Business
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Nuclear
NuScale Partners with ČEZ to Explore SMR Deployment in the Czech Republic
The companies will share technical expertise and explore potential of NuScale’s SMR as a long-term clean energy option for ČEZ PORTLAND, Ore. — Today, NuScale Power announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with ČEZ Group, a leading Czech utility conglomerate, to explore applications for NuScale’s small modular reactor (SMR) as a […]
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Distributed Energy
Signal Energy Creates Subsidiary To Serve The Distributed Generation Energy Market
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Sept. 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Signal Energy, the Chattanooga-based leading engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firm in the renewable energy industry, has created a new subsidiary called Signal Energy DG to serve the distributed generation energy market. Distributed generation power is generated by energy sources like solar panels or wind turbines to create electricity […]
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Connected Plant
ENGIE, Microsoft Seal Innovative ‘Firm Power’ PPA for 230 MW Wind and Solar in Texas
ENGIE, the world’s largest independent power producer, has signed an innovative volume firming agreement (VFA) with Microsoft that will allow the technology giant to buy “firm” power from wind and solar projects in Texas under a specially structured power purchase agreement (PPA). The companies on Sept. 24 said the long-term PPA will allow Microsoft to […]
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News
NRG Aligns Carbon Goals with 1.5-Degree-C Climate Trajectory
NRG Energy has joined a growing list of major U.S. coal generators that want to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. The Princeton, New Jersey-based energy company on Sept. 24 said it would accelerate carbon goals it set in 2014 to reach its 50% GHG reduction target (from a 2014 baseline) by 2025—not […]
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Technology
Using Data to Improve Power Plant Operations [PODCAST]
Power plants have an abundance of data. Temperatures, pressures, flows, and various other parameters are all monitored constantly to ensure plants are operating properly. However, a lot of data is not used to its fullest extent. With the right tools, data can be more-thoroughly analyzed and findings can be acted upon to improve efficiency and […]
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Nuclear
Curtiss-Wright Debuts NRC-Approved Digital Safety Platform
BREA, CA – Curtiss-Wright Corporation has announced the expansion of its digital control systems portfolio with the addition of the Curtiss-Wright Digital Safety System. Built on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)-approved RadICS platform, the Digital Safety System is fully-qualified for nuclear safety-related applications. Curtiss-Wright’s Digital Safety System is an internally diverse, fully-qualified field programmable gate […]
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Gas
GE Announces Second Order for Its New GT26 HE Solution to Boost Efficiency at Drax’s Shoreham Power Station
GE’s GT26 HE upgrade is expected to increase combined-cycle efficiency by about 2.5% and add 44 megawatts of power at baseload at Drax’s Shoreham Power Station GE to implement gas turbine upgrade in 2021 Upgrade unleashes full performance of the GT26 platform through advanced technology from GE’s H-Class, F-Class and additive manufacturing GE’s hardware and […]
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Wind
Tri Global Energy and TERNA ENERGY Announce Commercial Operations of Texas Wind Project
DALLAS, Sept. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Tri Global Energy, LLC, the leading wind developer in Texas and a dominant wind leader in the U.S., and the managers of the Fluvanna Renewable Energy Project, LLC, announced today that project owner and partner, TERNA ENERGY, S.A., has achieved commercial operations on the 158 megawatts (MW) Gopher Creek Wind […]
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Renewables
Clean Tech Leaders Honored at North America Smart Energy Week
Winners of The Cleanie Awards—the only comprehensive awards program focused exclusively on the clean energy industry—were unveiled on Sept. 24 during North America Smart Energy Week in Salt Lake City, Utah. “The Cleanie Awards honors companies and individuals at the forefront of innovation for the clean technology and renewables industries,” said Elyssa Haynes, program director for […]
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Nuclear
Framatome successfully completes feedwater heater replacement at Palo Verde Generating Station
Framatome successfully completed the first of 12 low-pressure feedwater heater replacements at Arizona Public Service’s Palo Verde Generating Station Unit 1 on an expedited schedule during the spring 2019 outage. The remaining replacements will take place over a more than seven-year campaign. “It is rewarding to bring our latest technologies and expertise to support Palo […]
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News
SEIA Unveils ‘Roadmap’ for Increased Solar Power Generation
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) on Sept. 23 released what it calls a roadmap for solar power, among the group’s first steps into a 10-year period that SEIA has dubbed the “Solar+ Decade.” SEIA on Monday in a news release said its initiative puts solar power on a path to provide at least 20% […]
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Press Releases
E.ON Signs Innovative Virtual Power Purchase Agreement with Honda for Offtake from Oklahoma Wind Farm
AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 23, 2019 — As part of the largest-ever renewable energy purchase by the automotive industry, E.ON today announced that it has signed an agreement with Honda for offtake from E.ON’s Boiling Springs Wind Farm. Under the terms of the Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA), Honda has contracted for 120 megawatts (MW) of […]
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Press Releases
Schneider Electric Cuts Five Years from its Carbon Neutrality Goal, Establishing Roadmap for the Carbon Neutral World
New York City (September 23, 2019) — Schneider Electric announced today at Climate Week NYC 2019 that it is drastically stepping up its commitment to carbon neutrality with three new actions: (1) accelerating its 2030 goal of carbon neutrality by demonstrating carbon neutrality in its extended ecosystem by 2025, bringing forward its objective by 5 years […]
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Press Releases
Ansaldo Energia Selected by UAE Independent Power Producer for Full-Scope Combined Cycle Power Plant Service Agreement
Independent Water and Power Producer (IWPP) Taweelah Asia Power Company (TAPCO), one of the largest IWPPs in the Middle East, has awarded Ansaldo Energia a 10-year structured service agreement for their Taweelah New B Extension (TNBE) combined cycle power plant in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. TNBE generates upward of a net 947 MW of […]
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News
FERC GOP Majority Flexes Partisan Muscles for PURPA Reform
The newly empowered Republican majority on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) flexed its administrative muscles Sept. 19 at its regular monthly meeting, voting 2–1 to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to reform rules pertaining to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). It was FERC’s first public meeting since July, when the […]
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News
Duke Energy, American Electric Power Separately Seeking to Go Net-Zero Carbon by 2050
Two formidable U.S. coal power generators this week separately revised their carbon dioxide emissions reduction targets. Duke Energy announced it would achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. American Electric Power (AEP), meanwhile, said it would extend its target from 60% to 70% from 2000 levels by 2030, and by more than 80% by 2050—but it […]
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News
POWER Notebook: Wind Project Will Use Oyster Creek Nuclear Site; Other Solar, Wind Farms Announced
Ocean Wind Gets NJ BPU Backing for Oyster Creek Wind Project. Ocean Wind LLC this month received support from New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to develop a wind project with both offshore and onshore components, with a connection to the grid at the site of the former Oyster Creek nuclear station. Ocean Wind, […]
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News
The POWER Interview: Cryogenic Energy Storage Technology
Highview Power recently unveiled its modular, giga-scale cryogenic energy storage technology, the CRYOBattery™. The company has announced a partnership with Tenaska to help develop four giga-scale plants in the U.S., with the first expected in in Texas. The company also is working on a fifth project in the Midwest. The technology uses ambient air to […]
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Smart Grid
Xcel Energy and Itron Collaborate to Transform Customer Experience and Utility Operations
Xcel to Take Advantage of Distributed Intelligence and Distribution Automation LIBERTY LAKE, Wash. — Sept. 17 — Itron, Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI), which is innovating the way utilities and cities manage energy and water, and Xcel Energy entered an agreement to secure smart meters that will allow for collaboration to improve customer experience and utility operations […]
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Press Releases
WFW advises DBS on Vena Energy 70.2-MW Taiwan solar power project
The Singapore office of Watson Farley & Williams LLP (“WFW”) has acted for DBS Bank (Taiwan) Ltd, in various capacities, and DBS Bank Ltd, Taipei Branch, as lender, regarding term loan and performance bond facilities of up to approximately NT$2.4bn (c. US$77.5m) in aggregate to finance the project and development costs for a 70.2 MW solar power project […]
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News
Vistra Will Close Another Illinois Coal Plant
A Vistra Energy subsidiary on Sept. 16 said it will close the nearly 60-year-old E.D. Edwards coal-fired plant in Bartonville, Illinois, by year-end 2022 under a settlement between the company and environmental groups the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Respiratory Health Association. The groups made a joint announcement Monday of the […]
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Solar
Community Solar Benefits Cooperatives and Customers
For some utilities, community solar is a way to offer consumers access to clean energy without requiring investment in rooftop solar. For others, it presents a means of strategically placing solar resources in the most beneficial locations. Meanwhile, many utilities view it as an opportunity to learn how best to integrate distributed energy resources (DERs). […]
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Plant Design
How to Avoid Common Genset Room Design Mistakes
Reliable power is essential for all facilities, but it is even more critical for places like hospitals, data centers, and military bases. Therefore, many decision-makers are purchasing power generator sets (gensets) to supply their facilities during emergencies. It is crucial to consider where the genset will be positioned and how it will be operated. If […]
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News
IHS: Natural Gas Prices Will Fall Below $2/MMBtu in 2020
Average natural gas prices at Henry Hub in 2020 could fall to below $2/MMBtu —a level “not seen in decades”—owing to a persistent oversupply, a new report from information and analytics firm IHS Markit suggests. Prices could fall despite strong demand for natural gas, both domestically, including for power generation, as well as for exports. […]
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T&D
What Can You Do with a Superconductor? A Lot! [PODCAST]
What is a superconductor? One definition says, “a material that can conduct electricity or transport electrons from one atom to another with no resistance.” “At the base physics level, what a superconductor does is it moves a lot more power per unit volume or per unit weight, so you have a very high energy-dense material […]
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News
Exelon’s Byron 2 Completes First Insertion of Westinghouse Accident-Tolerant Fuel
Exelon’s Byron Unit 2 nuclear power plant has completed installation of EnCore Fuel, Westinghouse Electric Co.’s accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) solution, marking the start of the first test of uranium silicide fuel pellets in a commercial nuclear reactor. The installation, completed during the plant’s scheduled 18-day spring refueling outage this April, but publicly announced on Sept. […]
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News
Three More Nuclear Plant Owners Will Demonstrate Hydrogen Production
FirstEnergy Solutions (FES), Xcel Energy, and Arizona Public Service (APS) will demonstrate hydrogen production at three nuclear plants they own starting in 2020 and 2021. The projects, selected as part of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Nuclear Energy’s Advanced Reactor Development Project funding pathway, aim to improve long-term competitiveness of the nuclear sector […]
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Press Releases
Neoen Announcing Major Hybrid Power Plant
SEPTEMBER 11, 2019 — Renewable energy giant Neoen is expected to announce plans today for a major hybrid power plant in South Australia featuring 1,200 MW of wind, 600MW of solar, and 900 MW of battery storage. Neoen’s Hornsdale wind and battery projects have been important components in South Australia’s emergence as a renewable energy […]
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Plant Design
California’s Largest Battery Storage Installation to Be Installed in Mojave Desert
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and Glendale Water and Power, through the Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA), on May 16, 2019, received SCPPA’s approval on agreements with 8minute Solar Energy (8mSE) for the installation of a 300-MW/1,200-MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) located at 8mSE’s Eland Solar and Storage Center. […]
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Instrumentation & Controls
Hawk Measurement Systems Launches New Radar Transmitter
Hawk Measurement releases a new non-contact radar level transmitter that uses FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) technology. Hawk Measurement Systems (HAWK), a global leader in measurement solutions, has announced the release of their new SENATOR™ Radar Level Transmitter product line. The SENATOR™ Radar Level Transmitter is a non-contact sensor that uses FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous […]