News

  • Financial and Gas Turbine Blade Troubles Plague GE Power

    GE Power’s financials spun out further on a dismal trajectory during the fourth quarter of 2018, plagued by slack market demand for products and services, technical glitches of a flagship gas turbine model, and poor project execution. Despite a series of divestments and corporate reshuffles, including of leadership, for the 12 months that ended on […]

  • Decarbonization, Electrification Key Among 8 Priorities for U.S. Investor-Owned Power Companies 

    In line with customer preferences, U.S. investor-owned electric companies are heavily invested in decarbonization and electrification, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) told Wall Street analysts and bankers on Feb. 6. In its annual presentation to potential investors and industry observers, the trade association that represents U.S. investor-owned electric companies lamented a number of uncertainties affecting […]

  • Prepare for More Distributed Energy Resources [PODCAST]

    Paul DeCotis, senior director in West Monroe Partners’ Energy and Utilities practice, was a guest on The POWER Podcast. West Monroe, in partnership with Greentech Media, conducted a survey of more than 1,700 utility customers, 140 utility executives and managers, and more than two dozen regulators in major markets across North America. Its findings were […]

  • Bentley Systems Announces OpenUtilities™ Solutions for DER – Planning and Design Assessment Solutions for Grid Modernization

    February 5, 2019 – Bentley Systems announces the availability of OpenUtilities™ DER Planning & Design Assessment Solutions, the latest of Bentley’s electric utility software offerings that provide decision support and cost-based models and simulations for Distributed Energy Resources (DER) integration. In partnership with Siemens’ Digital Grid business unit, OpenUtilities Solutions for DER empowers electric utilities, […]

  • HONEYWELL INTRODUCES FIRST INDUSTRIAL CYBERSECURITY SOLUTION TO GUARD AGAINST MALICIOUS USB DEVICE ATTACKS

    New Secure Media Exchange release goes beyond malware detection to identify next wave of USB attack types, keeping human authentication part of security  HOUSTON, Feb. 4, 2019 — Honeywell (NYSE: HON) today announced the latest release of Secure Media Exchange (SMX), a cybersecurity solution to protect industrial operators against new and emerging Universal Serial Bus (USB) […]

  • KBC launches new release of high-fidelity analytics technology for optimal operation of energy across the process industries

    Visual MESA™ Multi-Period Optimizer (VM-MPO) 6 will reduce costly uncertainty in planning, scheduling and trading of energy over multiple time periods across portfolios of generation assets and different asset classes Houston, TX, February 4, 2019 – KBC (A Yokogawa Company) today announced the release of a new high-fidelity analytics technology, VM-MPO 6. It will allow […]

  • New Allen-Bradley Controller Steers Operators to Better Production Decisions

    Allen-Bradley CompactLogix 5480 controller combines Logix control and Windows-based computing in one platform MILWAUKEE, February 4, 2019 — Industrial workers can strengthen their grasp of production and make more informed operating decisions with the new Allen-Bradley CompactLogix 5480 controller by Rockwell Automation. The controller marries a Logix control engine and the Microsoft Windows 10 IoT […]

  • DOE and FERC Mull Incentivizing Cybersecurity, Physical Security of Power and Gas Infrastructure

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) want to explore how federal and state authorities could incentivize cybersecurity and physical security in the power and natural gas sectors. The agencies issued a notice on Feb. 4 announcing they would jointly hold a technical conference on Thursday, March 28, 2019, from […]

  • IPS Nuclear EQ Motor Insulation System Completes Qualification and Design Basis Accident Testing

    System Environmentally Qualified through operating voltages up to 7.2 kV (Greenville, SC — February 04, 2019) The North American leader in engineered solutions for electric motor and generator repair services has raised the bar again, completing Environmental Qualification (EQ) of its Class F+ and Class H medium-voltage nuclear insulation systems for use in Class 1E […]

  • Bedrock Automation and Wood partner to advance Open Secure Automation (OSA®)

    San Jose, California – February 4, 2019 – Bedrock Automation, the maker of the world’s most secure open industrial control system (ICS), has established a partnership agreement with Wood, a globally recognized integration provider.  Under the agreement, Wood’s automation and control group will deliver Bedrock Open Secure Automation (OSA®) to its clients in energy and […]

  • NIPSCO Announces Three New Indiana Wind Farms

    Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO), which is phasing out coal-fired power as part of its “Your Energy, Your Future” plan announced late last year, on Feb. 1 said it will develop three new wind farm projects in the state that will add about 800 MW of renewable power generation capacity to its portfolio. The […]

  • Connected Plant 2019  ‘Game Changers’: The People Behind Digital Innovation

    Behind the digital tools that make the industrial internet of things (IIOT) in the power generation and chemical process industries are people. The upcoming Connected Plant Conference—Feb. 19–21, 2019, in Charlotte, North Carolina—will recognize the achievements of 11 individuals and companies who are fast risers in the field. Through insight and experience, these “Game Changer” champions […]

  • Wait a Minute! The Diablo Canyon Panel Is Working!

    COMMENTARY On January 29, POWER magazine published a local viewpoint from one of the members of the Diablo Canyon Decommissioning Engagement Panel (DCDEP). In the commentary, Alex Karlin urged the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to take immediate action to replace the current DCDEP with an independent community advisory panel for purposes of monitoring and […]

  • THE BIG PICTURE: World’s Biggest Power Companies

    In 2017, the 10 largest power companies, ranked by their installed generation capacity, owned 18% of total global installed capacity, while the next-largest 15 owned around 10%—meaning that the top 25 companies own nearly 30% of global installed power generation capacity, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Chinese companies account for more than one-eighth of global installed […]

  • Hydrogen Energy Gains Steam

    Interest in hydrogen-powered fuel cells for transportation and machinery applications appears to have kicked up of late, with several companies announcing major developments. Hydrogen Batteries for Spanish Port. The Port of Valencia in Spain in January said it is readying to implement a planned €4 million pilot project to power container-manipulating machinery with hydrogen batteries. The […]

  • Energy-Efficiency Programs Benefit Us All

    Utility-sponsored energy-efficiency programs have always seemed like a contradiction to me. Obviously, power companies make money by selling electricity, so encouraging customers to install energy-efficient

  • Show Preview: Connected Plant Conference

    The Connected Plant Conference is a forum designed for professionals in the power generation and chemical process industries who are leading digital adoption at all stages. Sessions are tailored to offer

  • DERMS Technology Part of Australia’s Push for Renewables

    A new distributed energy resources management system (DERMS) is being deployed in Western Australia, designed to manage distributed energy resources (DERs) across nearly 1 million square miles, with a focus on

  • Powering the Dragon: How China’s Power Sector Is Evolving

    China’s power sector reforms represent perhaps the world’s largest industrial reform program, with important consequences on both domestic and global levels. In 2015, Erdaoqiao, a settlement in southwest

  • COP24’s Hefty Impact on the Power Sector

    Two weeks of intense negotiations at the 24th meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) in Katowice, Poland, last December culminated in

  • Indian-Designed Nuclear Reactor Breaks Record for Continuous Operation

    India’s 220-MW Kaiga 1 nuclear power plant, an indigenously designed pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR), on Dec. 31 became a world record holder for running 962 unbroken days. The previous record for

  • Fuel Cell Technology Key to South Korea’s Energy Future

    South Korea is reliant on coal-fired and nuclear power for much of its power generation, and is among the world’s leading importers of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The administration of President Moon

  • POWER Digest – February 2019

    BHEL Completes India Coal Plant in 46 Months. Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) in January said it successfully built and commissioned the single-unit, 800-MW Kothagudem Thermal Power Station (KTPS), in

  • Designing for Extremes: Battery Storage in the Mojave Desert

    When Doosan GridTech installed a 25-MVA/10-MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) at its Beacon Solar Plant site in Kern County, California, the

  • Coal Plant Improves Combustion, Lowers Emissions, and Boosts Output

    Coal power plants today must find ways to operate economically if they are to survive. Every area of cost reduction must be investigated. On the maintenance side, time savings must be sought—to reduce

  • Energy Secretary Should Use Discretionary Authority to Support Clean Coal Technologies

    The threat to power grid resilience and reliability due to the continued retirement of coal-fired power plants has generated calls for immediate action. A severe weather event such as the “bomb cyclone” or

  • Making the Connection: Digitization Ramps Up Optimization

    Power generators continue to expand their use of digital technologies. Data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are all part of a rapid transformation in how utilities are improving the

  • Planning for the Future of Intelligent Power Generation

    An Electric Power Research Institute-led collaborative utility project, called I4Gen (Insight through the Integration of Information for Intelligent Generation), is exploring new technologies for digitally

  • Digitization and Analytics in Power Plants

    A key aspect of any digitization effort is providing easy access to data by engineersand other experts so they can perform advanced analytics to improve outcomes. In the March 2018 issue of POWER, an article

  • A Grim Gap: Cybersecurity of Level 1 Field Devices

    Industrial control system cybersecurity is today largely focused on securing networks, and efforts largely ignore process control equipment that is crucial for plant safety and reliability, leaving it woefully