Markets

The “duck curve,” a concept that has become emblematic of the challenges associated with integrating variable renewables in the power system, now looks like a “canyon,” illustrating a paramount urgency for adequate flexibility, Arshad Mansoor, president and CEO of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), has warned.  In a recent post on LinkedIn, Mansoor highlighted […]

My job has made me a frequent flyer, but I can’t imagine stepping onto a plane without confidence in the air traffic control system and its complex interplay of regulation, technology, communications, scheduling, and human expertise. Many obstacles were overcome to achieve modern aviation—and the same is true where I work: today’s electric grid. Virtual […]

New rules, regulations, and legislation are changing the way U.S. utilities generate electricity. First, there was the Clean Power Plan (CPP), which was passed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2015. This was replaced in 2019 by the EPA’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule. Both policies aim to reduce and limit carbon dioxide emissions […]

The Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM), a real-time energy market operated by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), has gained three new participants, including its first generation-only entity. CAISO on April 5 announced the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) Desert Southwest region, El Paso Electric (EPE), and AVANGRID have formally begun participation in the WEIM. […]

Driven by ripe market conditions, technology startups are injecting investment and innovation into geothermal power to unlock novel applications that could substantially scale up the niche renewable power

Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors deliver many benefits to power projects. Besides the experience they bring that can help keep schedules on track, they often have longstanding

The first Hualong One unit, a 1,180-MWe nuclear reactor designed by China General Nuclear (CGN), is now operational at the company’s Guangxi Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Station in western China’s Guangxi Autonomous Region. Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Plant is 39% owned by Guangxi Investment Group and 61% by CGN. The plant plans to house six 1,000-MWe reactors, […]

Last Energy, a U.S.-based micro modular nuclear technology firm and project developer, has secured power purchase agreements (PPAs) for 34 PWR-20 small modular reactor (SMR) units with four industrial partners in the UK and Poland. The deals, which represent a combined $18.9 in power sales, mark “the largest pipeline of new nuclear power plants under […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on March 15 issued the final “Good Neighbor Plan,” its latest iteration of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) that could require coal, oil, or gas steam power plants in 22 states to reduce their nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions levels by 50% by 2027 compared to the 2021 ozone season. […]

Washington, D.C. – In a recent letter to PJM Interconnection, America’s Power explained that near-term coal plant retirements could be three times greater than PJM anticipates in its recent white paper, thereby increasing the risk of electricity shortages.  The PJM paper examines the disconnect between increasing coal retirements, growing electricity demand, and the slow addition […]