Gas

Before the official start of its Minds + Machines event in San Francisco this week, GE announced the launch of its “Digital Power Plant” during a briefing for the trade press. A formal announcement was to follow in the afternoon. Dick Ayres, general manager of software solutions, power generation services, explained that the company’s Predix […]

In presentations to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the nation’s regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs) on Sept. 17 outlined measures they are taking to prevent issues if faced with extreme weather this winter.  The measures are to prevent widespread generation outages as occurred during the Jan. 6–7, 2014, polar vortex. […]

Entergy’s 850-MW James A. FitzPatrick nuclear plant located near Oswego, N.Y., may be the next reactor doomed to close on profitability woes.  Entergy’s CEO Leo Denault told attendees at the Barclays CEO EnergyPower Conference on Sept. 10 that the company will need to decide by the end of this year whether to go forward with […]

European Union (EU) officials have approved General Electric’s (GE’s) $9.5 billion acquisition of Alstom’s power business, but conditions to which the two companies agreed to cement the deal will drastically reshape the world’s heavy-duty gas turbine market.  The European Commission, the 28-country union’s executive body, granted its approval to the much-watched proposed merger, but only […]

Nuclear costs aren’t on the rise globally as has been widely thought, says a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) surveying the levelized cost of generating electricity (LCOE).  The eighth edition of the report, “Projected Costs of Generating Electricity” compiles data for 181 plants in 19 OECD and […]

Warren Buffett bought Nevada’s NV Energy two years ago, a move widely seen as a play for solar and renewable generation. That’s working out. But as the company transitions away from legacy coal and high-priced renewable contracts signed years ago, large customers are rebelling, and the company faces a challenge to keep its big dog […]

In today’s digital world, an optimally run power plant relies on valuable and accurate data in order to ensure assets are running reliably and with minimal downtime. Streaming in from control systems, SCADA

Though most power generators and states might have preferred to not deal at all with a new rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions, the final Clean Power Plan (CPP), released August 3, gives most of the power

Power-strapped Egypt’s first fast-track natural gas–fired project was completed in a record 159 days from groundbreaking to commissioning this July. The 650-MW Attaqa Simple Cycle Power Plant near Suez

Emerging from decades of isolation, fragility, and conflict, Myanmar has, since 2011, ushered in a reformist government and embarked upon unprecedented political and economic reforms. Among those reforms has

Sharing borders with Saudi Arabia, Israel, Syria, and Iraq, Jordan sits in a very precarious part of the world. To make matters worse, the country’s economy is among the smallest in the Middle East. Chronic

The Turkish electricity market was opened to competition in 2001 when the Turkish Grand National Assembly passed the Electricity Market Law, which unbundled its generation, transmission, and wholesale power

In the early 2010s, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) was staring down the barrel of dangerously low reserve margins, a combination of growing demand and an energy-only wholesale market that

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is facing major population growth over the next several decades and, with it, rapidly growing electricity demand. In 2013, the country generated 292.2 TWh of electricity, which

As with many areas in North America and Europe, electricity generation in the Canadian province of Alberta is in transition toward cleaner, more efficient, more water-wise power. According to statistics from

While having lunch at a downtown café with my friend the biology professor, the subject of animal extinction arose. “When it comes down to it, we really don’t know exactly why most prehistoric species

Gas-fired power is hot, at least in North America, and quite a few smaller utilities and generators that have never owned a gas turbine plant have begun looking at building one. For large investor-owned companies with plenty of institutional experience in power plant construction, it may be business as usual, but for smaller firms that […]

A federal judge on Thursday halted implementation of the Clean Water Rule that is controversial for its broad definition of “Waters of the U.S.” one day before it was to go into effect, saying it was likely that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overstepped its authority when it promulgated the “exceptionally expansive” rule.  Judge Ralph […]

Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) has received approval from the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) to acquire and phase out the Cedar Bay Generating Plant, a coal-fired facility located in Jacksonville, Fla. FPL has been buying power from the 250-MW plant under a long-term contract since 1988. The deal was not set to expire […]

Southern Co. and AGL Resources—the largest natural gas–only distribution company in the U.S.—have agreed to merge in a deal that will make AGL Resources a wholly-owned subsidiary of the giant electric company. The transaction announced on Aug. 24 has an enterprise value of about $12 billion, including a total equity value of approximately $8 billion. […]

The Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on August 10 set a record for electricity demand, topping 69,000 MW twice during the afternoon. The peak came as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) noted that Texas also set a record for gas power burn—natural gas usage in its power sector—reaching an average 4.5 Bcf/d through August […]

The power generation industry is undergoing a period of rapid transformation. A growing number of operators are considering the adoption of condition-based maintenance (CBM).  This whitepaper discusses the forces that are driving demand for CBM, how CBM works and why it is an effective alternative to planned maintenance strategies.
Find out more about CBM for Power

U.S. wind power is becoming more widespread and costs are generally on the decline, but the sector is troubled by policy uncertainties, a new report from the Energy Department says.   After a lackluster year in 2013, wind power capacity additions in the U.S. rebounded nearly 8% in 2014, driven by recent improvements in the […]

The attorneys general of 17 states are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for invalidating agency-approved state implementation plans (SIPs) governing emissions from power plant startup, shutdown, and malfunction (SSM) operations. The states have asked a federal court to review the EPA’s June-issued final rule, which deems SIP provisions concerning SSM operations in 36 states […]

On August 3, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a much-anticipated suite of regulations, featuring the final Clean Power Plan’s guidelines for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from existing power plants under Clean Air Act section 111(d). This package has sparked great interest, and early reactions run the gamut from enthusiastic support to entrenched opposition. […]

Though most power generators and states might have preferred to not deal at all with a new rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions, the final Clean Power Plan (CPP), released August 3, gives most of the power industry most of what it asked for in terms of revisions to the 2014 proposed plan. In any regulatory […]

Reaction from utilities, environmental groups, and governmental leaders following the August 3 release of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) final Clean Power Plan rule was mixed. Some, such as Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good, pointed to the progress that has already been made in recent years to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, noting that the […]

Editor’s note (Aug. 3): Adds compliance cost details, key changes The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) final Clean Power Plan will seek to tamp down the nation’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the power sector by 32% from 2005 levels by 2030—about 9% more ambitious than its original proposal. The first-ever final national standards to limit […]

Courtesy: Colorado Energy Nations, GDF SUEZ Energy NA, and Behrent Engineering POWER’s 2015 Reinvention Award (formerly known as the Marmaduke Award) goes to an industrial cogeneration plant that reinvented its largest unit for greater fuel and operating flexibility. This project is exemplary for the owner’s foresight, maximizing local engineering resources, a stellar safety record, and […]