News

A joint venture of two Japanese energy companies reportedly plans to invest $935 million on U.S. power generation projects. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and Chubu Electric Power, through their JERA joint venture, would make the investment by 2030, according to Asian news reports. AsiaElec reported that JERA currently has about 3,000 MW of generation in […]

Waypoint Leasing, a global firm that claims to be the world’s largest independent helicopter leasing company, has identified offshore wind farms as a growth opportunity for the helicopter market. Although still a small market, offshore wind power is expected to grow in coming years. According to WindEurope, a Brussels, Belgium-based wind industry advocacy group, a […]

The growth in power generation from renewable energy sources, along with the continued shift from coal-fired generation to natural gas, is expected to drive the global market for turbines over the next several years, according to a report released by international business analysts Research and Markets. The Dublin, Ireland-based company in an April 25 news […]

Future regulatory actions issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will treat biomass from managed forests as carbon neutral when used for energy production at stationary sources, an agency policy statement declares. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who revealed the policy statement  on April 23 during a meeting with Georgia forestry leaders, also said the […]

CenterPoint Energy, a Houston, Texas-based natural gas and electric utility company with sales and services operations in more than 30 states, on April 23 said it would buy Evansville, Indiana-based Vectren in a deal valued at more than $8 billion, including the assumption of more than $2 billion in Vectren debt. Both companies in statements […]

Lawmakers, industry, and government entities, including the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), this week released a string of measures responding to mounting cybersecurity attacks by state-sponsored actors. A Revised Cybersecurity Framework On April 16, the Commerce Department’s NIST, a federal standards laboratory, released an updated version of […]

Russian state-sponsored cyber actors are exploiting routers and other network infrastructure devices worldwide to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks that specifically target critical infrastructure providers and other sectors, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the FBI, and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) warned in a new joint technical alert. In the U.S. Computer Emergency […]

A report released this week by The Brattle Group says that if four nuclear power plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania are allowed to retire early it will cause “substantially higher emissions of CO2 and other pollutants” and that there will be “a significant increase in electricity prices” not only in the two states, but also […]

The Colorado Springs City Council, which also serves as the board for community-owned Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU), approved the settlement of a lawsuit brought against the city’s downtown coal-fired Martin Drake Power Plant, an agreement that in part promises CSU will look at options for 100% of its power to come from renewable sources as […]

A study from an economic, financial, and strategy consulting group says the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a multi-state program designed to cap emissions from power plants in the northeastern U.S., has generated $4 billion in net economic activity even as it has increased electricity prices in the region. The report from the Analysis Group, […]

  Defense-in-depth is a concept that is already widely deployed by many organizations within their IT infrastructures. However, many organizations do not apply it to their industrial control system (ICS) operations, owing mostly to obscure protocols. But as IT and ICS architectures converge and high-profile cybersecurity incidents mount, a robust, holistic defense-in-depth solution may be […]

The nation’s paramount nuclear power trade group has launched a wide-ranging strategy to help generators stay profitable in tight markets, the head of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) told Wall Street analysts on April 12. In an address broadcast on Facebook, Maria Korsnick, NEI president and CEO, said that nuclear plants that operate in competitive […]

New Jersey’s Assembly and Senate are both poised to vote on controversial bills that seek to subsidize the state’s nuclear power plants, modify the renewables portfolio standard, and support a pilot offshore wind farm. Lawmakers on April 12 could pass the package of bills, which includes S-2313, a bill directing the Board of Public Utilities […]

Debate continues over a proposed $1.5 billion power plant that would be built in North Bergen, New Jersey, and would send electricity to New York City. The project includes a 1,200-MW combined cycle facility, along with a 6.5-mile 345-kV underground and submarine cable that would go through Bergen County, under the Hudson River, and connect […]

Santee Cooper executives doubted SCANA Corp.’s ability to properly manage the V.C. Summer nuclear expansion project for years before the project was ultimately abandoned in July 2017, according to an article published by The Post and Courier, a Charleston, S.C., newspaper. Santee Cooper—a state-run utility—partnered with SCANA as owners of the project; SCANA holds a […]

A showcase of winners of POWER magazine’s highest accolade over the past decade (2017 to 2006). If you think your plant or project compares to these winners, submit a nomination form for the 2017 Plant of the Year or Top Plant awards to POWER‘s editors before the April 13 deadline. POWER magazine, which turned 135 years old this year, […]

A report from groups including the United Nations environmental arm and Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) shows renewable energy installations were responsible for 61% of the world’s net power capacity additions in 2017, more than double the new-builds from fossil fuel-powered generation. The Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2018 report, compiled by BNEF, the […]

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) CEO Bill Johnson in an exclusive interview with POWER suggested that the power industry continues to face an uncertain future.  Johnson said that during his 40-year career, he has seen more change in the last five years than in the previous 35 combined. Several indicators imply that will continue going forward. […]

Data from regional transmission organization (RTO) PJM Interconnection shows about 630 MW of power generation will be taken offline in the grid operator’s territory in April, with more than 3,600 MW scheduled to be retired this year, according to the organization’s website. This month’s deactivations are scheduled to begin April 16. Last week, Ohio power […]

Duke Energy Florida will commission both units of its new 1,640-MW Citrus gas-fired combined cycle power plant (Figure 1) by the end of 2018. The company on April 3 said the 820-MW Unit 1 will come online in September, with a second 820-MW unit entering service in November. Construction of the $1.5 billion plant began […]

Two recent project announcements indicate that the U.S. offshore wind sector is burgeoning, bolstered by falling prices and ramped-up political support. A credit ratings agency warns, however, that the sector’s growth could increasingly pressure profit margins of merchant generators in New England, New York, and New Jersey. On March 14, Danish offshore giant Ørsted and […]

Even in the absence of climate policy, customer adoption of electric end-use technologies over the next 30 years is expected to spur steady growth in energy consumption, a new report assessing U.S. electrification from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) suggests. The April 3–released report, “U.S. National Electrification Assessment,” is based on findings by EPRI’s […]

FirstEnergy Corp.’s competitive arm FirstEnergy Solutions (FES) and several key subsidiaries, including FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. (FENOC), on March 31 sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. FirstEnergy said the move would facilitate an “orderly financial restructuring” and accelerate its strategy to become a fully regulated utility. FES—the parent company of FE Aircraft Leasing Corp., FirstEnergy Generation, […]

The generating fleets owned by some of the largest companies in the U.S. (ranked here by capacity in 2017) have transformed over the past four years, in some cases dramatically, as total revenues fluctuated. Sources: Fidelity Investments (revenue data standardized by S&P Capital IQ); EIA-860 detailed data; SEC 10-K filings, and company websites. —Copy and artwork by Sonal Patel, a […]

Following a planned outage, Unit 1 at the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant near Baxley in southeastern Georgia returned to service in early March outfitted with first-of-their-kind accident tolerant fuel (ATF)

China’s Installed Capacity Grows 7.6% in 2017. China’s installed power capacity in 2017 grew 7.6% compared to the end of 2016 and now stands at 1,777 GW—higher than U.S. installed capacity of 1,198 GW as

The South Korean government said the country’s coal-fired power generation hit a new high in 2017, helped by three thermal power plants that came online with combined generation capacity of 5.3 GW. The

Just a decade ago, a hydroblasting contractor was considered cutting-edge if he owned a spinning nozzle for his shotgun and a 2-D tank cleaning tool. Now, the next evolution in hydroblasting technologies is

Clay Electric Cooperative was determined to dramatically improve its logistics, reliability, and productivity, even before the Florida member-owned utility set out to build a new warehouse to consolidate

As another hurricane season approaches, the lessons learned by energy companies that have repaired power infrastructure in Haiti, Puerto Rico, and other areas provide a path forward for reducing the impact of