News

A Canada-based energy company has completed the second of three planned coal-to-gas conversions at its thermal power plants in Alberta. TransAlta Corp. on July 19 said the conversion of the 395-MW Unit 2 at the Keephills plant near Wabamun, about 45 miles west of Edmonton, continues the company’s transition away from coal-fired power generation. TransAlta […]

A solar energy project that will provide power for Microsoft has begun commercial operation in Arizona, with the project developer announcing term financing has been completed. Longroad Energy, a Boston-based renewable energy developer that also has offices in California and Maine, on July 20 said the 200-MW Sun Streams 2 array—one of four Maricopa County-based […]

Construction of Egypt’s first nuclear power plant is moving forward, and a government official said the country plans to build “several” more reactors “in various regions” to help support economic development and increasing demand for power. Hesham Hegazy, who leads the nuclear fuel sector for Egypt’s Nuclear Power Plants Authority (NPPA), made the comments during […]

The inventor of the Allam-Fetvedt Cycle, a novel power cycle that uses supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2), is collaborating with a subsidiary of Singapore-based Sembcorp Industries to potentially develop the UK’s first 300-MW natural gas–fired NET Power station at an existing site at Teesside, northeastern England.  Zero Degrees Whitetail Development Ltd. (ZDW), a subsidiary of North Carolina-based […]

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has unveiled a roadmap outlining crucial improvements designed to enhance grid reliability, taking into account recent legislation, regulatory mandates, and a recent push by the state’s governor for market incentives that will help the grid bulk up on “adequate and reliable” resources, like natural gas, coal, and nuclear […]

One of the largest coal-fired power plants in India—beset by technical issues that have knocked it offline and contributed to a power crisis in the Punjab region—is set to resume operations by the end of July, according to the utility subsidiary of the India-based mining company that leads the project. Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd. (TSPL), […]

Vietnam’s first privately-owned power plant has moved a step closer to fruition, as Delta Offshore Energy chose Bechtel to provide front-end engineering design (FEED) services for a proposed 3,200-MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) facility. The power station, sited in Bac Lieu province in the Mekong Delta about 155 miles south of Ho Chi Minh […]

A Michigan-based energy company that planned to build a 1.1-GW gas-fired power plant in Virginia has pulled the plug on the project. NOVI Energy on July 9 said it would abandon development of the C4GT plant in Charles City County, which is southeast of Richmond. The project, one of two gas-fired plants planned for the […]

The rapidly spreading Bootleg Fire tripped off transmission lines that transport power from the Pacific Northwest to California and other states over the weekend, prompting the California Independent System Operator (ISO) to issue another Flex Alert—the sixth such conservation notification this summer. According to the state’s Incident Information System, the intense fire in Southern-Central Oregon […]

Stricken by repeated extreme heat events, the prospect of a worsening drought, incremental resource delays, and the “unforeseen” loss of 300 MW in thermal resources, California has set out to secure additional energy resources to ensure reliability this summer. Responding to a June 29 letter from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced it will provide as much as $27 million in federal funding for research and development projects designed to advance the efficient conversion of wave-based energy into electricity, with a goal to make the technology commercially viable. The DOE on July 7 said the money supports the Biden […]

AES Corp. will retire four coal-fired power plants—a total 1,097 MW—in Chile “as soon as” January 2025 if supported by grid requirements under an agreement the Virginia-headquartered company signed with the Chilean government on July 6. The coal closures, which are outlined in what AES described as a “voluntary” retirement plan, represent the “single largest […]

Taiwan’s move to end the country’s use of nuclear power continues, with Unit 1 of the Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant being shut down. The reactor was taken offline July 1, six months ahead of its scheduled Dec. 27 retirement, with officials saying spent fuel-storage capacity constraints meant the unit could not be refueled. The closure, […]

Shell Energy has started up a 10-MW polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer facility—one of the largest of its kind in the world—to produce green hydrogen at its Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland refinery in Wesseling, Germany, and it says plans are underway to expand the plant’s capacity to 100 MW.  The startup of the electrolyzer […]

Winning POWER’s highest honor is Track 4A, Southern Power Generation’s 1.4-GW natural gas–fired power plant in southern Malaysia that is equipped with the first commercial GE 9HA.02 gas turbines—one of

Many areas across the globe are looking at providing non-traditional power to residential neighborhoods, part of a push to make a community’s electricity supply more reliable and resilient. A development in Canada is one model of what is known as a “smart microgrid community.” Elexicon Energy, the fourth largest municipally-owned electricity distributor in Ontario, along […]

Hitachi ABB Power Grids, the behemoth joint venture firm officially launched last year when Japanese technology conglomerate Hitachi acquired a majority share in Swiss conglomerate ABB’s Power Grids business, will be known as “Hitachi Energy” starting in October 2021. The name change reflects the firm’s business evolution amid a rapidly evolving energy landscape, the company […]

Wärtsilä Energy, known for its experience in energy storage, and Pivot Power—working on ambitious decarbonization projects—have teamed on a multi-application way to serve the future of transportation in

A company that has served U.S. motorists and the trucking industry for decades has updated its business model to support electric vehicle charging—and generate electricity for several of its locations. Power

The need for demand response programs, particularly those that help stabilize the grid, is evident as electricity customers seek a more reliable power supply. Enter virtual power plants (VPPs), a way for

India has one of the world’s most aggressive solar development targets. The country’s leaders have said they want to install 450 GW of renewable power generation capacity by 2030, a figure that would

As we continue to work toward a more sustainable future globally, demand for renewable energy integration is increasing. This requires more flexibility in grid infrastructure and the ability to add more types

There are serious risks associated with lithium-ion battery energy storage systems. Thermal runaway can release toxic and explosive gases, and the problem can spread from one malfunctioning cell to neighboring cells, resulting in catastrophe.

GE Will Supply Finnish Wind Farm. General Electric (GE) in late May said it will deliver 16 Cypress onshore wind turbines for the 88-MW Puskakorpi wind farm in Finland. Each 5.6-MW-158 turbine will be

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has formally kicked off a pioneering project to partly re-power its 85-MW Abbott cogeneration plant with an Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC) Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) Energy System. UIUC on June 28 said it submitted a letter of intent to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build […]

New Jersey utility regulators have issued what officials are calling the largest combined award of offshore U.S. wind generation capacity to date. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) on June 30 awarded a total of 2.658 GW of offshore wind capacity to two groups, bringing New Jersey’s total planned capacity to more than […]

Utilities across the Pacific Northwest are bracing for exceptional stress on the grid as record-breaking temperatures continue to fester across the region, and at least one utility—Avista Corp.—this week began rolling outages as a measure to alleviate strain on the electric system. Despite pleas to customers to reduce their power consumption, Avista, which supplies power […]

CenterPoint Energy could begin construction of two new natural gas-fired units to serve electricity customers in Indiana as soon as next year, if state regulators approve the utility’s plan that includes the closure of two units of a coal-fired power plant at a site along the Ohio River. CenterPoint’s $323-million proposal to the Indiana Utility […]

Xcel Energy is pivoting from its plan to build a new 800-MW natural gas-fired power plant at the site of its Sherco coal-fired facility in Becker, Minnesota. Instead, Xcel plans to build two smaller gas-fired “peaker” plants, one in Minnesota and one in North Dakota, as part of a new initiative for the utility’s power […]

Michigan’s largest energy provider Consumers Energy will stop using coal as a fuel source for power generation within the next four years—15 years earlier than previously planned. In an updated integrated resource plan (IRP) filed with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) on June 23, the CMS Energy subsidiary said the effort would lead Michigan’s […]