International

  • Major Engineering and Equipment Company Builds-to-Own Its First Coal Plant

    Given the opportunity to help India’s bread basket alleviate a chronic power shortage, a major engineering, construction, and manufacturing firm built its first 1,400-MW coal-fired power plant in just 54

  • Microturbine Market Ready to Expand

    Deployment of microturbine energy technology has been slow to develop, but analysts predict growth on the horizon as more businesses use the small units to power their facilities and reduce their carbon

  • Faster Power Plant Cycling

    Rapid startup is critical for modern power plants, as peaks and valleys in demand fluctuate with the increased use of alternative, renewable sources. But power plant cycling comes with risks to expensive equipment. Maintaining control of water cycle chemistry is vital to help mitigate them.  

  • EIA: Chinese Coal Use Will Plateau as Renewables Gain

    Chinese coal-fired electricity generation is expected to flatten through 2040 as renewables fill the gap caused by increased energy demand, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) International Energy Outlook 2017. According to the study, coal accounted for more than 72% of China’s energy generation in 2015. By 2040, however, coal’s share of generation […]

  • Eliminating lab-based water cycle chemistry measurements

    Power plants are under pressure to accurately measure critical water quality parameters like chloride, sulfate and organics with shrinking budgets for equipment and staffing. How can they achieve this?

  • Can Angela Merkel, the So-Called “Climate Chancellor,” Hold Germany to Its Greenhouse Targets?

    On Sunday, September 24, Germany finalized voting in its 2017 federal elections. Citizens were able to vote by mail ahead of Sunday’s election or they could chose to efficiently breeze through a voting center, make a physical “X” next to, first, the local direct candidate of their choice. And then make a second mark next […]

  • ITC: Imported PV Cells Hurting U.S. Solar Industry

    In a unanimous decision, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on September 22 found that photovoltaic (PV) solar cells being imported into the U.S. are causing “serious injury, or threat of serious injury, to the domestic industry.” The decision comes in a highly contested case filed by bankrupt solar panel manufacturer, Suniva, and SolarWorld. The […]

  • UK Supreme Court Rules on Robin Rigg Wind Farm Case [PODCAST]

    The UK Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of E.ON in a long-running dispute over foundation problems identified at the 174-MW Robin Rigg offshore wind farm located between Scotland and England. The judges said Danish contractor MT Højgaard must bear the approximate €26 million cost of remedying failed grouted connections between monopiles and transition pieces […]

  • Dubai Awards Contract for Phase 4 of Massive Solar Park

    Dubai’s government on September 16 said its state energy utility has awarded a $3.9 billion contract for construction of a 700-MW solar power plant at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The government said the project includes an 850-foot-tall tower that will receive focused sunlight, the world’s tallest such structure in a solar […]

  • Trade Case Causes Stir at International Solar Conference

    Hanging like a thick fog over the proceedings of the annual Solar Power International (SPI) conference in Las Vegas, an ongoing trade case cast uncertainty on the industry. The case, which pits two solar manufacturers against just about everybody else in the industry, was the focus of several panels and nearly all side conversation at […]

  • Japan Regulatory Group Gives Conditional Support for TEPCO Restart

    Japan’s nuclear watchdog agency has given Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) conditional approval to restart two reactors at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. The units were taken offline after the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in March 2011. The country’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) on September 13 said TEPCO could restart the units after it provides a detailed plan […]

  • Power Market Deregulation Transforms Mexico

    Mexico’s energy reform, which began in 2013, has opened up key parts of the country’s electricity sector to new market participants, foreign investors, and innovative technology. Prior to the reform

  • POWER Digest (September 2017)

    Canadian Solar Expands Solar Power in Japan. Canadian Solar in July started commercial operation of its latest group of photovoltaic solar power plants in Japan as it continues to build its solar presence in

  • TVO Gets Good News in Ongoing Dispute with Areva

    Finnish power company Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) in July celebrated another win in ongoing legal proceedings with French nuclear company Areva. The two companies have been at odds for years concerning cost

  • UK Power Group Set to Phase Out Coal

    The Drax Group operates the UK’s largest power station, and in a country where government leaders have said all coal generation needs to be retired by 2025, Drax is moving forward with plans to convert its

  • 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

  • World’s Most-Efficient Combined Cycle Plant: EDF Bouchain

    When you bring two power giants together to develop a new breed of combined cycle gas turbine plant, you expect the results to be pretty good. When EDF and GE installed the first commercial 9HA gas turbine in

  • What It Takes to Be a POWER-ful Woman

    It’s no secret that women are underrepresented in the energy industry. According to the Department of Energy, less than a quarter of U.S. workers in the electric power generation field are women, compared to

  • Simplifying Sensor Calibration and Maintenance in Power Plants

    Falling profit margins mean there is growing pressure on power plants to do more with less. In many plants there has been a reduction in maintenance staff, and the remaining team is left trying to keep all equipment operational with a lower budget and in fewer hours. Digital sensors are a major contribution to simplifying and easing the maintenance burden.

  • Deionization Resin Capacity Monitoring – White Paper

    Eliminating contamination of a power plant’s water cycle is a critical element of protecting expensive plant equipment such as turbines and boilers from corrosion and pitting. Learn about a proactive approach for predicting when resin exhaustion will occur that offers significant benefits over the traditional elapsed time and totalized flow methods.

  • 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

  • South Korean President Details Phase-out of Coal, Nuclear Power

    During his electoral campaign, South Korean President Moon Jae-in vowed to end the country’s reliance on coal and also said the nation would move away from nuclear energy. He took a major step in that

  • China Connects Panda-Shaped Solar Plant to the Grid

    In late June, Panda Green Energy Group Limited connected the first-ever panda bear-shaped solar plant to the grid. The plant, which is currently in its testing phase, is only the beginning. “This is the

  • Iran Puts CHP Plant, Transmission Line into Service

    Iran on July 12 began operating its first combined heat and power (CHP) plant, a 14.4-MW facility in the Yazd Province in central Iran. The managing director of Yazd Regional Electricity Co., Mohammad Hassan

  • Canadian Carbon Price Hits a Wall in Saskatchewan

    If the province of Saskatchewan does not join Canada’s carbon pricing scheme, it will be unable to benefit from the nation’s recently announced Low Carbon Economy Fund. Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said

  • Russian Hackers Targeting U.S. Nuclear Plants: Reports

    U.S. officials said Russian government hackers have broken into systems at U.S. nuclear power plants and also have made cyber intrusions into the business systems of other energy companies, according to several reports over the past week. Cybersecurity experts say the threats against U.S. facilities are real and likely to continue, as power plant operators […]

  • European Pumped Storage Plants Are in Crisis

    A number of baseload generators across Europe have decried the fall in average European wholesale power prices, which some peg to additions of subsidized low-marginal-cost renewable generation to an already

  • Foggy Resolution for Russia-Ukraine Gas Spat from Arbitration Court

    Beyond the bitter disputes that have recently cropped up between Ukraine and Russia concerning Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the subsequent separatist violence in Ukraine’s Donbass region

  • Researchers: Power Plant Carbon-Capturing Calcium Carbonate Looping Technology Almost Market-Ready

    A novel demonstration underway at Technische Universität Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt), a research university in Darmstadt, Germany, has shown a calcium carbonate looping (CCL) technology retrofitted at existing

  • A Mixed Bag of Nuclear Developments in UAE, S. Korea, Switzerland and S. Africa

    The world’s nuclear sector saw a flurry of activity during April and May, though most of it wasn’t good news.  First Unit at Barakah Built, but Regulatory Delays Prevail. Initial construction activities