News

In today’s dynamic and fast changing power generation market, gas turbine power plant operators are demanding solutions for their newly installed and existing assets to provide unprecedented and ‘future-proof’ operational flexibility in order to optimize their ability to profit from changing regulatory & fuel-switching driven paradigms. With subsidies and regulatory mandates driving the introduction of […]

Modules precede concrete placements inside Unit 4 containment vessel New aerial video highlights significant progress at construction site ATLANTA, Oct. 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Georgia Power announced today the placement of two key floor modules at the Vogtle nuclear expansion near Waynesboro, Georgia. These module placements, referred to as CA35 and CA33, will be followed […]

Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding on October 15 to develop power plants in the country with General Electric (GE). The Financial Times on October 18 said the $15 billion deal was brokered after senior officials in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iraq that relations with the U.S. would be threatened if Iraq […]

FirstEnergy on October 18 said its coal-fired Pleasants Power Station in West Virginia will stay open until June 2022, after earlier announcing the plant would close in January of next year. FirstEnergy spokeswoman Jennifer Young said, “Keeping Pleasants in operation … allows the plant to fulfill current capacity obligations and provides additional time for evaluation […]

Utilities are faced with many disruptive changes in the power market. Customers are demanding cleaner energy and turning to distributed generation as a solution. One expert suggested power companies must react and evolve their business models to change with the times. During a keynote presentation at the Distributed Energy Conference in Golden, Colorado, on October […]

BlackEnergy, the malware used in a cyberattack that prompted a large-scale blackout in Ukraine in December 2015, has a successor—GreyEnergy. A group is using the malware to target industrial networks outside Ukraine, researchers  from Slovakian cybersecurity firm ESET warn.  The researchers said in an October 17–released white paper that analysis of the previously undocumented GreyEnergy […]

The White House may have shelved an effort to force grid operators to buy power from uneconomic coal and nuclear plants amid opposition inside the administration, Politico reported on October 15.  The publication reported “four people with knowledge of the discussions” have confirmed that opposition from the president’s own advisers on the National Security Council […]

Dominion Energy has filed an application to extend the operating licenses for two 45-year-old nuclear reactors at the Surry Power Station through 2052 and 2053—when they will be 80 years old.  Surry’s Unit 1 and 2, located near Newport News, Virginia, are three-loop Westinghouse pressurized water reactors (PWRs) that began operation in December 1972 and […]

First ground has been broken on a 10-MW pilot of a novel supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) technology, a $119 million project that will refine the sCO2 power cycle and demonstrate component performance and scalability.  Construction of the Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) pilot plant at the 15-acre facility at Southwest Research Institute’s (SwRI’s) San Antonio, […]

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has declined to rehear a case that challenges nuclear subsidies in Illinois, effectively dealing a blow to a group of competitive generators, which have fought the measure for several years. In an order issued on October 9, the appellate court said its full judicial panel had voted to deny […]

In July 2016, a coal silo collapsed at an Indiana power plant. The root cause was identified as cracking of the cone-to-skirt weld. Warnings to inspect this vulnerable weld were published widely in conference proceedings and trade journal articles. Nevertheless, coal silos continue to fail at an alarming rate (Figure 1), which suggests that the […]

The U.S. Senate has cleared a major water infrastructure bill that contains several provisions promoting hydropower development, sending it to the president’s desk. The Senate passed S. 3021, “America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018,” on October 10 through a bipartisan vote of 99–1. Because the House of Representatives unanimously passed the bill in a voice […]

Packing 150 mph winds, Hurricane Michael has made landfall along the Florida Panhandle. The almost–Category 5 storm might well be the strongest to hit the Emerald Coast in more than 100 years. Not since Hurricane Opal, back in 1995, has there been a storm even remotely as strong as Michael to strike the coastal area. Causing major havoc […]

American Electric Power (AEP) this week confirmed it will close its coal-fired Conesville Power Plant in Ohio earlier than originally planned. An AEP spokesperson in an email to media confirmed the plant’s workers were told October 5 that the plant will close by May 31, 2020. AEP said Units 5 and 6 at the plant, […]

Colorado-based Westmoreland Coal Co. on October 9 said it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with the company reporting more than $1.4 billion in debt. The company in its annual financial report in April of this year said it was considering bankruptcy in an effort to protect it from creditors. Westmoreland, which has operated for […]

Large 48 MW-dc (output capacity 35MW-ac) output enough to power 32,628 households(2) TOKYO, Oct 10, 2018 – (JCN Newswire) – On September 25, 2018, the first mega solar power plant in Vietnam began commercial operation. This plant was a joint construction project involving Sharp Energy Solutions Corporation (SESJ)(3), the Thanh Thanh Cong Group (TTC Group)(4), […]

Below is a list from the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) of all its large-scale coal demonstration projects, starting with the most recent, with a link to each respective project landing page.  In a report prepared for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources that was released on October 1, 2018, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) says […]

Nearly half of the $2.66 billion spent by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) since 2010 to develop advanced fossil energy technologies was dedicated to nine carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects—but only three were active at the end of 2017, and only one was at a power plant. In a report prepared for […]

Babcock Power Environmental Inc., a Babcock Power Inc. company, signs Technology Collaboration Agreement with India’s major power generator, BHEL. Chennai, Tamilnadu, India – Babcock Power Environmental Inc. (BPE) announced today that they have entered into a Technology Collaboration Agreement with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), India’s leading power producer whose equipment account for over 60% […]

Brussels, 8 October 2018: Nuclear power is essential if the world is to keep global warming to below 1.5 degrees, according to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC). Indeed, for electricity generation, the share of nuclear will need to increase significantly in order to meet global targets. According to Debra […]

Environmental officials in North Carolina say their tests show that coal ash released from Duke Energy’s Sutton power plant in Wilmington during flooding from Hurricane Florence has not had a negative impact on the Cape Fear River. The state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on October 4 said its test results on water samples collected […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued key safety and design approvals for the Advanced Power Reactor 1400 (APR1400), a South Korean third-generation nuclear reactor design.  The U.S. regulatory body on September 28 issued a final safety evaluation report and a standard design approval (SDA) for the APR1400, which is designed by South Korean state-owned […]

A handful of nuclear power projects around the world completed notable achievements recently: Rostov 4 entered commercial operation, Tianwan 4 achieved first criticality, the Akademik Lomonosov floating nuclear power plant completed fuel loading, Leningrad II-1 received its commissioning permit, and the dome was installed on Karachi 3. Rostov 4 Rostov Unit 4 was placed into […]

Natural gas combined cycle, wind, and residential solar photovoltaic technologies may be the least-expensive way to generate power across a wide swathe of the U.S., an interactive map published and recently updated by the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s Energy Institute shows.  The interactive chart (Version 1.4.0, retrieved on October 4, 2018), first published […]

Industry aggressively fought the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) when the Obama administration proposed it in 2011 and finalized it in February 2012, warning it would precipitate the closure of a swathe of coal capacity nationwide. Six years later, the rule appears to have had a sizable impact on the power sector, but not […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed it has submitted proposed changes to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) to the White House for review, despite urging by the industry to let the rule stand. EPA spokesperson John Konkus told POWERon October 2 that the agency does not intend to withdraw the existing MATS. It […]

The Valley Energy Center in Orange County, New York, entered commercial operation on October 1 despite complaints from local officials and area residents about noise from the plant, among other concerns. Community members spoke out against the plant at public hearings last week, saying they have felt sick when the plant has undergone test runs […]

MAN Energy Solutions has won the prestigious ‘Best Paper Award’ at the Power-Gen Asia trade show that took place from September 18th to 20th, 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia. The ‘Small-Scale LNG – Powering the Future of Asia’s Island Communities’ paper was presented by Carsten Dommermuth, Senior Manager, International Business Development, MAN Energy Solutions. Dommermuth said: […]

GE announced that H. Lawrence Culp Jr. has been named chairman and CEO of the company replacing John Flannery effective immediately. GE’s board of directors voted unanimously on the decision, and it also appointed Thomas W. Horton as lead director. In a press release, GE specifically cited weak performance in the GE Power business for […]

While the larger conversation about plant economics and mass retirements in the U.S. has been focused on coal and nuclear power plants, the nation’s much smaller biomass power industry is grappling with similar issues in markets where cheap natural gas, wind, and solar generation resources are proliferating. See more at: “U.S. Biomass Power, Dampened by […]