Markets

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) has submitted a Generic Design Assessment (GDA) entry application for its BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) to UK authorities, kicking off a key regulatory process that could give the advanced nuclear technology a competitive edge as the country races to potentially triple its nuclear capacity to up to 24 GW by […]

Competition for a new unit of up to 1.2 GW at the Czech Republic’s Dukovany nuclear power plant site has stepped up, with France’s EDF, South Korea’s Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), and a Westinghouse-Bechtel team submitting initial bids, Czech utility ČEZ, said on Nov. 30. Elektrárna Dukovany II, a. s. (EDU II), a […]

Uranium has been one of the best-performing asset classes in 2022, according to data supplied by HANetf’s Sprott Uranium Miners UCITS ETF (URNM). In fact, the uranium spot price has increased 24.12% during the year through Oct. 31, according to the fund. October was a particularly strong month for uranium oxide (U3O8), which is used […]

Days after Poland chose Westinghouse to supply its AP1000 technology to the country’s first nuclear plant in Pomerania, northern Poland, the government and two Polish energy firms signed a letter of intent with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) to “push ahead” with development of a second nuclear plant based on APR1400 technology in Pątnów, […]

Energy giants Chevron and Uniper are pairing with chemical technology companies Air Liquide and LyondellBasell to explore a hydrogen and ammonia production facility along the U.S. Gulf Coast that could support industrial decarbonization and mobility applications in the region and expand clean ammonia exports. The companies, in a joint statement on Oct. 19, said they […]

Unexpectedly steep financial losses suffered by the U.S. renewables market owing to a barrage of extreme weather events over the past summer suggest that project hardening strategies aren’t going far enough, a major renewables insurer is warning. GCube, an international insurer for wind, solar, wave, hydro, and tidal projects around the world in an update […]

POWER magazine is celebrating its 140th anniversary this month. All I can say is “Wow! What an incredible run!”; And, it’s not over yet—we plan to continue putting out a top-notch publication

Germany plans to keep two of its three last nuclear power plants on standby until mid-2023—beyond their year-end closure deadline—to bolster its energy security through the winter. However, the declaration has prompted confusion within Germany’s nuclear industry, which says nuclear plants aren’t suited to perform as operating reserve. Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action […]

The forecast for U.S. solar energy installations in 2022 have been revised downward in a report published by Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) on Sept. 8, due in large part to supply chain constraints and an industry-wide slowdown caused by the initiation of an anticircumvention investigation earlier this year. The U.S. […]

California’s grid operator issued a Stage 3 energy emergency alert (EEA) at 5:17 p.m. PST on Sept. 6, warning it would order rotating power outages to lower soaring power demand and stabilize its grid, if necessary. The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) cautiously raised the emergency alert from Stage 2, which it had declared earlier […]

The threat of climate change is no longer a threat—it’s here and it’s impacting everyone. However, in New Jersey, 10 years after Superstorm Sandy, communities are better prepared than ever to handle

For the growing U.S. hydrogen industry, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is transformative. Today, nearly all hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels to be used as a chemical feedstock and for refining—emitting carbon dioxide in the process. Recently, thanks to state incentive programs, federal funds, and voluntary corporate commitments, clean hydrogen has been gaining ground […]

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that electricity generated by natural gas–fired power plants in the lower 48 states reached 6.37 TWh on July 21, setting a new record high for a day. In fact, the previous high, set on July 27, 2020, was broken three times during that week in July, first on […]

Lofty goals have been established in the U.S. for the offshore wind industry. The U.S. Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, and Department of Commerce announced a national goal in March 2021 to deploy 30 GW of offshore wind capacity by 2030. That would mark a significant increase from the 42 MW of offshore […]

The International Energy Agency (IEA) is urging the development of more diverse solar PV supply chains, suggesting the sector’s heavy reliance on China has led to imbalances that pose risks to its future growth. A dedicated study of the world’s solar PV supply chain issued by the Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization on July 7 acknowledges that government […]

Few observers outside the electric utility industry understand the U.S. power grid, often called the world’s largest machine. It’s three grids, actually—the Eastern Interconnect, the Western Interconnect, and the Texas Interconnect. Much of the Eastern and Western Interconnects are subdivided regionally into independent organizations—independent system operators (ISOs) or regional transmission operators (RTOs)—that monitor, coordinate, and […]

War rages in Europe. Natural gas prices are through the roof. Drought threatens hydro production. Weather extremes are becoming commonplace. Supply chains are strained. Demand for electricity is headed

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) on June 15 indefinitely suspended spot markets in all regions of its National Electricity Market (NEM), citing critical power generation supply shortfalls that it said made it “impossible to continue” operations under national electricity rules. AEMO—the independent system operator (ISO) that operates the competitive market serving New South Wales, […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) first official loan guarantee for a new clean energy technology project since 2014 will go to the Advanced Clean Energy Storage 1 project in Utah—one of the world’s largest renewable hydrogen energy projects.  The DOE on June 8 announced it closed on the $504.4 million loan guarantee for the first […]

The first two GE 7HA.03 machines—the largest 60-Hz heavy-duty gas turbines in the world and the most efficient in GE’s fleet—are now operational at Florida Power & Light’s (FPL’s) newly inaugurated 1,260-MW Dania Beach Clean Energy Center (DBEC) in Broward County.  FPL officially declared the Dania Beach Clean Energy Center near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, commercially […]

Drought in California could nearly halve the state’s hydroelectric generation this summer, pushing up wholesale power prices in the West, and forcing the state to rely on natural gas generation and out-of-state imports, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects in a new analysis. The EIA suggests in a supplement to its May 2022–released Short-Term Energy Outlook […]

Significant advances in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission are in step with rapid changes to energy systems worldwide. Shortly after POWER magazine began publication in 1882, the competitive

Vermont doesn’t get a lot of attention outside of Bernie Sanders, but the state’s power system is worth taking a look at as it has undergone a notable shift toward renewable energy. About 80% of

As coal plants are retired, power companies must decide what to do with sites. Some old plants have been added to the National Register of Historic Places and repurposed as commercial or office space, while

The current geopolitical crisis spurred by the Russian invasion of Ukraine should provide a rude awakening in the West to our misguided and flawed policies toward energy development by government and major

An unprecedented array of risks—ranging from capacity shortfalls, extreme weather, extended drought, supply chain issues, cybersecurity, solar PV tripping, fuel constraints, to wildfires—could imperil the reliability of nearly every North American bulk power system (BPS) region west of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) this summer, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) warned in […]

Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District (SRP) is seeking a rehearing and reconsideration of the Arizona Corporation Commission’s (ACC’s) denial of a major gas power plant expansion, which the public power utility has stressed will be crucial for near-term system reliability and long-term renewable integration.  In a filing on May 16, SRP urged […]

The California Energy Commission (CEC) is mulling a preliminary planning goal for 3 GW of offshore wind by 2030 and potentially expanding it to 10 GW to 15 GW by 2045. If finalized, California’s offshore wind goals would be the most ambitious in the U.S., surpassing even New York’s, which calls for 9 GW by […]

(Updated—May 6, 2022) The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) over the past week separately expressed concerns about power supply uncertainties in the face of upcoming warmer-than-normal temperatures. MISO raised an alarm on April 28 when it said that it projects “insufficient firm resources” to cover the summer […]

A drumbeat of floating offshore wind–related developments this year suggests the pipeline for the long-nascent wind technology sub-sector may be finally beginning to grow. While floating wind’s current