News

Market forces and government policy are driving clean energy deployment across the U.S. at a level that could impact reliability if not carefully implemented. State regulators, independent system operators

A Japanese firm has set out to shake up energy storage and transmission with a freshly launched “power transfer vessel” concept that is designed to carry electricity from offshore wind farms to shore. The company’s first electric ship model, which will have an energy storage capacity of 200 MWh, is slated for completion in 2025. […]

If you’ve flown on a commercial airplane, you’ve likely sat within a hundred feet of an operating gas turbine engine. Gas turbines have been used to power aircraft since the 1940s. But gas turbines like those on airplanes are also used for generating electricity. These designs are known as aero-derivative gas turbines and occupy a […]

The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) on Aug. 23 rattled American Electric Power’s (AEP’s) plans to operate the 2.9-GW John Amos and 1.3-GW Mountaineer coal power plants through 2040 when it partly denied cost recovery for expenses that the West Virginia plants need to comply with the federal Steam Electric Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG) rule. The […]

Residential applications for smart grid technologies continue to grow as electricity customers take more control of their energy usage and costs. Homeowners with rooftop solar have been selling power back to the grid for years, and more opportunities for power customers are coming as electric vehicle owners tap into the market via energy storage. Homeowners […]

The pace of installations of renewable energy projects across the first six months of 2021 hit a new high for the sector, according to a report released Aug. 24 by the American Clean Power Association (ACP). ACP, which works with solar, wind, energy storage and power transmission companies to promote renewable energy, said the U.S. […]

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has approved licenses for gas-fired power units to help the state cope with continued electricity shortages. The move comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier declared a state of emergency for California’s power grid. The state’s Dept. of Water Resources is procuring what it called five temporary gas-fueled generators, each with […]

An experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) National Ignition Facility (NIF) appears to have approached fusion ignition as it recreated the extreme temperatures and pressures at the heart of the sun for a tiny fraction of a second. The momentous step has fueled new optimism for fusion energy. The experiment on Aug. 8 “was […]

Former Westinghouse Electric Co. Senior Vice President Jeffrey A. Benjamin was charged with 16 felony counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud, and causing a publicly traded company to keep a false record, for his part in failing to truthfully report information regarding construction of new nuclear units at the V.C. Summer nuclear plant in […]

Vistra, the Texas-based integrated retail electricity and power generation company, said it has completed the second phase of its Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility expansion project in California. The group on Aug. 19 announced it has added 100 MW/400 MWh to what at present is the world’s largest battery energy storage facility. “This facility provides […]

Large-scale battery power capacity in the U.S. surged 35% over 2020 to reach 1,650 MW, and according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), utilities are planning to ramp up that capacity by 10 GW over the next two years. In a newly released report, Battery Storage in the United States: An Update on Market Trends, […]

It’s not unusual for species to go extinct; it happens all the time. In fact, scientists estimate that at least 99.9% of all species of plants and animals that have ever lived on Earth are now extinct. That’s pretty amazing, considering how many species still exist—up to 8.7 million, according to some experts. Mass extinction […]

Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) has agreed to sell its 6.8-GW portfolio of non-nuclear generating assets—a fleet of 13 gas plants—to a fund controlled by ArcLight Capital Partners LLC for about $1.92 billion. The sale, which effectively sets up its exit from the competitive generation business, is expected to be completed late in the fourth […]

BKV Corp., a privately held natural gas exploration and production company headquartered in Denver, Colorado, said it will purchase the Temple 1 power plant in Temple, Texas. The deal, valued at $430 million and subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021. “We’re excited about this acquisition, and […]

South Korea-based Hanwha Solutions announced it plans to acquire renewable energy developer RES France in an $855.2 million deal expected to be finalized in the next two months. RES France is a subsidiary of UK-based RES Group, which calls itself the world’s largest independent renewable energy company. The agreement announced Aug. 9 is led by […]

A new combined heat and power gas-fired plant, designed to support increased power generation as part of Taiwan’s developing energy policy, has entered commercial operation. General Electric (GE) on Aug. 10 said the 535-MW Chia Hui facility, using GE’s advanced HA technology, is located in Minxiong Township in Chiayi County, the sixth-largest county in Taiwan. […]

Marking a notable milestone for nuclear component additive manufacturing, four 3D-printed fuel assembly channel fasteners have been installed and are now operational at Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Unit 2 in Athens, Alabama. Channel fasteners are a type of bracket that attaches to the top of the nuclear fuel assembly to hold […]

The international business arm of Russia’s state-owned nuclear power company has received a license that will allow construction of small modular reactors (SMRs), based on the design used in the country’s icebreaker shipping fleet, at ground-based nuclear power plants. Rusatom Overseas JSC (RAOS JSC), the company representing parent company Rosatom’s international interests, on Aug. 9 […]

Intensifying drought conditions in California and historically low water levels at the Oroville Dam on Aug. 5 forced the state’s Department of Water Resources (CDWR) to shut down the 644-MW Edward Hyatt Power Plant—the fourth largest energy producer of all California’s hydroelectric facilities. Similar conditions across the West are prompting a careful watch over hydropower facilities.

Marking another milestone in an industry-led accelerated quest to commercialize accident tolerant fuels (ATF), nuclear fuel test rods containing Westinghouse’s EnCore technologies that completed their inaugural cycle at Exelon’s Byron nuclear plant have shipped to Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). While initial visual inspections show “no signs of degradation,” the irradiated fuel will now be […]

The first reactor in the second phase of an expansion at the Hongyanhe Nuclear Power Plant in China has entered commercial operation, with five reactors now online at the site in Liaoning Province in eastern China. China General Nuclear (CGN) on Aug. 1 announced the 1,080-MW Unit 5 at Hongyanhe is now in its steady-state […]

Entergy Texas will seek approval for a 1.2-GW hydrogen and natural gas–fired combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power facility in Orange County, Texas. The Beaumont-based Entergy Corp. subsidiary on July 29 announced it intends to file a Certificate for Convenience and Necessity with the Public Utility Commission of Texas “within the coming months” to build […]

A digital mining company has an agreement to purchase a second power plant in Pennsylvania, as the group increases its coal refuse reclamation operations in the state to provide energy for its bitcoin mining operations. Stronghold Digital Mining, a bitcoin (BTC) miner headquartered in Kennerdell, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 3 said its purchase of the Panther […]

West Virginia’s only remaining coal refuse–fueled facility, the 80-MW Grant Town Power Project, is a 2021 Top Plant winner for powering on, despite challenges, to remediate 530,000 tons of coal refuse annually while reclaiming roughly 30 acres of land per year. 

The costs for wind and solar power generating systems have decreased dramatically over the past decade. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the global weighted-average levelized

A remote area in Australia recently recorded an important power generation achievement, as the region received all its electricity from solar power and battery energy storage. The town of Onslow, located in

The U.S. electric grid is a complex web of interconnected power lines. It functions remarkably well, considering that it is a constant work in progress. Yet, what has served adequately in the past may not be

China in late June began operating two of the world’s first 1-GW hydropower turbines at the Baihetan Hydropower Station in southwest China. When the project’s 16 generating units are completed by July 2022

The truth about plastic placed in recycling bins is that most ends up in landfills. Converting the energy stored in plastic into electricity via waste-to-energy power plants offers a beneficial option

South Africa’s longstanding ambitions to expand its nuclear power capacity gained some ground this July, after the nation’s nuclear regulator announced it would convene a public hearing relating to a