Markets

GE will retain its lucrative digital business—not spin it off, as had been planned—but it will sharpen the division’s focus on four key markets, including electric utilities and power generation, GE Digital CEO Pat Byrne told customers in an Oct. 31 letter. “I want to affirm that GE Digital is staying in GE,” Byrne wrote. […]

The future of energy is electric. It is a future that is evolving rapidly, bringing significant changes. Traditional suppliers are scrambling to stake their claims and remain relevant. Market trends point

Market forces are playing as much if not more of a role than regulatory policy in the transition from fossil-fueled power generation to renewables, as utilities in the U.S. and worldwide establish decarbonization goals. That was the message from Bill Ritter Jr., former governor of Colorado, during his keynote address at POWER’s Distributed Energy Conference […]

Attorneys general from 11 states ramped up pressure on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to recognize state policy goals as it makes decisions related to market design, siting of new gas pipelines and storage facilities, and grid reliability.  The measure is the latest in a string of recent pushes by states to ensure federally […]

World Leading Gas Turbine Efficiency With Best In Class Reliability, Will Reduce Emissions FORT MCMURRAY, ALBERTA, CANADA (October 21, 2019) – Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) announced today that Suncor Energy placed an order for two M501JAC advanced class gas turbines and two heat recovery steam generators (HRSG) for a future cogeneration facility at the […]

The energy storage market received a boost Oct. 17 when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the first two compliance filings implementing Order 841, a rule the commission said is designed to eliminate market barriers to electricity storage. Order 841 was enacted in February 2018. The measure directs regional power grid operators to establish […]

A recent study found that electric vehicle (EV) batteries used as a utility virtual power plant (VPP) could shift the entire residential peak load to nighttime hours with only 10% EV market saturation. The research was conducted by Jackson Associates, an Orlando, Florida-based firm that does energy forecasting, data development, and energy-related analysis. The study […]

South Africa’s state-owned utility Eskom was forced to slash 2,000 MW on a rotational basis nationwide on Oct. 16 and Oct. 17. The newest round of power cuts—the first in nearly seven months—highlight the state-owned utility’s scramble to avert financial disaster stemming in part from the fast-tracked construction of two 4.8-GW coal-fired power plants: Medupi […]

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Rick Perry is headed to Brussels, Belgium, to promote small modular reactor (SMR) concepts to European Union (EU) prospects. Perry will be a featured speaker during the “1st U.S.-EU High-Level Industrial Forum on Small Modular Reactors,” which will be held Oct. 21. “The U.S. and the EU share a […]

At the end of last year, the power market began to lose steam. The credit market wasn’t as strong as it was at the start of the year and many people began speculating “doom and gloom” for the market. However, over the last few months, the power market has picked up and is beginning to […]

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and NuScale Power, two leading companies in the race to build small modular reactors (SMRs) for power generation, have recently announced deals that could result to new plants being constructed in Europe. Feasibility Studies in Estonia GEH on Oct. 3 said it had signed an agreement with Fermi Energia OÜ, […]

Taipei, Taiwan — Taiwan’s largest EPC contractor CTCI has been awarded an EPCC contract for Van Phong-1 1,320MW Thermal Power Plant BOT Project in Vietnam in cooperation with IHI Corporation, Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation, and Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Co., Ltd as consortium. The contract award marks a milestone for the company […]

Material changes to the UK peak power and capacity markets sector has resulted in 3 major reserve power facilities becoming insolvent. As a result, 44MW of standby power generator assets are available for sale either in-situ, to take advantage of STOR, FFR and future capacity markets, or piecemeal for removal. Dan Hurd of Ernst Young, […]

The cost of fuel is one of the most important factors affecting power plant profitability, but flexibility and efficiency are also vitally important to success. One impressive new plant in Ohio—the Lordstown

To endure a highly competitive and rapidly changing marketplace, Invenergy made the bold choice as it developed the 1,480-MW Lackawanna Energy Center in Jessup, Pennsylvania, to pair a first-of-its-kind

In my “Speaking of Power” column last month, I explained that JEA, a community-owned utility in northeast Florida, is contemplating privatization. One of the reasons JEA is considering the change is that

ENGIE, the world’s largest independent power producer, has signed an innovative volume firming agreement (VFA) with Microsoft that will allow the technology giant to buy “firm” power from wind and solar projects in Texas under a specially structured power purchase agreement (PPA).  The companies on Sept. 24 said the long-term PPA will allow Microsoft to […]

NRG Energy has joined a growing list of major U.S. coal generators that want to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050.  The Princeton, New Jersey-based energy company on Sept. 24 said it would accelerate carbon goals it set in 2014 to reach its 50% GHG reduction target (from a 2014 baseline) by 2025—not […]

COMMENTARY Texas has the most wind capacity of any state, generating about 16% of its electricity from wind. In August, as temperatures rose above 100F and consumers increased their use of air conditioning, Texas’ grid operators struggled to meet the record demand for electricity. Many of the wind turbines could not operate because the wind […]

Average natural gas prices at Henry Hub in 2020 could fall to below $2/MMBtu —a level “not seen in decades”—owing to a persistent oversupply, a new report from information and analytics firm IHS Markit suggests.  Prices could fall despite strong demand for natural gas, both domestically, including for power generation, as well as for exports. […]

FirstEnergy Solutions (FES), Xcel Energy, and Arizona Public Service (APS) will demonstrate hydrogen production at three nuclear plants they own starting in 2020 and 2021. The projects, selected as part of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Nuclear Energy’s Advanced Reactor Development Project funding pathway, aim to improve long-term competitiveness of the nuclear sector […]

New York City may soon be powered with two new power barges outfitted with eight Siemens 76-MW aeroderivative gas turbines.  Under a Sept. 5-announced contract signed by Astoria Generating Co. (AGC) and Siemens, the power barges—a relatively new Siemens offering based on a concept it calls “SeaFloat”—will replace two of four existing power barges at […]

Last year, five of the world’s 449 operable nuclear reactors reached 50 years of operation for the first time, four first-of-their kind reactor designs were brought online, and while the industry showed capacity factor impacts from load-following, the global nuclear fleet performed  at an average capacity factor of about 80%, says a new report from […]

GE introduced the F-class gas turbine to the power industry nearly 30 years ago. Since that time, more than 1,500 F-class machines have operated for more than 54 million hours. With available outputs ranging from 51 MW for a GE 6F.01 simple cycle unit to more than 1,000 MW for a 3×1 7F.05-based combined cycle […]

As of August 2019, 29 U.S. states and the District of Columbia had renewable portfolio standards (RPSs), and eight others had non-binding renewable portfolio goals. Three states also had clean energy standards, which set targets for low-carbon non-renewables, like nuclear, and two had clean energy goals. Shown in the bars below are the shares of generation by source […]

There are generally three types of electric power utility ownership structures: public power utilities, rural electric cooperatives, and investor-owned utilities (IOUs). The American Public Power Association

There have been a lot of changes in how power plants do business. As financial pressure mounts and lean-staffing strategies are implemented, finding time to do all the work that needs to be done can be a

This year, it seems hardly a week has gone by without a new report making us even more nervous about climate change. It’s as if the editorial theme for 2019 was: “It’s worse than you thought.” Maybe

“I hate to see things going out along party lines,” Cheryl LaFleur, outgoing commissioner of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), told POWER during an exclusive interview. “During my 35 years of watching FERC, that has not been the pattern.” During the early years of the Obama administration, “we didn’t think of ourselves as [partisan],” […]

Vistra Energy will shutter four coal-fired power plants—a total 2 GW—as required by Illinois’ recently revised Multi-Pollutant Standard (MPS) rule, but CEO Curtis Morgan noted the move was “inevitable” due to the changing regulatory environment and unfavorable economic conditions in the MISO market.  The company on Aug. 21 said it will close the 54-year-old 915-MW […]