Hydro
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Renewables
Voith Completes Modernization of Scottish Hydro Station
Voith in December announced it has completed the modernization of the Mucomir hydropower station in Scotland, and the 20-MW facility is again producing electricity for the Scottish grid. Voith was responsible
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Renewables
Report: Trump Wants Deep Cuts in Clean Energy Programs
Documents obtained by The Washington Post show the Trump administration is prepared to ask Congress to cut the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) renewable energy and energy efficiency programs by as much as 72% in fiscal year 2019. The newspaper in a January 31 report says Congress likely would not support many of the cuts, but […]
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Renewables
Bonneville Power Administration Unveils Strategic Plan to Stay Afloat
Overwhelmed by low wholesale power prices and changing customer needs in the Pacific Northwest, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) on January 30 unveiled a lifeline it hopes will allow it to remain commercially afloat. While the nonprofit federal power marketer headquartered in Portland, Oregon, is part of the Department of Energy, it is self-funding and […]
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Press Releases
Voith Upgrades Swedish Hydropower Plants
FAGERSTA/SOLLETEA, Sweden (January 23, 2018) — There are a large number of hydropower plants in Europe and North America that are more than 100 years old. Voith installed new technology in two of these plants in Sweden, Semla and Graninge, making them not only much more efficient but also more environmentally compatible. As a result […]
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History
Test Your Knowledge: Power History
The history of power generation is long and convoluted, marked by myriad technological milestones—conceptual and technical—from hundreds of contributors. Many accounts begin power’s story at the demonstration of electric conduction by Englishman Stephen Gray, which led to the 1740 invention of glass friction generators in Leyden, Germany. This quiz is designed to test your knowledge […]
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Press Releases
Building Energy Enters Latin America With First Investment in Chile
SANTIAGO, CHILE (January 18, 2018) — Building Energy SpA, a multinational company operating as a global integrated IPP in the Renewable Energy Industry, announces the constitution of Building Energy Andes SpA, a Joint Venture with Scotta Group aimed to the development, construction and operation of renewable energy assets in Chile. Scotta Group is an Italian […]
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Renewables
VIDEO: Trump Says U.S. Could Re-Enter Paris Agreement, Praises Norway’s Hydropower
In a press briefing held with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg on January 10, President Donald Trump said that U.S. could “conceivably” re-enter into global climate change mitigation efforts under the Paris accord. While he has “no problem” with the accord itself, he felt the agreement negotiated by the Obama administration treated the U.S. unfairly, […]
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Renewables
EIA Report: Gas-fired Generation Will Continue to Outpace Coal
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its first look at expected power generation in 2019, and its conclusions are much the same as those it expects in 2018—the use of natural gas to produce electricity will continue to rise, and the use of coal will continue to decline. EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook, released January […]
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Connected Plant
Seven Software Tools for Energy Managers
There are many tools available to assist companies as they gain a better grasp on how their energy is being used, and what that means for the goal of efficient energy management. Not all solutions are created
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IIOT Power
Overcoming IIoT, Edge Networking Challenges
As power plants and substations become more connected, the need for rugged networking equipment built to withstand tough conditions is amplified. The military has already gone through the growing pains, so
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Legal & Regulatory
More Countries Banking on Competitive Auctions Over Subsidies to Stimulate Renewables
News about the rate at which new renewable power capacity is being added to grids around the world has been overshadowed by a remarkable trend that could revolutionize the renewables sector. Over the past few
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Legal & Regulatory
Spanish Government Takes Steps to Support Coal-fired Generation
Iberdrola’s global strategy to close its remaining coal-fired power plants has met with government opposition in its home country of Spain. Days after Iberdrola, the country’s largest utility, said it
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Legal & Regulatory
Renewable Power in Southeast Asia: Will the Legal Regime Catch Up with the Opportunities?
Southeast Asia offers rich renewable sector opportunities, recently exemplified by Chevron’s multibillion-dollar sale of its Indonesian and Philippines geothermal projects, and the purchase of Equis Energy
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Renewables
China’s Renewables Strategy Shines in Massive Solar Park
The Longyangxia Dam Solar Park, part of a hydro-solar integration in the high desert on the Tibetan Plateau, has helped the country move toward its ambitious targets for increasing generation from cleaner fuel
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Renewables
Willow Island Hydro: A Small but Mighty Marvel on the Ohio River
Successfully designing and constructing a hydropower plant, while accounting for site space constraints and not disrupting commercial traffic on a busy waterway, presented challenges for a Midwestern utility
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Legal & Regulatory
More U.S. Coal Units Closing Despite Possible Market Pricing Change
U.S. utilities continue to announce closures of financially troubled and older coal-fired power plants even as government officials work on a bailout plan to keep them operating. Owners of a coal plant in Montana that has only been online since 2006 informed the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) last week of plans to shutter the […]
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Renewables
Virginia Moves to Join RGGI Carbon-trading Market
Virginia regulators are ready to consider a proposal to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in the Northeast, becoming the 10th state in the nation’s largest carbon-trading market. The move comes as newly elected governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, prepares to take office in a state where the Republican-led legislature has shot down previous […]
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Connected Plant
Utilities Prepare for Simulated Attack on U.S. Power Grid
Utilities across the country are gearing up for an attack on the power grid November 15 and 16. Thankfully, it’s only a drill. But in the event of an actual emergency, a real physical and cyberattack on the U.S. electricity infrastructure, GridEx IV—a biennial exercise conducted by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC)—will help […]
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Renewables
Uganda Ready to Double Generation with More Hydro Projects
Ugandan officials said they want to double the country’s installed power generation capacity over the next two years, primarily with the construction of hydropower projects. However, those same officials
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Legal & Regulatory
PJM: Can the Big Dog Deal with State Interference?
The PJM Interconnection, the largest regional transmission operator in the U.S., faces many problems: adapting to state policies designed to skew power markets in the face of natural gas and renewable
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Renewables
Droneweek [PODCAST]
[Ed. note: This post was first published on October 5, 2017, and was updated on October 17, 2017, with embedded video from the DRONEWEEK television show.] DRONEWEEK is a television program that will air on the Viceland network beginning Monday, October 9, 2017, and continuing each night throughout the week. Each episode will feature footage […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Eversource Will Sell 14 New Hampshire Power Plants, Completing Deregulation
Fourteen power plants in New Hampshire, including nine hydroelectric facilities, will soon have new owners as Eversource Energy divests its holdings in the state to satisfy an agreement with state regulators. Eversource outlined the sale of the hydro assets, along with three fossil fuel-fired plants and two combustion peaker units, in an October 12 filing […]
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Renewables
OPG, First Nations Group Partner on Ontario Hydro Project
A partnership between Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and Coral Rapids Power, a wholly owned subsidiary of Taykwa Tagamou Nation (TTN), a Cree nation in northeastern Ontario, in late August announced the
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Renewables
Integrated Solar-Hydro Project Takes Float
The combination of solar power and water is in use around the world, with various solar arrays placed on lakes to provide renewable energy from the sun. However, a project in Portugal has found a new way to
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Commentary
Is Natural Gas Threatening Grid Reliability?
If you’ve been paying attention to the power markets in recent years, you know that merchant coal and nuclear power plants are struggling to compete against natural gas-fired generation and renewable
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Renewables
POWER Digest (August 2017)
Rosatom Gets Approval to Proceed with Turkish Reactors. Turkey’s energy watchdog EPDK in mid-June gave Russia’s state-owned nuclear entity Rosatom the green light to proceed with construction of the $20
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Renewables
Researchers Develop Hybrid Salinity Gradient Power Technology
A hybrid technology created by researchers at Penn State University could be the breakthrough needed to advance efforts to produce power based on the salt concentrations between two water sources. Researchers
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Renewables
MISO: Avoiding the Mess Facing Other Wholesale Competitive Electric Markets
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO’s) geographic footprint extends down the middle of the U.S. Because of the structure of its market, MISO has artfully avoided some nasty policy and
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Infographics
How China Is on the Leading Edge of Environmental Technologies
Coal proponents and climate skeptics often cite China’s current and future reliance on coal power to bolster talking points. What is little discussed is the recent, massive transformation of China’s vast
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Renewables
IRENA: Solar and Bioenergy See Record Growth in 2016
Global renewable energy generation capacity surged 161 GW in 2016, marking its strongest year ever for new capacity additions, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) said in a new report released at