News

The news has been filled with high-profile sexual harassment cases recently. Although more women seem to be coming forward lately to tell their stories and bring misconduct to light, it’s far from a new

Artificial intelligence and machine learning aren’t just fictional pieces of futuristic Hollywood movies. Power plants can deploy these innovative technologies today to more accurately predict the condition

Documents obtained by The Washington Post show the Trump administration is prepared to ask Congress to cut the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) renewable energy and energy efficiency programs by as much as 72% in fiscal year 2019. The newspaper in a January 31 report says Congress likely would not support many of the cuts, but […]

U.S. utilities continue to send workers to Puerto Rico to help restore that country’s electricity and rebuild its power infrastructure, a task that continues more than four months after back-to-back hurricanes left nearly all of the island in the dark. The Puerto Rican government this week said 83% of the island’s generation capacity has been […]

Overwhelmed by low wholesale power prices and changing customer needs in the Pacific Northwest, the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) on January 30 unveiled a lifeline it hopes will allow it to remain commercially afloat. While the nonprofit federal power marketer headquartered in Portland, Oregon, is part of the Department of Energy, it is self-funding and […]

The future of advanced reactors in the U.S. will remain murky unless the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) takes four key steps to support innovation and commercialization of new technology, three key industry groups have warned. U.S. leadership of nuclear technology is “at risk,” and if changes aren’t made it will lose its standing as a […]

The nuclear power industry is struggling in the U.S. Several reactors are at risk of early closure due to difficulty competing in the wholesale power markets. New units being built in South Carolina have been abandoned, while the only other nuclear construction project in the U.S.—the Plant Vogtle expansion in Georgia—is behind schedule and over […]

Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) President and CEO Ralph Izzo gave NRG Energy a tongue-lashing for its pointed opposition of subsidies for PSEG’s two New Jersey nuclear power plants. The tense moment at a January 25 legislative hearing that sought to revive the measure is illustrative of a growing chasm within the power sector about the […]

Cybersecurity is a topic covered frequently in the pages of POWER magazine, and one that all power plants need to take seriously. A recent simulation proved that the consequences of a hack can be grave. The drill took place in Sweden, but could have been conducted anywhere in the world. The attack used plant control […]

The rapid growth of distributed energy resources (DERs) is spawning new financing models that could send growth for the fledgling sector soaring, upending the power sector at an even more breakneck pace. Industry executives at Distributech 2018 in San Antonio, Texas, this week noted that several trends are driving the growth of DERs, which are […]

A lawsuit challenging subsidies for New York’s nuclear plants will head to trial after the state’s  Supreme Court rejected motions to dismiss it. The measure deals a small setback for Exelon Corp., whose subsidiaries own the R.E Ginna and Nine Mile Point nuclear plants in upstate New York. Defendants in the lawsuit also include Entergy […]

Several possible suitors for SCANA Corp. emerged last fall when it became evident the South Carolina utility needed a lifeline, after SCANA subsidiary South Carolina Electric and Gas Co. (SCE&G) and state-owned Santee Cooper pulled the plug on the V.C. Summer nuclear project (Figure 1). Now the question is whether those who lost out to […]

The global solar industry on January 23 reacted to President Trump’s announcement on Monday that the U.S. will enact a 30% tariff this year on imports of solar cells and modules, a levy that could begin as soon as next month. Some groups said they will take a “wait and see” approach to the charge, […]

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed and remanded a rule the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rolled out in 2015 that asserts federal authority over small bodies of water with a broader definition of the statutory term, “waters of the U.S.” (WOTUS). In a ruling for National Association of […]

The Trump administration on January 22 said it would impose a 30% tariff on imports of solar modules and solar cells, in a high-profile trade case in which two struggling solar companies—Suniva and SolarWorld Americas—had asked for a levy on imports of closer to 50%. The decision comes after the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) […]

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) recent request that the D.C. Circuit hold a case challenging the Clean Power Plan in additional abeyance until it concludes rulemaking has been strongly opposed by 17 states and several cities. The EPA, in its latest 30-day court-required status report filed on January 10, asked the federal court for continued […]

New York and Connecticut on January 17 filed suit to force the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to curb ground-level ozone blowing in from Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia with federal implementation plans (FIPs) issued under the “Good Neighbor Provision” of the 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The two states allege in their […]

 A draft law backed by the European Parliament on January 17 proposes to raise the European Union’s (EU’s) renewable targets to 35% by 2030—substantially higher than a 27% target proposed by the European Commission and EU Council. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted 492–88 (with 107 abstentions) to increase the share of renewable sources […]

Though some countries, including the U.S., have moved to support coal-fired power generation over the past year, investments in renewable energy continued to rise, according to a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). The research group on January 16 said global investment in clean energy such as wind and solar reached about $333.5 […]

An executive with the parent company of Tampa Electric said the utility plans to seek regulatory approval to convert its Big Bend Power Station in Florida, the oldest and last major coal-fired facility in its fleet, to natural gas. Rob Bennett, speaking at a breakfast gathering in Tampa on January 12, said an engineering analysis […]

California regulators have approved Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E’s) application to retire the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant by year-end 2025, ending a protracted battle over the generating station that pitted local economic interests against environmentalists and other opponents of nuclear power. The state Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on January 11 voted unanimously to accept PG&E’s […]

A control system that smooths out inter-area oscillations—a problem affecting power systems connected by relatively weak tie lines—has been successfully demonstrated by researchers from Sandia National Laboratories and Montana Tech University. The system that uses smart grid technology could allow utilities to push more power through transmission lines, possibly nixing the need for new transmission […]

Underscoring energy storage’s new vital role in power company operations, Siemens and AES Corp. have launched a joint company, Fluence Energy, that provides technology solutions paired with engineering and services capabilities. AES and Siemens on January 11 announced that Fluence, which merges AES Energy Storage and Siemens’ energy storage team, received all government approvals for the […]

In a press briefing held with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg on January 10, President Donald Trump said that U.S. could “conceivably” re-enter into global climate change mitigation efforts under the Paris accord. While he has “no problem” with the accord itself, he felt the agreement negotiated by the Obama administration treated the U.S. unfairly, […]

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its first look at expected power generation in 2019, and its conclusions are much the same as those it expects in 2018—the use of natural gas to produce electricity will continue to rise, and the use of coal will continue to decline. EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook, released January […]

The world’s nuclear power industry has been busy in the new year, with several construction projects reaching key milestones as 2018 began. EPR Units Making Progress Four EPR nuclear units are under construction in three countries: Olkiluoto 3 in Finland began construction in August 2005, Flamanville 3 in France began construction in December 2007, and […]

Florida Power & Light (FPL) began the new year by opening four new solar power plants, along with officially retiring one of its two remaining coal-fired plants in the state. The utility on January 8 said the four solar plants began operating on January 1, 2018. They are the Horizon Solar Energy Center, in Alachua […]

The Johnsonville Fossil Plant in Humphreys County, Tennessee, came online in 1951, and provided power for generations of Tennesseans as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) vast coal-fired fleet. But the end of 2017 also marked the end of an era for Johnsonville, as the TVA shut down the last operating unit at the […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has rejected the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) controversial proposed rule on grid reliability and resilience pricing, initiating instead a new proceeding that will examine the resilience of the bulk power system. The DOE’s “Grid Resiliency Pricing Rule” proposed on Sept. 29 directed FERC—an independent regulatory government agency that is […]

Georgia wasn’t looking for an award or recognition when we set out to build new nuclear reactors in our state. Yet we now find ourselves as the last team on the field as our commissioners unanimously voted to move forward with a new cost and schedule for the Plant Vogtle new nuclear units—keeping the project […]