News

By retrofitting aging turbines with modern control systems, power generation companies are extending equipment lifespans, enhancing operational efficiency, and tapping into robust global support

While the wind sector battles bearing failures and blade damage, a quieter revolution is unfolding at the heart of the nacelle. Fibre optic rotary joints are replacing electrical slip rings, promising to

The UK’s battery storage capacity is set to triple by 2030 and could reach 50 GW by mid-century—a transformation that will reshape how the nation powers itself. This explosive growth isn’t just about

The limitations of lithium-ion batteries are prompting a search for longer-duration solutions. Compressed air energy storage (CAES) and other emerging technologies are gaining traction as safer, scalable

Siemens Energy develops conventional islands for small modular reactors. When Rolls-Royce SMR began developing its small modular reactor (SMR)—using a unique factory-built approach to proven pressurized

The Unit 2 reactor at the Shimane nuclear power station resumed operation in January 2025, more than a decade after it, and all other reactors in Japan, were taken offline. Japanese officials want restarted nuclear units to help supply needed power and lower the cost of energy across the country.

A hydroelectric facility that first came online in 1903 stands as a testament to early 20th-century hydroelectric engineering. Although much of its original structure and machinery remains in service today, a recent breaker upgrade illustrates how thoughtful modernization and modern equipment built “like it used to be” can sustain aging infrastructure.

The growing global shift toward renewable energy has intensified the pursuit of high-efficiency photovoltaic (PV) systems, with triple-junction solar cells emerging as a leading technology due to their superior energy conversion capabilities. However, these advanced cells face significant operational challenges, particularly in high-temperature environments, where issues such as thermal degradation, non-uniform heat distribution, and thermal runaway can drastically reduce performance and reliability.

Framatome has been selected by Electrabel, part of ENGIE Group, to modernize the rod control system of the Tihange 3 nuclear reactor in Belgium.

Recent Top Plant Award Winners Renewables See our September 2025 issue for stories covering these plants: Desert Power: A Deep Dive into the Massive Solar + Storage Project Powering Las Vegas’ Lights Geothermal Breakthrough in South Texas Signals New Era for ERCOT How Colorado’s Cabin Creek Hydro Plant Evolved from Coal Balancer to Renewable Grid […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) extended its run of federal grid interventions into winter over the past week, issuing a Section 202(c) emergency order on Nov. 18 for Consumers Energy’s 1,420-MW J.H. Campbell coal plant in Michigan and another on Nov. 25 for Constellation’s 760-MW Eddystone Units 3 and 4 in southeastern Pennsylvania in a […]

In its recently released Winter Reliability Assessment, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) found that while resources are adequate for normal winter peak demand, large swaths of North America face an elevated risk of electricity shortfalls during prolonged, wide-area cold snaps. Noting that four severe Arctic storms have swept across much of the continent since […]

The UK has confirmed that Wylfa on the island of Anglesey, North Wales, will host three Rolls-Royce small modular reactors (SMRs) that could deliver first power in the mid-2030s—launching a state-backed, fleet-based nuclear deployment through publicly owned entity Great British Energy–Nuclear (GBE-N). The UK government has framed the SMR project, which is underpinned by more […]

The demand for distributed generation (DG) solar has never been higher, yet many projects are getting stuck before they even break ground. The problem is utility interconnection. For community or net metered solar systems in the 1 MW to 5 MW range, in particular, the utility’s review of whether the grid can handle new power […]

When I was a kid, I used to watch thunderstorms roll in from the porch, tracing lightning across the sky and marveling at how energy moved between clouds. We build infrastructures now that try to do the same thing—collect, store, and dispatch power on demand. But as energy storage scales (Figure 1), it’s not the […]

NRG Energy is the latest Texas-based utility to receive a loan agreement from the Texas Energy Fund (TxEF). The company plans to use the funding to support construction of a 455-MW natural gas-fired station at the site of the group’s current Greens Bayou Generating Station in Harris County, near Houston.

Keith Kotimko is the U.S. Decommissioning and Demolition Leader for WSP, a full-service solution provider that offers comprehensive facility decommissioning and demolition services. Kotimko provided POWER with insight into the process of permanently shutting down a power generation facility. He emphasized that decommissioning is a separate activity from demolition.

Energy developer, owner and operator Arevon Energy has started construction of a $200-million solar farm in Illinois. The 124-MW Big Muddy Solar installation in Jackson County is the company’s first utility-scale solar project in that state.

Westinghouse has partnered with Google Cloud to develop a custom AI-powered platform using specialized models from both Google and Westinghouse—itself a leader in AI for energy production—that helps optimize and accelerate reactor construction.

Vertiv, a global critical digital infrastructure group, and power systems leader Caterpillar announced the signing of a strategic undertaking to collaborate on advanced energy optimization solutions for data centers. The initiative unveiled November 18 will integrate Vertiv’s power distribution and cooling portfolio with Caterpillar’s, and its subsidiary Solar Turbines’, product and expertise in power generation and CCHP (combined cooling, heat, and power) to deliver pre-designed architectures that simplify deployment, accelerate time-to-power and optimize performance for data center operations.

For decades, U.S. electricity demand was steady, allowing utilities to plan gradual growth and maintain the grid with modest upgrades. That era is over. The convergence of electric vehicles (EVs), data centers, technology advancements, and population growth and shifting is driving an unprecedented surge in electricity demand. According to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), […]

An energy research group said U.S. power generation capacity will be led by solar power in the short term, natural gas in the mid term, and nuclear power in the long term as coal-fired units continue to be retired.

Valmet is to deliver an automation system to Seongnam City’s incineration facility currently under construction in Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. The order was placed by GS E&C Corp., the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor for the facility. By leveraging intelligent automation, the plant will optimize energy production, minimize emissions, and deliver efficient, consistent performance […]

The Global partnership agreement combines Samsung C&T’s EPC expertise with Siemens’ leading capabilities in digitalization, electrification, and automation Collaboration to focus initially on six landmark infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Canada Joint efforts to deliver differentiated, customer-centric solutions in airports, hospitals, buildings and data centers The partnership enables a unified “ONE Tech Company” […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has signed off on NRG Energy’s plan to acquire nearly 13 GW of natural gas-fired power generation. The agency on November 13 said it supports Houston, Texas-based NRG’s $12-billion deal with New York-based LS Power for capacity in the PJM market territory.

Global investment group and asset manager Blackstone said it will support construction of a 600-MW combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plant in West Virginia. The Wolf Summit Energy facility, which will feature GE Vernova equipment, is affiliated with Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, which serves about 1.5 million customers across three states.

Air Liquide announced the successful start-up of the world’s first industrial-scale ammonia cracking pilot unit with a 30-tons-per-day ammonia-to-hydrogen conversion capacity at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Belgium. This groundbreaking innovation, announced November 13, demonstrates a key missing technology brick to a viable pathway for converting ammonia into hydrogen, and unlocks challenges of transportation of hydrogen. […]

Opponents of a planned methane gas power plant on a floating barge off the coast of Louisiana were successful in moving Entergy Louisiana to cancel the project. Earthjustice in a news release sent to POWER said the group represented the Alliance for Affordable Energy in opposition to the proposed 112-MW Bayou Power Station.

GOSSEN METRAWATT presents a new generation of multifunctional process calibrators for field use. The METRACAL CM series combines a calibrator and precise multimeter in a compact handheld device. Users can simultaneously simulate galvanically isolated sensor signals and measure output signals up to 30 VDC without time-consuming switching. The device measures and displays electrical quantities such […]

The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) has executed its first agreement under the Texas Energy Fund (TxEF) Completion Bonus Grant (CBG) Program, awarding the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) up to $22.56 million for its 188-MW Timmerman Power Plant Unit 1, a new natural gas–fired plant in Caldwell County, Texas. The agreement marks the operational launch of Texas’s performance-contingent funding mechanism, which is designed to accelerate […]