-MW facility at Takasago Works in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, will replace the iconic  T-Point facility, which MHPS’s parent company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) completed […]

At Indeck, safety has always been one of our top priorities. Thus, our response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been to take proactive and necessary measures to protect the health and safety of our employees, our communities, and our customers. We will continue to serve our customers and ensure reliability throughout these unprecedented times. We […]

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (April 2, 2020) – The PPL Foundation will donate $300,000 to a dozen agencies providing COVID-19 relief efforts across central and eastern Pennsylvania, including the Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lehigh Valley, Poconos and Susquehanna Valley regions. “We are committed to helping our neighbors through these difficult times,” said Ryan Hill, president of the PPL Foundation. […]

Energy companies and equipment suppliers to the power generation industry have been at the forefront of efforts to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. Utilities have suspended shutoffs of services to customers impacted by the economic crisis, and have instituted protocols to maintain proper staffing levels to ensure the reliable delivery of electricity during a time when […]

A project to outfit an existing natural gas power plant with a “large-scale” carbon capture facility got its legs on April 2 with the finalization of key investment agreements. Private equity investment firm Starwood Energy Group Global and global investment fund OGCI Climate Investments announced Thursday they had finalized agreements to co-invest in the initial […]

Industry responses to a Level 2 alert on contingency planning issued by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) early last month suggest the “vast majority” of registered participants in the North American bulk power system are well prepared for the COVID-19 crisis.  NERC, the interconnected bulk power system’s Electric Reliability Organization (ERO), has underscored […]

PARUZZARO, Italy (April 1, 2020) – SPIG S.p.A. (SPIG), a subsidiary of Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. (B&W) (NYSE: BW), has been awarded a contract by BASF Antwerp NV for more than $3 million to design and supply two cooling towers for the company’s plant in Antwerp, Belgium. BASF Antwerp NV is one of the […]

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) unprecedented temporary policy to relax enforcement of noncompliance with certain environmental rules in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has provoked an impassioned response from industry experts, environmental groups, and from the agency itself. As POWER reported, the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) on March 26 adopted a […]

Newly formed Kurita America aims to change how water treatment solutions are designed and delivered  (April 1, 2020)  Nakano-ku, Japan – Kurita Water Industries, (Kurita), a leading global provider of water treatment products and services, today announced the completion of the merger of its consolidated subsidiaries in the United States, including U.S. Water Services, Inc., […]