Markets

  • First Hydrogen Burn at Long Ridge HA-Class Gas Turbine Marks Triumph for GE

    Hydrogen combustion has begun at the 485-MW Long Ridge Energy Terminal combined cycle power plant—a flagship GE HA-class project that is purpose-built to transition from natural gas to hydrogen blends and ultimately be capable of burning 100% hydrogen. While the sprawling multimodal facility in Hannibal, Ohio—which sits on the Ohio and West Virginia border—achieved commercial […]

  • Goldman Sachs Stake in Fortress Underscores Supply Chain Cybersecurity Priority

    A Goldman Sachs private equity business is taking a stake in critical industry cybersecurity firm Fortress Information Security. The $125 million investment underscores a heightened awareness of supply chain vulnerabilities within the investor community. Fortress, which announced the investment from Goldman Sachs Asset Management Private Equity on April 19, said it also highlights a wider […]

  • Gas Power Outlook: Volatility and Viability

    Natural gas generation’s future hinges on a precarious and exceptionally volatile set of issues that the conflict in Ukraine intensified. Experts from the full natural gas chain shed light on how that

  • Competition Is More Important Than Ever to Tackle Today’s Energy Challenges

    As we commemorate another Earth Day this April, the challenges facing our energy systems and the environment seem more pressing than ever. Americans face continued economic uncertainty following the COVID-19

  • U.S. Agrees to Ramp Up LNG Exports to Europe, Actively Reduce Natural Gas Demand

    The Biden administration and the European Commission launched a multi-pronged effort that will dramatically ramp up U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to the European Union (EU) but also reduce overall natural gas demand in the U.S. and EU through “accelerated market deployment” of clean energy measures. The measures are part of strategic energy cooperation […]

  • Market Transitions: The MOPR Merry-Go-Round

    The PJM Interconnection’s Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR) was introduced in 2006 as a floor to bar new generators from artificially depressing capacity auction clearing prices through below-cost bids.

  • Natural Gas and Nuclear Power Are Not ‘Green’ Investments

    It is not an over-reaction to state that we are in the midst of a planetary emergency. We face the combined threats of climate, nature loss, and human health pandemics. Of the nine planetary boundaries that

  • Poland Secures NuScale SMR as Urgency for Nuclear Energy Ramps Up Across Central, Eastern Europe

    NuScale Power has signed a definitive commercial agreement with mining and processing firm KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. to deploy a VOYGR power plant of up to 924 MWe as early as 2029 to support KGHM’s copper and silver production in Poland. Under an “early works agreement” signed in a ceremony on Feb. 14 in the […]

  • Winter Freeze Testing Texas Power Grid Reforms

    Parts of Texas have suffered localized, distribution-level power outages as an Arctic outbreak sent temperatures plummeting across the state, but its heavily scrutinized grid is largely prepared to weather the storm, state entities said. Frigid temperatures stemming from a large dome of Arctic high pressure are sending temperatures into the single digits and below zero […]

  • Former FERC Commissioner Says ‘Market Design Problem’ Was a Leading Cause of February 2021 Texas Power Crisis

    In February 2021, a severe cold weather event, known as Winter Storm Uri, caused numerous power outages, derates, or failures to start at electric generating plants scattered across Texas and the south-central U.S. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages the power supply for about 90% of the load in Texas, ordered a […]

  • Infrastructure, Renewables, ESG Initiatives Lead Trends for 2022

    The Biden administration has made clear its intention to promote the transition to clean energy, setting ambitious goals like carbon neutrality for the power sector by 2035 and for the entire country by 2050. A critical step toward these goals was congressional passage of the $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which President […]

  • GE Grasping for Growth as It Prepares for Integrated Energy Spinoff

    GE’s first earnings release after the American conglomerate last November announced it would combine and spin-off its Renewable Energy, Power, and Digital business suggests flagging orders for onshore and offshore wind equipment and gas turbines amid a business environment wrought with uncertainty. GE on Jan. 25 reported revenues of $15.7 billion for its Renewable Energy business, […]

  • Vistra Claims ‘Extortion’ by Pipeline Company, Says Natural Gas Supply to Texas Power Plants Threatened

    Two Vistra Corp. subsidiaries have alleged in a complaint filed with the Texas Railroad Commission that a major pipeline firm has threatened to terminate natural gas service to five Texas gas-fired power plants—a combined 2 GW—“at any time” after Jan. 23. If escalated, the issue could pose new hurdles for the state’s electricity security as […]

  • ESG Aspects Loom Large in Power and Utilities M&A Activity

    Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) efforts are factoring into merger and acquisition (M&A) deal activity within the power and utilities sector across North America, according to a report issued by PwC, a professional services firm serving the “Trust Solutions and Consulting Solutions” segments. “As policies are clarified and ESG strategies are strengthened, broad investor interest […]

  • A Win-Win-Win Solution for DER Owners, the Power Grid, and the Environment

    New distributed energy resources (DERs) are being added to the power grid every day. However, DERs don’t automatically provide owners with the greatest value possible. In many cases, that requires the help of an aggregator, that is, a company that specializes in managing DERs owned by a pool of clients and optimizing performance of the […]

  • Ethiopian GERD Mega-Dam Readying to Test Power Production

    Ethiopia is reportedly gearing up to begin testing hydropower generation at its flagship 5.2-GW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), despite a continued diplomatic row about its potential implications on water consumption on the Blue Nile. Citing unnamed project sources, Capital, a weekly Ethiopian business newspaper, reported this week that work to begin test power generation […]

  • Nuclear and Natural Gas Taxonomy Battles Brewing in Europe and S. Korea

    A leaked draft of the European Commission’s proposal to label some natural gas and nuclear power plants as “transitional” or “green” investments has prompted pushback from some European Union (EU) members. Criticism is also mounting in South Korea, where liquefied natural gas (LNG) was included in its new green taxonomy guidelines—but nuclear was left out. […]

  • Power Sector Risks Loom Large Over the Energy Transition

    The fog of uncertainty that hangs over the global power industry is getting larger and denser as generating companies and utilities navigate ever more complex challenges.

  • 2021: A Dark Year for Electricity Security, Reliability

    While 2021 kicked off short on optimism given chaos from the COVID-19 pandemic, the year was characterized by an extraordinary series of critical energy crises. Power blackouts, brownouts, interconnection mismatches, severe fuel shortages, and near-misses affected nearly every region in the world. Here’s a brief look back at some of the events that characterized 2021. […]

  • Top 10 Power Industry News Stories of 2021

    It’s been another news-filled year in the power industry. The following stories were the top 10 traffic-getters posted in 2021 on POWER’s website. Did you see them all as they were released? 10. Mitsubishi Power Developing 100% Ammonia-Capable Gas Turbine Mitsubishi Power is developing a 40-MW class gas turbine that can directly combust 100% ammonia […]

  • Was 2021 the Year of EVs, Hydrogen, or Energy Storage? And What to Expect in 2022

    If you’ve paid attention to the cleantech news cycle this year, you know it’s been a roller-coaster ride. I’ve been in the cleantech/energy transition sector for 20 years and wrote the first history on the term cleantech 15 years ago. I’ve seen the many ups and downs surrounding the industry. Today’s current playing field is […]

  • ISO-NE Warns Fuel Supply Issues May Threaten Winter Power System Reliability

    New England faces a precarious fuel supply risk that could necessitate emergency actions if a severe prolonged cold snap hits the region this winter, ISO New England (ISO-NE) has warned.  The regional grid operator expects power demand will peak at 19,710 MW during average winter weather conditions of 10F, but if temperatures plunge below 5F, […]

  • MISO report provides insights on future market needs for the changing energy landscape

    Reliability Imperative efforts key to addressing the needs of the future CARMEL, Ind. — Today, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) published Markets of the Future: A Reliability Imperative Report focused on redefining markets to meet changing needs posed by the evolving resource mix. The report is intended to illuminate a pathway for our existing […]

  • Dominion Estimates $10B Installation Cost for 2.6-GW Virginia Offshore Wind Farm

    Dominion Energy is revving up its efforts to build the 2.6-GW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) commercial project before 2027 to meet state requirements, it said in a detailed filing for the $9.8 billion project submitted to the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) on Nov. 5.  CVOW, which will be sited on a federal lease […]

  • Can Nuclear Power Stay Relevant in a World Filled with Renewables?

    I have long been a supporter of nuclear power. I’ll admit I’m biased, having spent 13 years in the U.S. Navy’s nuclear power program and having worked for several more years in the commercial nuclear

  • Ensuring Power Grid Health Through Better Asset Management

    The power sector has been evolving for years and technology has been instrumental in the change. Today, asset performance management and predictive maintenance tools can help power companies avoid outages

  • Standardized Documents and Solid Partners Make Financing Less Stressful for Project Developers

    Many small- and medium-sized power projects are simply not large enough to gain the interest of highly sought-after institutional investors. The complexity and related costs of smaller projects means risks and

  • AEP Will Shed Kentucky Operations in $2.9B Sale 

    American Electric Power (AEP) is shedding its Kentucky-based assets—including its longstanding regulated utility Kentucky Power and transmission business AEP Kentucky Transco—to better position itself to invest in projects that will support a resilient, cleaner energy system. The Columbus, Ohio, headquartered company on Oct. 26 announced it has entered into an agreement for the sale of […]

  • FERC Tackles Modernization of U.S. Power Markets

    The seven major organized electricity markets scattered across the U.S. account for roughly two-thirds of all power generated in the country. Most of these markets are made up of Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) that were created more than twenty years ago. The primary mission of the markets is to neutrally […]

  • Power-to-Power Hydrogen Demonstration Involving Largest U.S. Nuclear Plant Gets Federal Funding

    Palo Verde Generating Station, a 4-GW nuclear power plant in Arizona, is gearing up to produce hydrogen from a low-temperature electrolysis (LTE) system, and that hydrogen will then be used to fuel a natural gas–fired power plant owned by Arizona Public Service (APS). The innovative power-to-power demonstration led by PNW Hydrogen is set to receive […]