Engineering

  • Understanding Ultrasonic Examination in the Power Industry

    Nondestructive testing (NDT) refers to the inspection of materials to ensure their integrity and serviceability without damaging the components in the process. There are various NDT methods used by inspectors

  • Turbine Bypass Valve Challenges

    Turbine bypass valves are one of the most difficult applications in a power plant. Keeping these valves operating efficiently and avoiding unexpected failures is critical for plant operation. When engineers

  • GE Invests Heavily in Improving Gas Turbine Repair Processes and Combustor Performance

    On the east side of Greenville, South Carolina, sits a 413-acre site with more than one and a half million square feet of manufacturing space and another 70,000 square feet of labs. This is one of the locations where GE Gas Power is working to improve gas turbine technology and repair processes, among other things. […]

  • South Korean Companies Snap Up Opportunities to Advance Floating Nuclear, Nuclear Hydrogen, SMRs

    Days after Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) announced it would participate in a consortium to develop floating nuclear power plants, the owner and operator of South Korea’s 25 nuclear power plants joined forces with TerraPower to bolster the demonstration and commercialization of Natrium, TerraPower’s sodium-cooled fast reactor integrated energy system. The deals were announced […]

  • EGS, AGS, and Supercritical Geothermal Systems: What’s the Difference?

    The spectrum of geothermal technologies is quickly evolving. This supplement to POWER’s April 2023 feature, “Startups Are Shaking Up Geothermal Power’s Potential,” briefly explains the differences between some engineered geothermal systems. Conventional geothermal energy is largely produced by hydrothermal systems, which consist of hot water circulated in deep-seated permeable rocks. Resource temperature ranges from high (greater […]

  • Startups Are Shaking Up Geothermal Power’s Prospects

    Driven by ripe market conditions, technology startups are injecting investment and innovation into geothermal power to unlock novel applications that could substantially scale up the niche renewable power

  • Marnie Surfaceblow: Even Minor Alarms Can Lead to Major Safety Improvements

    When investigating any potential problem, keep your eyes and your mind open to other possible dangers. “I am starting to wonder if you accepted this assignment because of … that,” stated Maya Sharma

  • China Begins Operation of First CGN Hualong One Nuclear Reactor

    The first Hualong One unit, a 1,180-MWe nuclear reactor designed by China General Nuclear (CGN), is now operational at the company’s Guangxi Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Station in western China’s Guangxi Autonomous Region. Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant is 39% owned by Guangxi Investment Group and 61% by CGN. The plant plans to house six 1,000-MWe reactors, […]

  • Wood has worked on more than half of the world’s carbon capture & storage projects

    HOUSTON, March 27, 2023 — Wood, the global consulting and engineering company, has completed carbon capture and transportation studies for more than half of the 300 carbon-capture facilities being planned worldwide1. From the U.S. Gulf Coast of Louisiana and the oil sands of Canada to the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia, Wood’s experts are […]

  • GE Will Supply Turbine and More for New Gas-Fired Plant in Greece

    A new 840-MW natural gas-fired power plant in Greece will use equipment from General Electric (GE), with GE also providing services for the facility that is expected to come online in 2026. GE on March 20 announced the plant in Alexandroupolis will feature a 9HA.02 gas turbine, an STF-D650 steam turbine, and a W88 generator. […]

  • Sampling Procedures for Inspection and Sampling Plans for Lot Inspection Using ISO 2859

    Sampling is a technique in which samples are drawn at random (without any favor or bias). For this, suitable measures or procedures may be laid down and adopted according to the nature and configuration of parts under inspection for ensuring complete randomness in sample selection. The term sample implies a subset chosen from the population. […]

  • Enel and Newcleo Agree to Partner on New Gen-IV Small Modular Reactors

    The Enel Group and nuclear technology company newcleo signed an agreement under which they will work together on Generation-IV (Gen-IV) nuclear technology projects. Under the deal, Enel will collaborate with newcleo by providing “specialized expertise” through the sharing of “a number of the company’s qualified personnel.” newcleo, for its part, will secure an option for […]

  • SNC-Lavalin Continues to Advance Romanian Nuclear Refurbishment with $65 Million Contract

    MONTREAL, March 7, 2023 /CNW/ – Candu Energy Inc., a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group (TSX: SNC), has been selected by Nuclearelectrica S.A. (SNN), operator of the Cernavoda Nuclear Generating Station in Romania, to conduct further pre-project work for Cernavoda’s Unit 1 CANDU® reactor, ahead of its life-extension to support European energy security and Romania’s Net Zero goals. The win builds on […]

  • Entergy Picks EPC Team for Massive Hydrogen-Capable CCGT Project in Texas

    A 1.2-GW hydrogen-capable combined cycle power project that Entergy Texas has proposed to build in Orange County, Texas, will be spearheaded by an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) consortium led by Mitsubishi Power, Sargent & Lundy, and TIC. Construction of the $1.19 billion Orange County Advanced Power Station (OCAPS), which received the Public Utility Commission […]

  • Ohio University awarded $2 million from Department of Energy to develop products from coal waste

    ATHENS, Ohio (March 2, 2023) – The Department of Energy (DOE) announced it has funded six research and development projects that will repurpose domestic coal resources for high-value graphitic products and carbon-metal composites that can be employed in clean energy technologies. Ohio University’s Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Environment was awarded two of the […]

  • Trial Operation of Innovative Horizontal Pelton Hydropower Turbine Underway in Austria

    A pioneering horizontal, six-nozzle Pelton turbine developed by Voith Hydro at the 326-GWh Gerlos 1 pumped storage facility in the Ziller Valley, Austria, is setting new benchmarks for the 140-year-old

  • Protecting Gas Turbines from High Temperatures, Humidity, and Dust

    Gas turbines require high-quality air to operate reliably. However, increasing temperatures and reduced rainfall are increasing the frequency of dust storms in many parts of the world. In these circumstances

  • Marnie Surfaceblow: When Theory Becomes Practice, Rely on Practical Experience as a Foundation

    As new energy technologies are employed to solve today’s renewable energy challenges, think flexibly while relying upon established safety measures. “Is this your first time in the Philippines, ma’am?”

  • DOE Breaks Ground on Next-Generation Concentrating Solar Power Pilot

    The Department of Energy (DOE) has broken ground on the Generation 3 Particle Pilot Plant (G3P3), a novel concentrating solar power (CSP) facility at Sandia National Laboratory that will use sand-like ceramic particles instead of molten salt to produce and store high-temperature energy. When completed in 2024, the “multi-megawatt” solar thermal pilot project will utilize an existing […]

  • European Project Launches to Demonstrate High-Volume Hydrogen Gas Turbine Combustion

    Ansaldo Energia and partners have kicked off the FLEX4H2, a four-year project to design, develop, and validate a highly fuel-flexible gas turbine combustion system based on Ansaldo’s sequential combustion technology that will be capable of operating with up to 100% hydrogen. The FLEX4H2 (or Flexibility for Hydrogen) officially began on Jan. 1 and will run […]

  • Engineering the Next Generation

    Improving processes and unlocking future innovations relies on new ideas. Many of the engineers of tomorrow who will deliver these breakthroughs are currently learning their craft at universities around the

  • GA and LLNL Announce Partnership to Advance Power and Exhaust Handling in Fusion Pilot Plants

    Public-private partnership funded by U.S. Department of Energy to advance capabilities using machine learning San Diego, Jan. 20 – General Atomics (GA) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have been awarded funding to advance power and particle exhaust capabilities in commercial-scale fusion energy pilot plants (FPPs) using machine learning. A public-private partnership funded by the […]

  • Leclanché achieves breakthrough in environmentally friendly production of high-performance lithium-ion batteries

    YVERDON-LES-BAINS, Switzerland and ANDERSON, Indiana (Jan. 17, 2023) – Leclanché SA, a leading global provider of energy storage solutions, has achieved a breakthrough in the environmentally friendly production of modern G/NMCA cells: As the first manufacturer worldwide, Leclanché is able to reduce the cobalt content in NMCA as cathode material from 20 to 5 percent […]

  • Burns & McDonnell Completes 250 MWac of Solar Projects for Alliant Energy in Wisconsin

    Company Now Mobilized on Six Additional Wisconsin Solar Sites Totaling 414 MWac of Capacity KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Burns & McDonnell has completed engineer-procure-construct (EPC) services for three Alliant Energy solar projects in Wisconsin. The projects are part of Alliant Energy’s Clean Energy Blueprint. These projects are now energized: Bear Creek — 50-MWac North Rock — 50-MWac […]

  • Pioneering U.S. Wave Energy Power Plant Unveiled

    One of the first U.S.-based wave energy power plants is set to be deployed at AltaSea’s 35-acre campus located at the Port of Los Angeles. Israeli firm Eco Wave Power, which unveiled the project on Jan. 12, said the AltaSea pilot would help the company make inroads in the U.S. Eco Wave’s onshore wave energy […]

  • Building better catalysts to close the carbon dioxide loop

    SASKATOON – The best way to stave off the worst effects of climate change is to reduce CO2 emissions around the world. And one way to do that, says Zhongwei Chen, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo, is to capture the CO2 and convert it into other useful […]

  • Alleviating Control Valve Erosion Crucial to Power Plant Uptime

    Ongoing process steam leakage in power plant control valves due to erosion from wet steam must be addressed to maximise uptime at a critical time for industry, says a power industry expert. Continually rising gas prices caused by geopolitical events have put pressure on facilities to ensure continued, uninterrupted performance, and further heightened the impact […]

  • Jacobs to Plan Dismantling of Soviet-era Nuclear Reactors

    Project in Lithuania could offer important lessons for U.K. power station cleanup DALLAS – A consortium comprising Westinghouse Electric Spain, Jacobs (NYSE:J) and the Lithuanian Energy Institute was selected to plan dismantling and waste management at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) in Lithuania. Soviet-designed Ignalina could be the first graphite-moderated reactor plant to be […]

  • Enhancing and Hardening the U.S. Power Grid

    It’s no secret that the U.S. power grid needs some work. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), nearly 70% of the nation’s grid is more than 25 years old. The DOE says the U.S. needs to expand

  • Being Pro-Nuclear Won’t Be Enough—Here’s Why

    Nuclear energy—not just nuclear power—is seeing a burst of innovation unlike anything seen since the 1950s. While the strong momentum for the dispatchable zero-carbon energy source is promising, prominent pitfalls threaten necessary progress.