News

A handful of well-known companies, along with three cities in Texas, have contracted to receive electricity from what would be the largest solar farm built to date in the U.S. Invenergy, a Chicago, Illinois-based energy company, said the Samson Solar Energy Center is scheduled to come online in 2023. The facility is under construction in […]

Natural gas-fired generation continues to provide much of the electricity in the UK, but renewable power in total at times has taken the lead spot in the country’s generation mix over the past several months. The country has moved almost entirely away from coal, which a decade ago teamed with natural gas to provide three-quarters […]

Legislation introduced on Nov. 17 by a bipartisan group of senators on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) will seek to strengthen the nuclear fuel supply chain, help incentivize commercial deployment of new reactor designs, and create a credit program to preserve existing nuclear reactors at risk of premature shutdown.  The American […]

A U.S. subsidiary of one of France’s largest providers of solar power has given New Mexico officials more detailed information about the company’s plans for developing a series of solar projects. The installations would help offset the loss of generation from retiring coal-fired power plants in the state, including the San Juan Generating Station (SJGS) […]

Toshiba Corp. and Siemens Energy are the latest major power industry companies to move away from coal. Toshiba on Nov. 11 announced it will stop taking new construction orders for coal-fired power plants, and Siemens on Nov. 10 said it will stop selling turbines for new coal-fired facilities. The two energy giants join General Electric […]

The world’s power generation is about to become even more green, according to a new publication from the International Energy Agency (IEA). The group on Nov. 10 published its “Renewables 2020″ report, and highlighted how generation capacity from both wind and solar will double across the next five years and surpass global generation from both […]

Traditional in-person factory acceptance testing, also known as witness testing, is a challenge during a pandemic. To keep projects moving, power management company Eaton developed a virtual method to help utilities verify the capabilities of their complex equipment before it arrives onsite.  This virtual solution can provide important advantages compared to traditional witness testing, including […]

American Electric Power (AEP) will shut down or refuel 5.6 GW of its 2020 coal-fired power fleet by 2030 to comply with environmental rules—including recent revisions governing federal coal ash and effluent limitations—and rebalance its portfolio in a bid to meet ambitious climate goals.  The move is bold for the Columbus, Ohio-based generating giant, which […]

The first reactor of the first nuclear power plant in Belarus was connected to the grid on Nov. 3. The Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant, also known as the Astravets plant, will have two operating reactors with a total 2.4 GW of generation capacity when completed in 2022, according to its current timeline. The plant has […]

Joe Biden on Nov. 7 clinched the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, barring Donald Trump’s prospects for a second-term. Almost immediately, reactions from various parts of the power sector streamed in, highlighting possibilities and pitfalls of Biden’s wide-ranging energy and environment agenda.  Energy, and its implications on the environment, figured prominently as […]

Though vote-counting continued in the tight presidential race on Nov. 5, voters in Nevada and New Mexico appear to have made headway on crucial energy initiatives on the ballot.  Nevada Approves a 50% by 2030 RPS  In Nevada, the presidential race remained closely contested on Thursday morning with pundits predicting that a victory there for […]

A pan-renewables organization has chastised the Department of Labor (DOL) for fast-tracking a new rule it has said is a “transparent attempt to slow the growth” of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing.  According to the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE)—a group that represents a wide range of renewables stakeholders including some of the […]

More developers are adding energy storage to their power generation plans as they recognize how the technology improves a project’s economics. Solar and wind power project developers are recognizing the

Decarbonization is posing a fundamental dilemma that could have widespread serious implications for the power sector: the clean energy transition, if not properly managed, could increase water stress, or be

In a bid to spur economic activity and thwart a COVID-19–related downturn, Australia’s government in September set out a strategy to reset domestic power and gas priorities to tamp down power prices and

Advancements in battery technology are critical to continuing growth in the energy storage market, and energy industry analysts say those advancements also are needed to move e-mobility forward and combat

Japanese firm JERA, a joint venture between TEPCO and Chubu Electric, on Oct. 13 issued a roadmap to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050. The move is notable for the company whose business includes a sizable

UK Expands Offshore Wind Targets, Sets 1 GW Target for Floating Wind. The UK on Oct. 6 raised its target for offshore wind power capacity by 2030 from 30 GW to 40 GW. To help the nation meet its commitments

Coal-fired See our August 2020 issue for stories covering these plants: Caofeidian, Tangshan, China Cenal TES, Karabiga, Turkey GHECO-One, Rayong, Thailand NTPC Khargone, Madhya Pradesh, India Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China Renewables See our September 2020 issue for stories covering these plants: Hydrostor Goderich A-CAES Facility, Goderich, Ontario, Canada Genale-Dawa III Hydropower Project, Ethiopia, Africa Kokomo […]

FirstEnergy Corp. President and CEO Charles “Chuck” Jones was fired late Thursday after an internal review found Jones and two other company executives violated company policies in connection with an alleged bribery scheme. The case is connected to a legislative bailout of the state’s nuclear power plants that occurred in 2019. The law, known as […]

Black & Veatch is ending the company’s participation in coal-based power market design and construction, saying it will allow the company to focus on clean energy technologies. The engineering and construction giant’s announcement Oct. 29 comes just more than a month after another major energy company, General Electric, said it would exit the new-build coal […]

At least eight cities have now dropped shares in the Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP), a 720-MWe NuScale Power small modular reactor (SMR) project proposed by Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS). Despite the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oct.16–announced $1.4 billion, 10-year award to fund one-time costs for the first-of-a-kind project, four Utah cities withdrew […]

Vineyard Wind has announced a transmission agreement with ISO New England (ISO-NE) to deliver power to the system operator’s grid when the Vineyard Wind 1 project comes online. The 800-MW offshore wind farm, located about 15 miles off the cost of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, is expected to be the first commercial-scale offshore wind farm […]

Japan, an island nation that is currently heavily reliant on coal and gas power, will be carbon neutral in 2050, the country’s newly appointed prime minister Yoshihide Suga pledged in an Oct. 26 speech.   The announcement by Suga in his first major policy speech to the national Diet was not unexpected for the nation […]

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) said it could cut off power for nearly one million people across Northern California beginning Oct. 25, due to significant wildfire danger in its territory. Southern California Edison (SCE) also has warned of potential blackouts in its region due to forecasts of high winds. The utility last week was found […]

AECOM has announced the closing of the sale of its Power construction business to affiliates of CriticalPoint Capital LLC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Los Angeles, California-based infrastructure consulting firm, which this month announced a restructuring plan, earlier this year closed on the $2.4 billion sale of its Maryland-based Management Services business—which […]

Doubling down on its net-zero efforts, Duke Energy will retire all coal-only units in the Carolinas, multiply its renewable portfolio, and cease emitting methane in its natural gas business by 2030.  The company made the announcements on Oct. 12 at its first environmental, social and governance (ESG) day, a virtual event geared toward its investors. […]

The Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) said it plans to eliminate the group’s use of coal for power generation no later than 2027, including converting two coal-fired units at its Stanton Energy Center to run on natural gas. The Florida utility’s management on Oct. 14 made the recommendation as part of its Electric Integrated Resource Plan […]

Long Ridge Energy Terminal will transition a 485-MW combined cycle power plant that is under construction within its sprawling multimodal facility on the Ohio and West Virginia border with the capacity to run on a hydrogen blend when it begins operation in 2021, and eventually transition to 100% green hydrogen within a decade. Long Ridge, […]

A developer has shelved a 920-MW natural gas-fired power plant planned for Brooke County, West Virginia, citing “changing conditions in the energy and financial markets” and alleged coal industry interference.  Energy Solutions Consortium (ESC), a single purpose entity engaged in developing natural gas-fired power plants in West Virginia and Pennsylvania that has been active since […]