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The California Energy Commission (CEC) is mulling a preliminary planning goal for 3 GW of offshore wind by 2030 and potentially expanding it to 10 GW to 15 GW by 2045. If finalized, California’s offshore wind goals would be the most ambitious in the U.S., surpassing even New York’s, which calls for 9 GW by […]

The Biden administration has launched efforts to shape the $2.5 billion Transmission Facilitation Program (TFP), a key Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) initiative dedicated to building out critical new transmission lines and related facilities across the country. The Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office on May 10 issued a joint notice of information (NOI) […]

Close collaboration plays key role as companies achieve growth milestones and tackle new opportunities. When Volvo Penta first approached Blue Star back in 2011, the companies immediately found common ground in their commitment to business ethics. These were the seeds of a fruitful partnership that has only grown stronger over the past decade. “Right from […]

With the advent and implementation of smart grid infrastructure across power utilities, there has been a paradigm shift in the efficiencies of the grid. The use of digital communication technology has led to high-speed communication enablement across various components as well as better data analysis and real-time control. This has proven to be advantageous not […]

To say the coal industry faces challenges is an understatement. Coal-fired power plants are being retired around the globe as efforts to decarbonize the world’s power supply have intensified due to climate change concerns. That’s a problem for people working in the coal industry, as well as for states and governments that rely on coal […]

(Updated—May 6, 2022) The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) over the past week separately expressed concerns about power supply uncertainties in the face of upcoming warmer-than-normal temperatures. MISO raised an alarm on April 28 when it said that it projects “insufficient firm resources” to cover the summer […]

Refractory maintenance, though vital, can often be a logistical and financial burden. This is especially true for power plants, cement plants, and other large facilities that rely on boilers, kilns, coolers, preheater towers, and risers for day-to-day operation. These facilities stand to lose many thousands of dollars a day in production if their refractory can’t […]

In late March, Siemens Energy announced separate agreements with Guangdong Energy Group Co. Ltd. and Shenzhen Energy Group Co. Ltd., in which the gas turbine giant will deliver a total of four SGT-8000H units for installation in power plants located in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in southern China. The deals mean Siemens Energy […]

Duke Energy, one of the largest energy companies in the world, grew out of a system of lakes and dams along the Catawba River to generate power for the Piedmont Carolinas. While the company has sustained a

If hydrogen-based power technology and decarbonization schemes seem like a novelty to you, you may not be paying close enough attention to developments happening around the world. While some hydrogen pilot

A drumbeat of floating offshore wind–related developments this year suggests the pipeline for the long-nascent wind technology sub-sector may be finally beginning to grow. While floating wind’s current

A long-awaited energy strategy published by the UK government on April 6 lays out bold commitments that tackle Great Britain’s multi-pronged challenges, including achieving net-zero carbon emissions while

An emerging generation of small modular reactors is encouraging suppliers and regulators alike to consider new digital instrumentation and control approaches. While instrumentation and control (I&C)

The Biden administration is fully behind development of new nuclear power technology. It is encouraging the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to look at “new approaches to regulation” as advanced

Moving from reactive to predictive maintenance requires the right tools for use by subject matter experts. As the power industry continues to advance from preventative to predictive maintenance, one thing is

In the utility industry, downtime and outages—from losing power to water shortages and burst pipes—can impact a customer’s day-to-day life, causing safety concerns and costly damages. This is especially true during sweltering summer months or freezing winter seasons caused by extreme weather and climate change. Today, digital transformation is shifting customer expectations as they demand […]

Reports from U.S. agencies indicate the use of renewable energy continues to grow. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. consumed a record amount of renewable energy in 2020. In addition, renewable energy in the U.S. grew for a fifth consecutive year, accounting for 12% of the total U.S. energy consumption. It was […]

The traditional approach to maintenance has two motors that keep it running. The first motor is proactive service: regularly maintaining equipment, following a schedule to ensure each element is running smoothly before repairs are needed in order to prevent a breakdown. The second motor is to repair once a breakdown happens. While the first part […]

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is exploring designing, building, and operating an onsite nuclear reactor resource as part of a broader effort to achieve net-zero emissions at its sprawling campus in Idaho Falls by 2031. Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA), an entity that manages and operates the Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory, on April 29 launched […]

The Advanced Clean Energy Storage Project, a much-watched project under development in Delta, Utah, that is shaping up to be the largest renewable hydrogen energy hub in the U.S., has garnered a conditional commitment for a $504.4 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) federal loan guarantee program. The conditional loan guarantee commitment […]

South Korean power industrial giant Doosan has agreed to forge materials for NuScale Power’s small modular reactors (SMR) starting as early as this year, in a project that would support the commercial deployment of VOYGRs—NuScale’s name for its SMRs—at the 462-MWe Carbon-Free Power Project (CFPP) in Idaho Falls. NuScale separately also teamed with American large […]

Hydrogen combustion has begun at the 485-MW Long Ridge Energy Terminal combined cycle power plant—a flagship GE HA-class project that is purpose-built to transition from natural gas to hydrogen blends and ultimately be capable of burning 100% hydrogen. While the sprawling multimodal facility in Hannibal, Ohio—which sits on the Ohio and West Virginia border—achieved commercial […]

On April 22, 2021, President Biden announced greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution reduction targets for the country. His vision was revealed during a summit on climate that he was holding, which was said to be “part of the President’s focus on building back better in a way that will create millions of good-paying, union jobs, ensure […]

The Department of Defense (DOD) will push forward on Project Pele, a much-watched mobile microreactor prototype, and demonstrate its full operation for a minimum of three years at an Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site. The DOD’s Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) on April 15 formally released a record of decision (ROD) to proceed with the program, […]

Bloom Energy’s U.S. fuel cell installations deployed at 700 sites will over the next two years use certified, “responsibly sourced” natural gas from EQT Corp. The development marks a pioneering effort by a power generator to bolster its commercial and industrial customers’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efforts. Bloom Energy, whose primary business stems from […]

A Goldman Sachs private equity business is taking a stake in critical industry cybersecurity firm Fortress Information Security. The $125 million investment underscores a heightened awareness of supply chain vulnerabilities within the investor community. Fortress, which announced the investment from Goldman Sachs Asset Management Private Equity on April 19, said it also highlights a wider […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) will next week kick off its much-watched $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) program to bolster the existing U.S. nuclear fleet by issuing a guidance document that will set down criteria for a combined certification and a sealed bid auction process. The agency said in an April 6 update the […]

The Arizona Corporate Commission (ACC) has delivered a major blow to the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District’s (SRP’s) urgent plans to expand the 575-MW gas-fired Coolidge Generating Station with 820 MW of fast-start capacity. The ACC in a 4–1 vote on April 12 denied approval of the public power utility’s Certificate of […]

Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems are often installed to protect critical equipment and loads from power outages, and other voltage and current problems. Many UPS systems continuously regulate the input power, thereby maintaining a constant and uniform supply of electricity. UPS systems are typically used on computer hardware or other equipment where an unexpected power […]

A Wyoming court on April 5 sentenced NextEra Energy Resources affiliate ESI Energy to five years of probation and fined the wind power developer more than $8 million for three counts of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). The violations include alleged failures to apply for “eagle take permits” (ETPs) at facilities in Wyoming […]