Coal

  • CIRCOR | RTK Introduces All-In-One REflex Quick Change Seat Control Valve

    RTK®, a CIRCOR International brand, and an international leader in the design and manufacture of control valves and actuators, introduces the REflex Quick Change Seat Control Valve with REact 30 DC-PoP smart actuator, a flexible all-in-one solution for noise reduction and high pressure drop applications. The REflex QCS Control Valve assembles and disassembles in four […]

  • Energy Northwest Study Makes a Case for SMRs in Future Power Mix

    Deep decarbonization of the U.S. Northwest can be achieved at “manageable” costs by 2045, but only if utility agency Energy Northwest secures zero-emitting firm capacity, such as by relicensing Columbia Generating Station—the sole nuclear plant in the region—and building small modular reactors (SMRs), a new study suggests. The study by San Francisco-based consulting group Energy […]

  • Increasing Automation for Fossil Energy Plants

    An Electric Power Research Institute study has developed a systematic process for introducing sequence automation to fossil power plants. Researchers are now exploring its implementation in case studies. As

  • Backup Power for Critical Loads Can Save Lives and Money

    In a modern economy increasingly dependent on electric power, blackouts can wreak havoc when the loads are critical to life, business, and even a comfortable lifestyle. The problem may be growing, but there

  • Hype and Hope: Artificial Intelligence’s Role in the Power Sector

    Artificial intelligence (AI) is a term power professionals are seeing increasingly to describe sophisticated digital technologies. Could it be the breakthrough that is so highly hyped? There is no argument

  • A Closer Look at Coal Power Plant Impacts

    When I see estimates of premature deaths attributable to coal-fired power plants, I usually take the data with a grain of salt. It’s not that I don’t trust researchers to do their best to calculate the

  • POWER Digest [February 2020]

    Indonesia Readying to Build 145-MW Floating Solar Plant. Pembangkitan Jawa Bali (PJB), a subsidiary of Indonesian state electricity company PT PLN, is planning to begin construction of the $129 million Cirata

  • Endesa to Close Two Giant Spanish Coal Plants

    Endesa on Dec. 27 formally moved to shutter two massive coal-fired power plants—the 1.4-GW As Pontes plant in A Coruña, Galicia, which is the biggest coal-fired power plant in Spain, and the 1.16-GW

  • South Korea Continues Nuclear Phase-out

    South Korea has announced the permanent closure of another nuclear reactor, as the country continues to phase out thermal power generation and increase the use of renewable resources for electricity. The

  • Australia, Long a Uranium Champion, Mulls Nuclear Power

    An Australian federal inquiry last December recommended partially lifting a nationwide ban on nuclear energy, urging that the government pursue a “goal-oriented” and community-focused strategy as it

  • India’s Energy Market Overhaul—Infrastructure, Renewables, and Keeping Coal in the Mix

    India wants to reform its power generation sector, including upgrades to energy infrastructure, and plans to introduce new technology to make its electricity supply more reliable and resilient. It’s part of

  • Policy Support for Carbon Capture Critical to Clean Energy Future

    Analysis by both the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and International Energy Agency shows that achieving a zero-carbon energy system by 2050 will require large-scale deployment of carbon capture

  • The POWER Interview: Benefits of a Smarter Grid

    The smart grid is transforming the way utilities communicate with their customers. Smart grid technology, including control systems and automation that help new technologies work together, supports a power grid that can respond digitally to quickly changing electricity demand. The smart grid enables electricity producers to enhance reliability, availability, and efficiency. It can provide cost […]

  • Cementing Coal Power Phaseout, Germany Sets Out to Shutter 40% of Current Generation Mix

    Germany’s federal cabinet on Jan. 29 approved a nationwide phaseout of coal power generation by 2038, paving the way for the country, which has already initiated a nuclear phaseout, to rely even more heavily on renewables. The federal cabinet’s approval of the “Reduction and Termination of Coal Power Generation” (Gesetz zur Reduzierung und zur Beendigung der […]

  • Verizon and Honeywell enable utilities to more quickly deploy LTE Smart Meters

    BASKING RIDGE, N.J., AND MORRIS PLAINS, N.J., Jan. 29, 2020 — Verizon (NYSE: VZ) has teamed up with Honeywell (NYSE: HON) to help utilities speed up and simplify the deployment of new communication-enabled, intelligent sensors and controls for the smart electric grid. By integrating Verizon’s Managed Connectivity LTE solutions into Honeywell’s next-generation smart meters and […]

  • Bradley Pulverizer Acquired by Lancaster Products Owner

    Allentown, Pennsylvania – Bradley Pulverizer is pleased to announce new ownership.  Lancaster Products & Kercher Enterprises’ owner Curt Snyder acquired the assets of Bradley Pulverizer through an affiliate effective on January 14th, 2020. Bradley Pulverizer specializes in the design, manufacture, and supply of pulverizing systems for fine and semi-fine grinding of hard, friable, abrasive materials for […]

  • Wisconsin Co-op Will Close Coal-Fired Plant

    Wisconsin-based Dairyland Power Cooperative on Jan. 23 said it would close its 345-MW coal-fired Genoa Station No. 3 by year-end 2021. The move comes as the La Crosse-based utility continues to phase out coal-fired power generation while it develops a new, $700-million natural gas-fired plant, and ramps up its use of renewable power sources. The […]

  • EPA to Withdraw Federal Regional Haze Plan for Utah Based on New Analysis

    Citing new technical information gleaned from a more modern modeling analysis, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed to withdraw a federal implementation plan (FIP) to control regional haze from four PacifiCorp coal-fired units in Utah and allow the state to revert to conditions set out in a 2015-submitted state implementation plan (SIP). The agency’s […]

  • Coal Is Out as APS Sets Carbon-Free Goal

    Arizona Public Service (APS) announced Jan. 22 that it plans for all its power generation to be carbon-free by 2050, and also said it plans to produce nearly half its power from renewable sources by 2030. APS joins other U.S. utilities who have put forth similar goals in recent years. APS, which has been criticized […]

  • Wisconsin PSC Backs Construction of Gas-Fired Plant

    Construction of a $700 million natural gas-fired power plant near the Wisconsin-Minnesota border was authorized by Wisconsin regulators on Jan. 16, over the objections of environmental groups who have said the plant is not needed. Dairyland Power Cooperative and Minnesota Power would jointly own the 625-MW Nemadji Trail Energy Center, which on its current timeline […]

  • Sunflower Finally Scraps Plans for 895-MW Kansas Coal Plant

    Sunflower Electric Power Corp. has abandoned plans to build the $2.8 billion Holcomb Expansion after its partner on the 895-MW coal-fired power plant project in Kansas, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, announced it would no longer pursue the project. Sunflower said on Jan. 15 it will allow the project’s air permit, for which it once […]

  • The world’s most powerful boiler feed pump dispatched

    A boiler feed pump with the largest drive rating worldwide was dispatched by the KSB Group based in Frankenthal in late December 2019. It will be used in the coal-fired power plant Pingshan II that is currently being built in Huaibei, China. The supercritical power station employs a new technology that is said to reach […]

  • EIA: Renewables Will Surge Past Coal, Nuclear to 22% of U.S. Power Mix in 2021

    The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its first forecast for 2021 suggests the share of renewables in the utility-scale U.S. power generation mix will surge to 22%, up from 17% last year, while coal and nuclear’s shares will be further diminished. According to the agency’s latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), released Jan. 14, coal’s […]

  • B&W Subsidiary Awarded Retrofit Boiler Equipment Installation Contract for U.S. Power Plant

    (AKRON, Ohio – January 16, 2020) – Babcock & Wilcox Construction Co., LLC (BWCC), a subsidiary of Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. (B&W) (NYSE: BW), has been awarded a contract for more than $5 million to install retrofit boiler equipment at a U.S. coal-fired power plant. BWCC’s project scope includes the removal and installation of […]

  • Beltran Technologies developing advanced WESP for Flue Gas Desulfurization

    Beltran Technologies Inc. recently announced the development of an advanced Wet Electrostatic Precipitator for wet scrubber Flue Gas Desulfurization at power plants. To control particulate, aerosols and visible emissions from wet flue gas desulfurization (WFGD) systems, wet electrostatic precipitators (WESP’s) have to be installed after desulfurization, as the WFGD system is inefficient to remove submicron […]

  • Tri-State Will Close Its Last Coal Units in Colorado, New Mexico

    Colorado-based power cooperative Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association on Jan. 9 announced it will retire its lone New Mexico coal-fired unit by the end of this year, and cease operations of its remaining Colorado coal units, and the company’s coal mine, by 2030. Tri-State, which said the closures will impact about 600 workers, said state […]

  • Starwood Energy Terminates Legacy Power Purchase Agreement For Its Waste Coal Plant In West Virginia

    NEWS PROVIDED BY Starwood Energy Group Global, LLC Jan 06, 2020, 08:00 ET GREENWICH, Conn., Jan. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Morgantown Energy Associates (“MEA”), a company owned by controlled affiliates of Starwood Energy Group Global, LLC (“Starwood”), a leading private investment firm focused on energy infrastructure, announced today that it has terminated its Electric Energy Purchase […]

  • Georgia Power issues Request for Proposals for beneficial-reuse of stored coal ash from closed ash ponds

    Company already recycles more than 75 percent of currently-produced ash NEWS PROVIDED BY Georgia Power Jan 08, 2020, 12:21 ET ATLANTA, Jan. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Georgia Power today announced it is requesting proposals for the beneficial reuse of coal ash stored at active and retired coal-fired power plants across the state. While Georgia Power […]

  • PJM Stakeholders at Odds on Timing for Next Capacity Auction

    PJM Interconnection will not run a base residual auction (BRA) until the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approves recalculated Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR) floor prices for new and existing resources as directed by the federal entity’s ground-shaking Dec. 19 capacity market order. But when that will occur is still highly uncertain. In a presentation […]

  • Deal Announced to Close Louisiana Coal Unit

    The Arkansas Public Service Commission has approved a plan to retire the Dolet Hills power plant, a coal-fired unit in Mansfield, Louisiana that serves part of the state. The decision, reached in December and announced Jan. 8 by the Sierra Club,  came as part of a settlement agreement in a recently concluded Arkansas rate review, […]