News
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News
GE Hitachi, TerraPower Team on Nuclear-Storage Hybrid SMR
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and Bill Gates’ nuclear innovation startup TerraPower are ready to demonstrate a “cost-competitive” advanced nuclear reactor system that will integrate a 345-MWe sodium fast reactor (SFR) with a molten salt energy storage system under a unique energy system architecture. The advanced nuclear technology developed under a joint development agreement is […]
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Hydrogen
Mitsubishi Power Snags Hydrogen Integration Contracts for 2 GW of New Gas Power
Three major gas-fired power projects—a total of 2.1 GW—in Eastern competitive markets that are slated to come online between 2023 and 2025 have chosen hydrogen pathways to ensure their long-term viability as states increasingly emphasize energy system decarbonization. The plants, which represent a total investment of $3 billion, will adopt integrated green hydrogen solution packages […]
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News
World’s Largest—For Now—Battery Storage Project Online in California
A battery energy storage project in California is set to be the world’s largest in terms of generation capacity when the facility is fully energized later in September. McCarthy Building Companies’ Renewable Energy & Storage group, based in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sept. 1 said the company had recently completed construction of LS Power’s 250-MW Gateway […]
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Top Plant
Developing a Solution for Utility-Scale Storage
A Canadian company is using its proprietary technology, known as A-CAES, to provide a long-duration, cost-effective way for energy storage to provide power for hours at a time. Long-duration energy storage is
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Hydrogen
WindGas Falkenhagen: Pioneering Green Gas Production
Uniper’s Falkenhagen site in Germany hosted two major pilots to produce “green” hydrogen and methane from wind power, opening up prospects for lucrative new revenue streams from decarbonized assets that
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Top Plant
Turning a Brownfield into a Brightfield
A solar array in Indiana is a model project for renewable energy development, with the site providing clean energy at what was once a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site. Areas of the U.S
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News
Delingha: A Leap for Molten Salt Tower CSP Technology
The 50-MW Delingha concentrated solar power tower plant located on the high-altitude Tibetan Plateau in China was developed, built, and continues to be refined by a company dedicated to solar tower technology
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Fuel
Supercritical CO2 Pilot Power Plant Gearing Up for 2021 Demonstration
Construction of the 10-MW Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) pilot plant in San Antonio, Texas, is inching along, and developers in July announced that the building to house the innovative
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Nuclear
Age-Old Problem in Search of a Solution
Industry experts agree that deep geological repositories are needed for long-term storage of spent reactor fuel. They’re also digging for alternative methods. The U.S. Department of Energy earlier this year
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News
Vietnam Wants More Generation Capacity, Less Reliance on Coal
Vietnamese officials earlier this year said they want the country to more than double its power generation capacity by 2030, to as much as 130 GW from the current capacity of about 55 GW. The Communist Party
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Fuel
Big Oil Makes Concerted Push into Power
BP made headlines in early August when it announced it wants to develop about 50 GW of net renewable generating capacity by 2030—a 20-fold increase from the 2.5 GW deployed in 2019—as part of a new
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Infographics
THE BIG PICTURE (Infographic): Hybrid Power
At the end of 2019, 125 projects larger than 1 MW were co-located with other generators or storage at a single point of interconnection across the U.S., according to a July 2020 report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. These “hybrid/co-located” projects, which exist in various configurations, represent a combined 13.4 GW of generating capacity and […]
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News
Geothermal Project Powers Airport Expansion
Vancouver International Airport is the largest facility in British Columbia and requires a lot of heating and cooling. Those needs will be increased by a $300 million expansion designed to add 300,000 square
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News
POWER Digest [September 2020]
Milestone for First 700-MW Domestically Built Indian Nuclear Reactor. Unit 3 of the Kakrapar nuclear power plant in the Indian state of Gujarat—an indigenously designed 700-MW pressurized heavy water reactor
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News
How COVID-19 Crisis Response Informs Next Steps for Climate Mitigation
When the pandemic hit New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo began holding daily media briefings to provide updates and reassurances—and most days, he would challenge New Yorkers to learn the lessons of this
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News
Equipment Showcase: Turbomachinery
Turbines—whether powered by steam, water, natural gas, or some other fluid—are vital to the generation of electricity. Many companies in the power industry are focused on designing, manufacturing, and
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News
EPA Loosens Limits on Coal Plant Effluent Discharges
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a rule that revises regulations for coal-fired power plants, a move that will limit the number of generation facilities that could incur costs for failing to comply with pollution limits. The action on Aug. 31 revises a rule established in 2015, when the EPA issued an order […]
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Nuclear
NRC Gives Final Approval to NuScale’s SMR Design
NuScale Power said the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has completed its Phase 6 review of the Design Certification Application (DCA) of the company’s small modular nuclear reactor (SMR), and said the company’s SMR is the first such reactor to receive NRC approval of its design. NuScale on August 28 announced that with the DCA […]
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News
Construction Begins on New Gas Plant in Alberta
Macquarie Capital and a handful of other development sponsors announced they have successfully closed financing for the C$1.5 billion ($1.2 billion U.S.) Cascade Power Project, a 900-MW combined cycle natural gas-fired generating plant near Edson, Alberta. The new facility (Figure 1), expected to meet more than 8% of the province’s average demand for power, will […]
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News
Gulf Coast Utilities Brace for Monster Hurricane
Utilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast are preparing their response to Hurricane Laura as the massive storm bears down on the Texas and Louisiana coastlines. Entergy Corp., whose territory includes those two states along with Arkansas and Mississippi, on August 26 said it had about 7,400 workers ready to respond to the storm, including 5,300 […]
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News
Analysis Supports Competitive Southeast Power Market
A new report from two groups that study energy policy supports the establishment of a fully competitive regional electricity market in the U.S. Southeast, something already being discussed by at least two of the region’s largest utilities. The analysis published August 25 from San Francisco, California-based Energy Innovation, and Boulder, Colorado-based Vibrant Clean Energy (VCE), […]
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News
Nine Dead in Hydropower Plant Blaze in India
A major fire at the Srisailam Left Bank Hydel Power Station in India’s Telegana state on August 20 killed nine people and seriously injured three others. There is now a wide-ranging federal investigation into its cause. According to plant owner and operator, Telangana State Power Generation Corp. Ltd. (TSGenco), the tragic accident occurred at about […]
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News
Financing Secured for New Gas Plant with GE HA Turbines
Financing has been secured for a new combined cycle natural gas-fired power plant in Illinois, a project expected to begin supplying electricity to the Chicago area in 2023. Competitive Power Ventures (CPV), in partnership with GE Energy Financial Services, Osaka Gas USA, Axium Infrastructure, and Harrison Street, on August 24 said it has reached financial […]
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News
California Blackouts Bring Calls for Investigation
California’s governor demanded an investigation into the cause of a series of power outages—the first since an energy crisis in 2001—that blacked out parts of the state in recent days. California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has struggled to ensure reliability since Friday, Aug. 14, when, amid triple-digit temperatures, it declared a statewide Stage 2 Emergency, […]
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Coal
Coal Plants May Get Scrubber Reprieve from Proposed EPA NAAQS Redesignations
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has moved to redesignate four new areas of Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and Texas as being in attainment of air quality standards for sulfur dioxide (SO2). The proposed actions issued over the past week provide a potential reprieve for several coal power plants, which would have needed costly pollution controls to […]
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Nuclear
Barakah Nuclear Plant Now Sending Power to Grid
Unit 1 of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) sent its first electricity to the UAE grid on August 19, according to a statement from the country’s ambassador to the U.S. The Barakah facility is the first nuclear power plant in the Arab world. The plant became operational about three […]
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News
Solar, Storage Among New Projects in Texas
Several companies have announced new energy projects in Texas, including three utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS), and a solar farm that will benefit customers in the western part of the state. The projects were announced August 19. In addition, officials in Houston on Wednesday said they have awarded a contract for a microgrid that […]
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Distributed Energy
BESS System on Hybrid Microgrid Powers Remote Alaskan Community
The small town of Cordova, Alaska, is located 150 miles southeast of Anchorage, near the picturesque head of the Orca Inlet on the Prince William Sound, at the mouth of the Copper River. It is renowned for its Copper River king and red salmon. Every year, the town transforms into a seafood and fishing powerhouse […]
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Fuel
Coal-Fired Generation Down 30% in U.S., 8% Worldwide
Analysis from a global energy organization said power generation from coal-fired units fell 8.3% in the first half of 2020, with the world’s coal fleet running at less than half its capacity. The drop for U.S. coal generation was more steep, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reporting the output from the nation’s coal […]
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News
Clean Energy Adds Jobs, but Pace Is Slow
An analysis of federal labor data for the clean energy sector shows renewable energy and other industries are adding jobs after months of declines brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. But the gains in July were lower than those in June, signaling sectors such as solar, wind, energy storage, energy efficiency, and electric vehicles continue […]