International

  • 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

  • EPA Head Leaves Climate Summit Early

    The administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reportedly left a Group of Seven summit on climate in Bologna, Italy, after the opening session of the two-day event, just days after President Donald Trump said the U.S. would pull out of the Paris climate agreement. Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general before being tapped […]

  • Validation Wraps Up for GE, Ansaldo Gas Turbines

    In May, GE’s Power Services and Ansaldo Energia separately completed initial validation of two gas turbines designed for high efficiency and flexibility: the 9EMax and the GT36. GE also announced first fire

  • A Double Whammy for Coal Power in Europe

    Coal generation in Europe was walloped—twice—in April. Early in the month, members of EURELECTRIC, a pan-European power sector association of more than 3,500 companies, announced that it would cease

  • POWER Digest (June 2017)

    India Joins IEA as an Association Country. India joined the International Energy Agency (IEA) as an association country on March 30, marking a significant move for the country into global energy affairs. The

  • Geothermal Drilling in Iceland Reaches Supercritical Target

    A unique collaborative effort by a consortium of Icelandic power companies and the Icelandic government to determine whether using supercritical geothermal fluids would improve the economics of power

  • 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

  • Offshore Wind Contract Conundrum Heads to Supreme Court

    The English Supreme Court is due to hear an appeal on the long-running dispute in connection with the Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm. The decision promises to be significant for the offshore wind industry, its

  • Norwegian CCS Boss: CCS is not BS

    Sitting on a panel during the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York City on April 24, Michael Bloomberg proclaimed that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is “total bullshit.” That statement was not received well by Trude Sundset, CEO of Gassnova, Norway’s state enterprise for the development of CCS. “There’s a whole new world […]

  • Malware in Modern ICS: Understanding Impact While Avoiding Hype

    Understanding the threat posed to industrial control systems (ICSs) by malware is difficult. It requires knowledge of proper ICS functionality in order to identify illegitimate software. One industrial

  • 3-D Printing: The Future of Manufacturing and Maintenance

    Power plants are complex systems with countless moving parts, and in turn, countless opportunities for things to go wrong. With the advent of 3-D printing technology, repairing or replacing those moving parts

  • Europe Rebuilds Grid to Accommodate Green Energy Swell

    A flood of renewable capacity in the European Union is forcing member countries to consider grid upgrades that offer a more substantial power supply management role to distribution system operators. Lee

  • Trends Suggest New Directions for Global Hydropower

    While hydropower installations worldwide fell slightly in 2016 to 31.5 GW compared to 33 GW in 2015, the sector marked a colossal jump in pumped storage installations last year, the International Hydropower

  • Indonesia Considers Thorium Molten Salt Reactors

    Power-short Indonesia has been mulling building a nuclear power plant for nearly 15 years, and it is exploring a number of novel options, including high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) and a thorium

  • POWER Digest

    UK Gives First Consent for Hinkley Point C EPRs. The UK’s Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) on March 27 gave its approval to allow a consortium to begin placing structural concrete for a series of

  • One of World’s Largest Geothermal Units Begins Operations in Indonesia

    The first of three 110-MW units at the $1 billion Sarulla geothermal power plant in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province commenced commercial operation this March. When the next two units come online as

  • After Blackout, South Australia Wrests Control of Its Power Security

    Freshly reeling from a statewide blackout, South Australia’s government in March released an energy plan that seeks to cut its reliance on an electricity interconnector with eastern Australia that feeds the

  • Newly Designed Deluge Valve Improves Functionality

    Stanwell Power Station, a 1,460-MW coal-fired power plant located in Queensland, Australia, faced a dilemma. The reliability of its fire protection system was questionable. Many of the plant’s multiple jet

  • Paris Agreement Debate Heats Up

    President Donald Trump is getting a lot of advice about the Paris Agreement on climate change lately, though it remains uncertain what he’ll do with it. A group of more than a dozen companies, including some power industry big hitters, sent a letter April 26 to the president calling for continued involvement in the agreement. […]

  • GE Power Inks Its Largest Services Deal Ever

    GE Power signed a landmark deal to provide operations and maintenance (O&M) services for 10 power plants with a combined capacity of 11 GW. Sonelgaz SPE, a state-owned utility in charge of electricity and natural gas distribution in Algeria, owns the facilities. The agreement includes technology upgrades designed to enhance energy efficiency—allowing more than 420 […]

  • Commodity Price Volatility Is Prime Concern Among Global Energy Leaders

    An April 6–issued report released by the World Energy Council suggests that the single biggest worry among global energy leaders is commodity price volatility. Prices appear to be a big concern because of the “Grand Energy Transition” toward de-carbonization. Leaders in resource-holding countries, such as Saudi Arabia, are anxious about long-term economic models, if prices […]

  • Report: Global Renewable Investment Down, Capacity Grows

    Global new renewable power capacity grew in 2016 even as global new investment in renewables dropped, according to a report commissioned by the United Nations Environment Program out April 6. The Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2017 report found that global investment in renewables—excluding large hydro—fell in 2016 by 23% to $241.6 billion. That […]

  • China’s Nuclear Expansion Mired in Overcapacity

    China has brought 24 of its 36 operating nuclear reactors online at a breakneck pace since 2010, but there are signs it may roll out future plants that are still under construction more slowly, owing in part

  • India Gears Up to Expand Fast Breeder Reactor Fleet

    India’s Department of Atomic Energy, the entity responsible for research, construction, and operation of the country’s nuclear power reactors, will build two prototype fast-breeder reactors (PFBRs) at

  • A Wrap-Up of the Energy Union’s Second Year

    Two years after the Energy Union was launched as a strategy to help the European Union (EU) provide secure, sustainable, competitive, and affordable energy, the 28-member bloc is seeing a precipitous drop in

  • Who Has the World’s Most Efficient Coal Power Plant Fleet?

    A comparison of coal power plant fleets from China, the European Union (EU), Japan, and the U.S. by the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) Clean Coal Centre yields surprising insights into efforts these

  • POWER Digest (April 2017)

    Russia Marks Milestone with Commercial Operation of Third-Generation Reactor. After nearly a decade of construction, the first advanced third-generation VVER-1200 nuclear reactor began commercial operation on