Engineering

Days after Poland chose Westinghouse to supply its AP1000 technology to the country’s first nuclear plant in Pomerania, northern Poland, the government and two Polish energy firms signed a letter of intent with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) to “push ahead” with development of a second nuclear plant based on APR1400 technology in Pątnów, […]

U.S. solar developers can address a number of crucial underperformance issues identified in kWh Analytics’ Solar Risk Assessment: 2022 through the adoption of pre-build resource assessments that utilize site-based measurement campaigns, according to Fulcrum 3D. kWh Analytics’ Solar Risk Assessment: 2022 report called on the U.S. solar industry to identify new solutions to issues causing underperformance across the industry. Despite […]

China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment on Aug. 2 gave Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) the green light to commission the experimental 2-MWth thorium-based molten salt reactor (TMSR-LF1) at

AUSTIN, Texas (Oct. 26, 2022) – Emerson, a global software and engineering leader, has released a new version of its DeltaV™ distributed control system (DCS). Version 15 of the DeltaV DCS helps plants digitally transform operations through improved production optimization and enhanced operator performance. New software designed to reduce the burden of IT support and […]

Innovative concept leverages decades of expertise in fusion research and development San Diego, Oct. 20, 2022 – Today, General Atomics (GA) announced a new concept for a fusion pilot plant (FPP) to deliver clean, safe, and economically viable fusion energy. GA’s FPP concept utilizes a steady-state, compact advanced tokamak design approach, where the fusion plasma […]

Westinghouse and Ansaldo Energia’s Switzerland-based nuclear arm, Ansaldo Nucleare, will cooperate in developing a nuclear power plant based on lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) technology. The two companies, which have separately spearheaded the development of fast-reactor designs, said they will advance a common design “to maximize synergies, combine experience in design, testing and licensing, and align […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE)’s latest Energy Earthshot will seek to cut the cost of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) to $45/MWh by 2035, an ambitious goal that would shave current EGS costs by 90%. The DOE’s latest Energy Earthshot—part of a 2021-research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) initiative it launched to accelerate breakthroughs for emerging technologies—will […]

CORE POWER announced that it and its partners, the MIT Energy Initiative and the Idaho National Laboratory, were granted funding by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) for a three-year study into the development of offshore floating nuclear power generation in the U.S. “It is an important step forward for […]

Two major U.S. gas power plants will be part of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) efforts to develop carbon capture technologies capable of capturing at least 95% of carbon dioxide.  The agency’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) on Aug. 26 announced $31 million in funding for 10 projects. While many of the […]

When a sinkhole was discovered near the base of the Boone Dam embankment, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s dam safety engineers went to work determining the best fix. The complexity of the work and quality

When Swedish company Vattenfall in 2018 set out to combine wind, solar, and battery storage resources at this pioneering energy park in the Netherlands, its foremost focus was to demonstrate a clean energy

Nuclear power plant outages are filled with intense work and tight schedules. A feedwater heater replacement project at Duke Energy’s Oconee station in South Carolina shows how teamwork coupled with

As owners and operators of fossil fuel plants navigate through the energy transition, digital technology offers the opportunity to perform while transforming, balancing the energy trilemma of providing a

Utilities function in the present but must always plan for the future. That’s even more true today, as the rapid pace of change with power generation technologies, and the transition to cleaner forms of energy, means utilities—whether they deal with electricity, natural gas, water, transportation, or are a municipality that pays attention to all those […]

Chair of House Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development Observes Fusion Experiment and Speaks with Early Career Scientists San Diego, August 18th – Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09), Chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, visited General Atomics (GA) and toured the DIII-D National Fusion Facility. While at DIII-D, Rep. Kaptur met […]

HOUSTON, Texas — Burns & McDonnell has been selected to provide engineer-procure-construct (EPC) services for project Texas Waves II, a 30-MW/30-MWh lithium-ion stand-alone battery energy storage system (BESS) in Scurry County, Texas. This battery system will make a meaningful contribution to grid reliability by providing the system operator a backup for lost generation. Additionally, the system […]

A project executed from conception through commissioning with the ideals of shared risk and shared success offers a unique approach to project execution, which could be replicated to keep other power plants in

The use of renewable energy in the agriculture industry is an exciting new frontier that—with the right partners—can bring environmental and economic benefits to farmers, surrounding communities, and the

The Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) trades make up a significant portion of a construction project’s budget, and MEP scope continues to grow in complexity and size as we get further into the 21st century. Depending on the type of project, the MEP scope can account for upwards of a third of an overall project’s […]

Kairos Power, an advanced nuclear reactor developer, has commissioned a molten salt purification plant (MSPP) that will produce “large quantities” of a high-purity coolant for reactors based on its fluoride salt-cooled, high-temperature reactor (KP-FHR) technology. The MSPP, one of the largest of its kind, is located at materials supplier Materion Corp.’s campus in Elmore, Ohio. […]

A novel technology that is surprisingly simple in principle promises to significantly reduce water consumption in evaporative cooling tower systems by capturing water from cooling tower plumes.  Sonal Patel

Three teams comprising some of the most prominent engineering and technology firms in the U.S. will provide initial designs for a fission surface power (FSP) system as part of a federal project to demonstrate a 40-kW nuclear reactor for power applications on the moon. NASA and Battelle Energy Alliance—the contracted entity that manages and operates […]

For most of my childhood growing up in a small town in the foothills of North Carolina, my dad worked in the blanket factory as a supervisor in the labs—working on fabric treatments, dyes, weaves, and all the other things that you’d never think about going into the design of a blanket. On Saturday mornings, […]

A demonstration project at Georgia Power’s 2.5-GW natural gas–fired Plant McDonough-Atkinson facility has validated a natural gas fuel blend with 20% hydrogen by volume on one of its six Mitsubishi Power advanced-class gas turbines. The test, one of the largest of its kind to date, provided an approximately 7% reduction in carbon emissions compared to […]

5,500 SF Facility on 10 Acres in Gillette to spur innovation, jobs in the “Carbon Valley,” which has 165B tons of recoverable coal GILLETTE, Wyo. – June 14, 2022 – The Wyoming Innovation Center (WyIC), a 5,500-square-foot coal commercialization facility, has officially opened in Gillette, Wyo., owner Energy Capital Economic Development (ECED) announced today. The […]

The Department of Defense (DOD) has picked BWX Technologies’ (BWXT’s) microreactor design for its “Project Pele” full-scale transportable prototype. The selection closes out a much-watched contest with X-energy for the contract from the DOD’s Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) to build and operate what could be the nation’s first advanced microreactor.  Lynchburg, Virginia-based BWXT will now […]

The first step to solving a problem is recognizing that one is present. An operations team cannot adequately put a sufficient maintenance plan in place if there is no awareness that maintenance is required. One particular area that used to suffer much more regularly from this lack of diagnosis in a power plant setting is […]

“Cyber-physical systems” are the next generation of closely integrated physical and cyber systems. Several critical systems such as the power grid, autonomous transportation systems, and process control systems are examples of cyber-physical systems. They are liable to be attacked by malicious agents who can compromise the sensor measurements being used to control them. Indeed, there […]

Significant advances in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission are in step with rapid changes to energy systems worldwide. Shortly after POWER magazine began publication in 1882, the competitive

As coal plants are retired, power companies must decide what to do with sites. Some old plants have been added to the National Register of Historic Places and repurposed as commercial or office space, while