Coal

COMMENTARY Texas has the most wind capacity of any state, generating about 16% of its electricity from wind. In August, as temperatures rose above 100F and consumers increased their use of air conditioning, Texas’ grid operators struggled to meet the record demand for electricity. Many of the wind turbines could not operate because the wind […]

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 […]

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 […]

A coalition of nine utility companies is suing the Trump administration over its plan to replace the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. New York-based Consolidated Edison said the Affordable Clean Energy, or ACE, rule undermines efforts the companies already have in place to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power generation. The companies, who call their group […]

Five-Year Extension of Services Provided to Miami Fort and Zimmer Power Plants in Ohio LOUISVILLE, KY (September 10, 2019) – Charah® Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: CHRA) (the “Company”), a leading provider of environmental and maintenance services to the power generation industry, today announced that it recently was awarded a contract extension to provide byproduct sales and […]

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) wants to cap its liabilities from damages caused by California wildfires at about $18 billion, according to the reorganization plan filed by the bankrupt utility September 9 in federal court in San Francisco. The amount is less than half what creditors, including insurance companies and wildfire victims, say they are […]

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) reportedly will soon file a restructuring plan that includes more than $14 billion in equity commitments, as the utility looks to recover from billions of dollars in liabilities tied to its role in California wildfires that caused the company to file the largest utility bankruptcy in U.S. history. Bloomberg on […]

Power generation from natural gas is expected to rise in Pennsylvania over the next few years, according to the state Public Utility Commission’s (PUC’s) annual report on generation and transmission and distribution capacity released in late August. The PUC’s “Electric Power Outlook for Pennsylvania 2018-2023” report made public last week projects gas-fired power generation will […]

As of August 2019, 29 U.S. states and the District of Columbia had renewable portfolio standards (RPSs), and eight others had non-binding renewable portfolio goals. Three states also had clean energy standards, which set targets for low-carbon non-renewables, like nuclear, and two had clean energy goals. Our monthly infographic in September 2019 shows how shares for each […]

As of August 2019, 29 U.S. states and the District of Columbia had renewable portfolio standards (RPSs), and eight others had non-binding renewable portfolio goals. Three states also had clean energy standards, which set targets for low-carbon non-renewables, like nuclear, and two had clean energy goals. Shown in the bars below are the shares of generation by source […]

Pumps and pumping systems have multiple applications in power plants, and are generally centrifugal and positive displacement pumps. Centrifugal pumps use an impeller to move fluid through the application

This year, it seems hardly a week has gone by without a new report making us even more nervous about climate change. It’s as if the editorial theme for 2019 was: “It’s worse than you thought.” Maybe

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has an ambitious plan to rebuild the country’s power grid, as his government tries to jump-start the slow pace of growth in Africa’s largest economy. Buhari and Siemens

Economic power plant operation includes keeping maintenance costs under control, and operating the plant efficiently. Boiler surfaces need to be kept as clean as possible to increase heat transfer and decrease

Sonic sootblowers and acoustic cleaners were once thought to be a last-chance alternative to difficult ash build-up problems. However, the technology has proven to be effective over years of service in

Power plant operators are always looking for ways to boost performance. A combustion optimizer designed to improve efficiency and lower emissions could help. It supports more flexible operation of boilers by

There have been a lot of changes in how power plants do business. As financial pressure mounts and lean-staffing strategies are implemented, finding time to do all the work that needs to be done can be a

IHI Corporation (IHI), in cooperation with Steinmüller Engineering GmbH (SE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of IHI having a profound technical knowledge of boilers for thermal power generation, has concluded a Long Term Service Agreement (LTSA) for a period of 6 years with Safi Energy Company (SafiEC)(*1), a power generation company in the Kingdom of Morocco (Morocco). […]

German officials on Aug. 28 approved a plan to spend as much as €40 billion ($44.4 billion) over the next 20 years on projects designed to lessen the impact of the country’s complete move away from coal-fired power generation. Peter Altmaier, the country’s economy minister, said the money will become available after lawmakers pass legislation […]

“I hate to see things going out along party lines,” Cheryl LaFleur, outgoing commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), told POWER during an exclusive interview. “During my 35 years of watching FERC, that has not been the pattern.” During the early years of the Obama administration, “we didn’t think of ourselves as [partisan],” […]

Austin, TX (August 22, 2019) – Drillinginfo, a leading energy SaaS and data analytics company, announced today that it has changed its corporate name to Enverus. Marking both the company’s 20thanniversary and surpassing $300 million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), the new name and brand better reflects the company’s identity as a leading data, analytics, and […]

Vistra Energy will shutter four coal-fired power plants—a total 2 GW—as required by Illinois’ recently revised Multi-Pollutant Standard (MPS) rule, but CEO Curtis Morgan noted the move was “inevitable” due to the changing regulatory environment and unfavorable economic conditions in the MISO market.  The company on Aug. 21 said it will close the 54-year-old 915-MW […]

New guidance issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Aug. 20 to help states prepare for the second implementation period of the federal regional haze program puts emphasis on “discretion and flexibilities” they can use to comply with long-standing mandates to protect visibility in federal areas.   While it is not binding, the EPA’s […]

COMMENTARY At this point, one thing should be abundantly clear about the Trump administration’s theme on energy policy: the president will do whatever it takes to prop up coal, even if the market and the public choose otherwise. The Trump administration’s latest pro-coal gambit is the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) so-called Affordable Clean Energy rule, […]

The president of a company developing two new natural gas-fired power plants in Ohio said he is ending a project for a third plant there after lawmakers passed legislation to help two struggling nuclear generation facilities in the state. Bill Siderewicz, who leads Massachusetts-based Clean Energy Future LLC, on August 20 in a statement said […]

Utilities have offered demand response programs for years, in many cases offering rebates or other compensation to customers willing to allow the utility to reduce their household or business power consumption at certain times of the day. Other companies are moving forward with their own programs, seeking a piece of the growing market for automation […]

The Farmington, New Mexico, city council on Aug. 15 unanimously approved a deal to transfer 95% of the ownership interest of the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station (SJGS) to Enchant Energy, a company run by executives of a New York-based hedge fund that wants to utilize what it calls “state-of-the-art environmental technology” to capture carbon […]

The CA76NA and CA80SI analyze boiler feedwater, steam, condensate and ion exchangers — making them a great fit for power industry applications. August 15, 2019—Endress+Hauser announces two analyzers for power industry applications: the CA76NA monitors sodium, while the CA80SI analyzes for silica in boiler feedwater, steam, condensate and ion exchangers. Each analyzer can accept up […]

SOMERSET, NJ (August 15, 2019) – BEUMER Group, an industry leader in the design and manufacture of conveying and loading systems, announced today that it has been selected to provide design/build services for a new recycled ash pipe conveyor system at the A.B. Brown Generating Station located near Mount Vernon, Indiana, owned by Vectren, a CenterPoint […]

San Antonio-based Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) said on Aug. 12 it will get $3 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and another $760,658 from an assortment of industry giants to design a large-scale flameless pressurized oxy-fuel combustion pilot plant.  The announcement is a major boost for the promising, but yet unproven technology, that […]