Full Coverage
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Workforce
Energy Transition Outlook
As the energy sector transforms and innovates into a decarbonized, digitalized industry, it is crucial that talent pools are available with the right balance of skills and experience to deliver the projects and operations needed for a brighter tomorrow. NES Fircroft, a staffing company dedicated to providing the skilled engineers and technical workforce needed to […]
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Full Coverage
Stanton Energy Reliability Center Hybrid Supplies Power When Southern California Needs It Most
Stanton Energy Reliability Center is a unique hybrid power station that includes two GE LM6000 gas turbines, each integrated with a battery energy storage system. The station provides reliable and stable power
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Gas
Sustainability and Efficiency Are Key Considerations at the West Riverside Energy Center
The West Riverside Energy Center is a two-unit combined cycle power plant located near Beloit, Wisconsin. Alliant Energy’s state-of-the-art facility has several important sustainability and efficiency
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News
Gas Turbine Technology Advances That Could Boost Their Future Relevance
Gas turbines have grown into a hallmark of the modern power system for their high efficiency, reliability, operational flexibility, fuel flexibility, and low-emission power options. But if gas turbines are to
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Commentary
Getting to Net-Zero GHG Emissions Will Take More Than Closing Coal Plants
The UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, next month. The roughly two-week-long event will bring together delegates from around the world with a goal
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Hydrogen
Environmental and Permitting Considerations for Decarbonizing with Hydrogen
Many experts believe hydrogen will play a key role in the effort to decarbonize the world’s energy supply. However, current hydrogen production methods release a lot of carbon dioxide, and carbon capture
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News
Water Intake Reliability in the Age of Environmental Uncertainty
Thermal power plants need a continuous supply of cooling water to operate, but as the natural environment changes, more and more screen blockages are occurring at cooling water intakes. Maintaining intake
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Coal
Addressing the Increased Need to Decommission Power Plants in a Sustainable Manner
Coal-fired power plant decommissioning and remediation work is not typically a utility company’s core business. That’s why having the right partner and implementing a sound plan to ensure both
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O&M
Effect of Eddy Grooves on Tilting Pad Journal Bearings
Tilting pad journal bearings are used in turbomachinery such as turbo compressors, turbo gears, gas turbines, or steam turbines. There is an ongoing and growing customer demand for bearings with increased
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International
China Grappling with Another Crippling Power Crunch
China’s tightening coal supplies, more stringent energy intensity and environmental restrictions, and soaring industrial power demand have triggered another widespread power crisis. Blackouts and brownouts have reportedly afflicted numerous provincial jurisdictions across the economic powerhouse this week, most prominently in Guangdong in the south, and Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning in the northeast, according to state-run […]
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Nuclear
Terrestrial Energy Launches 390-MW Molten Salt Nuclear Reactor Design
Terrestrial Energy has unveiled an upgraded 390-MWe design of its Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) power plant to meet utility requirements and boost its cost-competitiveness as part of an effort to ramp up its candidacy for deployment at Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG’s) Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. This week, the Canadian firm also announced a series […]
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Gas
Three Coal-Heavy Utilities Team Up on New Gas-Fired Power Plant
Bismarck, North Dakota-based Basin Electric Power Cooperative will join Dairyland Power Cooperative and ALLETE Inc. as co-owners of the planned Nemadji Trail Energy Center (NTEC), a combined cycle natural gas power plant proposed for construction in Superior, Wisconsin. The deal between Basin Electric and ALLETE was announced on Sept. 28. Basin Electric will become a […]
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Nuclear
Experimental Advanced Fuel Rods Loaded in Russian Nuclear Reactor
The first Russian-made nuclear reactor fuel bundles with experimental ATF (Advanced Technology Fuel) rods have been loaded into Unit 2 at the Rostov nuclear power plant (NPP) in southwest Russia. The reactor resumed operations earlier this month after a scheduled maintenance and refueling outage. The Rostov site is home to four VVER-1000 reactor units (Figure […]
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Nuclear
Nuclear Is the Bastion of Pennsylvania’s Newest Climate Action Plan
Pennsylvania, a major power producer that relied on fossil fuels for 66% of its net power generation in June, plans to maintain its nuclear generation at current levels until it can ramp up other carbon-free supplies to 100% by 2050, the state’s Sept. 22–released 2021 Climate Action Plan suggests. The measures are part of a […]
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Hydro
Red Rock Hydroelectric Project: Successfully Generating New Power from a Pre-Existing Dam
There are challenges to adding power generating capability to a dam built for flood control, but the Red Rock Hydroelectric Project shows that the obstacles are not insurmountable. With the right team, success
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Finance
Types of Power Purchase Agreements and Why Each PPA Might Be Used
Stakeholders are increasingly pressuring corporations to become more sustainable, and often that means using renewable energy to help meet their electricity needs. Most non-power companies don’t want to take
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Coal
Types of Coal and Fuel Blending Tips for Coal Power Plants
There are a handful of reasons why coal-fired power plant managers may want to blend fuel, but often the driving factor is economics. While the cost of the delivered coal is an important aspect, there could be
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Gas
Phnom Penh Power Plant: An Investment for the Future of Cambodia
The Phnom Penh power station supports Cambodia’s decarbonization goals. The 200-MW facility’s 11 dual-fuel engines can operate on heavy fuel oil today, with a goal of using much-lower-emission natural gas
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News
Regulators Rattle AEP’s Plans to Operate 4.2-GW of Coal Power Through 2040
The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) on Aug. 23 rattled American Electric Power’s (AEP’s) plans to operate the 2.9-GW John Amos and 1.3-GW Mountaineer coal power plants through 2040 when it partly denied cost recovery for expenses that the West Virginia plants need to comply with the federal Steam Electric Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG) rule. The […]
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Nuclear
Nuclear First: 3D-Printed Safety-Related Components Installed at Browns Ferry
Marking a notable milestone for nuclear component additive manufacturing, four 3D-printed fuel assembly channel fasteners have been installed and are now operational at Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 2 in Athens, Alabama. Channel fasteners are a type of bracket that attaches to the top of the nuclear fuel assembly to hold […]
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Hydro
Hydropower Levels Under Careful Watch as Drought Ravages the West
Intensifying drought conditions in California and historically low water levels at the Oroville Dam on Aug. 5 forced the state’s Department of Water Resources (CDWR) to shut down the 644-MW Edward Hyatt Power Plant—the fourth largest energy producer of all California’s hydroelectric facilities. Similar conditions across the West are prompting a careful watch over hydropower facilities.
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Nuclear
Urgency Ramping Up to Commercialize Nuclear Accident Tolerant Fuels by 2025
Marking another milestone in an industry-led accelerated quest to commercialize accident tolerant fuels (ATF), nuclear fuel test rods containing Westinghouse’s EnCore technologies that completed their inaugural cycle at Exelon’s Byron nuclear plant have shipped to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). While initial visual inspections show “no signs of degradation,” the irradiated fuel will now be […]
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Coal
The Remarkable Responsibility of Coal Refuse Power
West Virginia’s only remaining coal refuse–fueled facility, the 80-MW Grant Town Power Project, is a 2021 Top Plant winner for powering on, despite challenges, to remediate 530,000 tons of coal refuse annually while reclaiming roughly 30 acres of land per year.
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Solar
The Solar and Wind Power Cost-Value Conundrum
The costs for wind and solar power generating systems have decreased dramatically over the past decade. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the global weighted-average levelized
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T&D
The Future Electric Grid: How HVDC Could Transform the U.S. Power System
The U.S. electric grid is a complex web of interconnected power lines. It functions remarkably well, considering that it is a constant work in progress. Yet, what has served adequately in the past may not be
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Hydro
China Starts Up Turbines at 16-GW Hydro Project After Four-Year Construction Period
China in late June began operating two of the world’s first 1-GW hydropower turbines at the Baihetan Hydropower Station in southwest China. When the project’s 16 generating units are completed by July 2022
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Waste to Energy
Perspectives on Energy Recovery from U.S. Plastic Waste
The truth about plastic placed in recycling bins is that most ends up in landfills. Converting the energy stored in plastic into electricity via waste-to-energy power plants offers a beneficial option
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Full Coverage
Unique Monitoring Strategy for the Unique Huntly Power Station
Monitoring steam turbo-generators in a typical thermal power station is normally straightforward without any particular issues, but Huntly presented special challenges. When the time came to replace the legacy
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News
Improve Energy-from-Waste Plant Operations Through Intelligent Management
Implementation of an intelligent operations and maintenance framework has improved operation rates, reduced unexpected shutdowns, and increased power generated per unit of waste at energy-from-waste power
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POWER Podcasts
The POWER Podcast Archive Vol. 3
The POWER Podcast is available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, iHeart, TuneIn, SoundCloud, and some other podcast apps. Follow the links below to subscribe via your favorite platform: Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube YouTube Music Amazon Music iHeart TuneIn SoundCloud The POWER Podcast Archive (March 19, 2020 – Jan. 21, 2021) Is […]