Coal

TREO 2000 uses the latest AES fiber technology to enhance safety and thermal performance INDEPENDENCE, VA, October 6, 2020 – McAllister Mills, a global leader in the manufacture of precision-engineered thermal fabrics and products, has introduced TREO® 2000, the company’s newest bio-soluble high-temperature blanket that uses the latest in AES (alkaline earth silica) fiber technology. […]

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – October 6, 2020 – Mississippi Lime Company’s Ste. Genevieve location received the National Mining Association (NMA) 2019 Sentinels of Safety Award for outstanding safety performance in the Large Underground Nonmetal category. Recipients of the award are normally recognized at an annual event hosted by NMA, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released a report that says retrofitting the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station (SJGS) in New Mexico with carbon capture technology would bring more jobs and tax revenue to the region than replacing the power plant with renewable energy. Deputy Secretary of Energy Mark Menezes presented the report’s findings […]

All power plants have a finite useful life. Thus, there will come a time at every facility when the unit must be retired and the decommissioning process undertaken. Decisions must be made on who will do the

Though a lesser discussed power-to-x solution, power-to-heat technologies are already mature, commercially available, and market competitive. And they are already making an impact on the power sector. Much

Swedish energy company Vattenfall, mining company LKAB, and steel manufacturer SSAB in September started the world’s first pilot plant to produce “fossil-free” steel in Lulea, Sweden (Figure 3). As part

Enel Ready to Close Italian Coal Plants. Enel, Italy’s largest power generator, said it wants to close three coal-fired units in the coming months as part of the company’s complete exit from coal. Enel

The U.S. power industry lacks forward-looking ways to measure grid resiliency and traditional reliability metrics could become irrelevant as more intermittent generation inundates the bulk power system. But rather than continually looking backward to learn from ever-increasing emergencies or close-shaves, power system operators must work to cultivate a balanced portfolio that considers all aspects of […]

Chinese President Xi Jinping said he wants his country to “achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.” It will not be an easy task for the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG). China, though it has canceled some planned thermal power plants over the past several years, has as much as 200 GW of coal-fired facilities […]

GE said it will exit the new-build coal power market, subject to applicable consultation requirements. “GE’s Steam Power business will work with customers on existing obligations as it pursues this exit, which may include divestitures, site closings, job impacts and appropriate considerations for publicly held subsidiaries,” the company said in a Sept. 21 announcement. It […]

AKRON, Ohio–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) (NYSE: BW) announced today that its B&W Thermal segment will design, manufacture and supply new superheater components for a B&W Universal Pressure supercritical (highly efficient) boiler at Luminant’s Oak Grove Power Plant near Franklin, Texas. The plant provides low-emissions power to more than one million central Texas homes and […]

The use of coal for North American power generation will continue to decline, natural gas will continue as the leading source of power, and the use of renewable resources to provide electricity will continue to grow, according to a report from Hitachi ABB Power Grids. The outlook, titled “North America Power Reference Case: Spring 2020” […]

Carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) is widely viewed as a necessary technology to facilitate the continued use of fossil fuels in light of climate change concerns around the world. One company that has been highly focused on CCUS research and development, as well as deployment of the technology, is Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). Tiffany […]

AKRON, Ohio–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) (NYSE: BW) announced today that its B&W Environmental segment will supply a patented ash-handling solution to help a Wisconsin utility meet state and federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines. B&W Environmental will design and manufacture two patented Allen-Sherman-Hoff® Submerged Grind Conveyor (SGC) systems for We Energies’ Oak Creek Power […]

A German plan to provide coal-fired power plant operators with money to offset financial losses, part of the country’s plan to incentivize the closure of coal plants as part of Germany’s plan to exit the fuel, has led energy giant Vattenfall to say it could close its 1.6-GW Moorburg coal plant in Hamburg by the […]

South Korea’s president said the country will shutter 30 more coal-fired power plants by 2034, and bring additional solar and wind power resources online in the next five years in order to meet emissions reductions targets. President Moon Jae-in made the announcement Sept. 8 in a speech he delivered virtually for the United Nations’ International […]

Construction of the 10-MW Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) pilot plant in San Antonio, Texas, is inching along, and developers in July announced that the building to house the innovative

Milestone for First 700-MW Domestically Built Indian Nuclear Reactor. Unit 3 of the Kakrapar nuclear power plant in the Indian state of Gujarat—an indigenously designed 700-MW pressurized heavy water reactor

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a rule that revises regulations for coal-fired power plants, a move that will limit the number of generation facilities that could incur costs for failing to comply with pollution limits. The action on Aug. 31 revises a rule established in 2015, when the EPA issued an order […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has moved to redesignate four new areas of Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and Texas as being in attainment of air quality standards for sulfur dioxide (SO2).  The proposed actions issued over the past week provide a potential reprieve for several coal power plants, which would have needed costly pollution controls to […]

Analysis from a global energy organization said power generation from coal-fired units fell 8.3% in the first half of 2020, with the world’s coal fleet running at less than half its capacity. The drop for U.S. coal generation was more steep, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reporting the output from the nation’s coal […]

Investors in the global power and utilities sector embraced agendas that created long-term value during the first half of this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic roiled the world. Recent activity points to several interesting trends that will likely persist in a post-crisis world and may even accelerate change in the sector, new analyses from global […]

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) are teaming on a notable five-year-long initiative to accelerate development and demonstrate low-carbon technologies that they say are needed to help private companies and governments achieve increasingly ambitious decarbonization goals by 2050. The Low-Carbon Resources Initiative (LCRI), officially launched on Aug. 10, is […]

It’s an article of faith in large parts of the U.S.—at least among power industry people—that organized and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)–regulated “merchant” interstate power markets are the best way to ensure a sufficient supply of electricity, as well as to ensure fair and equitable prices for ratepayers. On that basis, large areas of […]

Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), New Jersey’s giant utility, has become the latest major U.S. power company to seek an exit from the competitive generation business.  In a statement attached to the company’s second-quarter 2020 earnings results released on July 31, Ralph Izzo, PSEG chairman, president, and CEO, said the company is “exploring strategic alternatives” […]

U.S. utilities have made a significant move away from coal-fired power generation in the past decade, evidenced by a continuing stream of announced coal plant retirements. That transition has been partly driven by new generation from renewable resources, such as wind and solar power. New data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released August 5, […]

A remarkable retrofit at Xuzhou Unit 3 boosted the 320-MW subcritical coal unit’s efficiency to beyond 43.56%—higher than all existing Chinese supercritical units, and even many ultrasupercritical units

Coal power may be struggling in some parts of the world, but it’s doing just fine in China. New plants are coming online featuring state-of-the-art technology. Two ultrasupercritical units added at the