News

  • COVID-19 Makes for an Interesting Summer Peak Season

    It’s peak season for the U.S. power industry. While actual dates may vary from one utility to another, generally the summer peak period spans from Memorial Day (May 25 this year) to Labor Day (Sept. 7)

  • Renewables Gain Investors as Some Flee Oil, Gas, and Coal

    The global crash of prices for crude oil, on top of a prolonged slump in the price of natural gas, is taking a toll on the oil and gas sector. The coal industry also continues to suffer, as the supply of

  • Record-Low Solar Prices Drive Middle East Projects

    Abu Dhabi Power Corp. (ADPower) in late April announced what it called the lowest-ever cost-competitive tariff for a solar photovoltaic (PV) project, a few months after a project in Dubai made that claim for

  • Assembling a Skilled Workforce in 2020 and Beyond

    Many companies say their employees are their greatest assets, yet they don’t all invest the time or resources necessary to find the best people for open positions. Creating a sound recruiting program and

  • Equipment Showcase: Construction Equipment

    Construction equipment is a critical part of the power generation industry, as new facilities are built and older facilities are upgraded to enhance efficiency and comply with evolving regulations. The

  • Waste-to-Energy Strategies Are Not Dead

    Few waste-to-energy (WTE) plants have been completed in the U.S. since the mid 1990s, but the story is different around the world, where WTE technology is seen as a suitable solution to municipal solid waste

  • How Our Current Power Grid Is Failing Us

    As coal prices fluctuate and regulations increase, utilities are phasing out dirty coal sources. With renewable energy like solar and wind set to become the fastest-growing sources of electricity generation in

  • POWER Digest [June 2020]

    SGRE Signs Deal for O&M on Wind Turbines. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) has secured a long-term, 20-year contract to provide full-scope operation and maintenance (O&M) services for a 135-MW

  • Coal to Gas—Medical Campus Gets a Generation Transformation

    When a hospital’s primary mission is keeping people healthy, what happens when a power plant gets sick? That was the situation that faced the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center (MRMC) when it’s circa 1950

  • BACNet Protocol Can Change Energy Storage Industry

    The growth of the energy storage industry in the past few years has been huge, and the sector is expected to add another 2 GW of capacity in 2020. In many ways, energy storage solutions (ESS) are at the

  • Sumitomo Electric Completes the Construction of Japan’s Largest Wind Farm “Wind Farm Tsugaru”

    Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has completed the construction of the largest wind farm in Japan, “Wind Farm Tsugaru,” which was ordered by Kajima Corporation. Wind Farm Tsugaru, with a total output of 121,600 kW, is the largest onshore wind farm in Japan (as of April 2020), established in Tsugaru […]

  • Charting a Path Forward for the Energy Sector in a Post-Pandemic World

    The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic is not the type of thing enterprise technologists could see in our magic crystal ball. Before the onset of the virus and its effects, I set out three predictions for the energy, utilities, and resources sector for the coming year—but of course, a global shutdown of business, transport, and […]

  • IRS Grants Wind and Solar Sectors Critical COVID-19 Reprieves

    The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has granted a one-year extension of the continuity safe harbor, providing much-needed relief for many wind developers, which, crippled by pandemic-related delays, were racing to complete projects before crucial tax incentives expired at the end of this year.  In its May 27–issued Notice 2020-41, the IRS essentially modified prior […]

  • With Vogtle Completion in Sight, Southern Company Targets Net-Zero Carbon Emissions

    Fresh off the announcement that the final module for Vogtle Unit 3 was placed at the nuclear expansion project in Georgia, Southern Company said on May 27 that it was setting “a long-term greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.” The announcement was made during Southern Company’s annual stockholders meeting, which […]

  • Data Tool Shows Pandemic’s Impact on Power Prices

    A clean energy valuation and risk analytics company said that low demand for energy during the COVID-19 pandemic, along with low prices for natural gas and strong power generation from renewable energy resources, has brought unprecedented low prices for electricity in multiple U.S. markets.  REsurety said its Renewable Energy Market Analytics Platform (REmap) shows that […]

  • Large cogeneration project in Japan is expanded by 20 Spanner Re2 systems

    Since the beginning of 2019, only ten, then twenty wood-power plants from Spanner Re2 GmbH including peripherals with above-average plant runtimes have been in operation. By the end of this year, the customer will install additional wood-power plants with an electrical output of 1 MW. Neufahrn i. NB. Spanner Re2, based in Neufahrn in Lower […]

  • Doosan Škoda Power turbines continue to conquer Latin America, where they will serve in Uruguay’s first combined gas-steam cycle power plant

    Pilsen (5/27/2020) – Pilsen-based Doosan Škoda Power successfully installed and launched a steam turbine with an output of 200 MW (DST-S20), along with operational equipment, at the Punta del Tigre combined gas-steam cycle power plant, located some 50 kilometres from Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. The project called Punta del Tigre B, with a total […]

  • The POWER Interview: How Modern Control System Technology Is Changing Power Plant Operation

    Distributed control systems (DCSs) and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) have been commonplace in power plants for decades, but the technology has not been stagnant. Today’s systems are beginning to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to take plant control to a whole new level. To get an insider’s perspective on how these systems […]

  • Sharp launches new stylish black half-cut cell PV panel

    London, 26th May 2020 – Sharp today announces the addition of a new all black design monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) panel to its half-cut cell portfolio, the NU-JC320B. The new stylish half-cut cell PERC module offers a 2-3% higher module performance compared to standard full cell panels, providing design-oriented customers with an efficient and reliable […]

  • Siemens Details Spinoff of Energy Business

    The parent of Siemens Energy on May 26 provided details of the planned spinoff of the company’s energy business, saying 55% of Siemens Energy will be spun off to Siemens’ shareholders. The company said Siemens shareholders would automatically receive one share of Siemens Energy AG for every two shares they own of the parent, Siemens […]

  • Thanks to Asia, Coal Is Still King Worldwide

    Despite the U.S. and Europe shuttering coal-fired power plants, coal remains a major fuel in global energy systems. In 2018, global coal demand rebounded and grew by 1.4% due to increased consumption in Asia, where coal consumption increased by 2.5%. This increased consumption was mainly from power generation, which reached an all-time high, increasing 3% […]

  • Alliant Closing Coal Unit, Brings Gas Plant Online

    Wisconsin-based Alliant Energy on May 22 said it would retire the coal-fired Edgewater Generating Station in Sheboygan by year-end 2022, an announcement coming just one week after the utility said it had placed the new 730-MW West Riverside Energy Center, a natural gas-fired combined cycle plant in Beloit, into commercial operation. Alliant, which also has […]

  • The Economic Case for Solar Energy in South Africa

    South Africa has the largest carbon footprint in Africa and contributes 40% of the total CO2 emissions in the continent. As the world evolves in response to climate change concerns, the way business is done in South Africa will need to change. In addition to the critical need for every business to contribute to broadly […]

  • GenOn Will Close Three Coal-Fired Units

    The Texas-based company that owns a coal-fired power plant in Maryland announced it will retire the facility’s three generating units, which have been in operation for about 60 years. GenOn Holdings said Units 1, 2, and 3 at its Dickerson Generating Station will be closed due to “unfavorable economic conditions and increased costs associated with […]

  • Failed Michigan Dam Had Longstanding Spillway Deficiencies

    The Edenville dam, which failed on March 19 flooding Midland, Michigan, and forcing as many as 10,000 residents to evacuate their homes, had its license revoked by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Sept. 10, 2018, due to a “longstanding failure to increase the project’s spillway capacity to safely pass flood flows,” among other […]

  • Group Says It Will Launch World’s Largest Green Hydrogen Project

    Global energy company SGH2, part of Washington, D.C.-based Solena Group, said it has a deal with Lancaster, California, to build what the company calls the world’s biggest green hydrogen production plant, set to be in full operation in early 2023. The company on May 20 said the plant will feature SGH2’s technology that uses recycled […]

  • Construction Halted on 1-GW Polish Coal Plant

    Polish energy companies Enea and Energa late on May 19 announced they were ending their involvement with construction of the Ostroleka C coal-fired power plant, after new co-owner PKN Orlen said it would not be involved in the project if it utilizes coal. PKN Orlen, a Poland state-owned energy company that recently acquired Energa, said […]

  • IEA: Renewables Showing Resiliency Despite Serious COVID Disruptions

    Renewable power sources will mark their first annual decline in new additions in 20 years, owing to delays in construction activity, supply chain disruptions, lockdown and social distancing measures, and emerging financing challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, the sector has showed “impressive” resilience, said the International Energy Agency (IEA) in a new […]

  • Sumitomo Electric secures >€500M “Corridor A-Nord” High-Voltage DC Underground Cable Project in Germany which sets new innovative benchmarks in the HVDC Industry

    Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., with the support of its technology partner, Südkabel GmbH, to deliver the highest voltage 525-kV XLPE(*1) Insulated High-Voltage DC (HVDC) underground cable system for German Corridor Project to supply renewable power generated in the North Sea of Germany to the central and southern part of the country. Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. […]

  • Siemens Launches ‘Most Powerful’ HL-Class Gas Turbine

    Siemens on May 15 began moving what the company calls its “largest, most powerful, and most efficient heavy-duty gas turbine” from Germany to the UK, where the company will test the equipment for use in a combined cycle power plant. The SGT5-9000 HL turbine, built by Siemens Gas and Power in its Berlin factory, will […]