O&M

Wind turbine blade health strategies must get smarter to adequately support rapid advancements in turbine engineering. Over the last decade, global wind capacity has almost tripled. One of the keys to this growth story has been the sector’s ability to manufacture and deploy ever-larger wind turbines at pace. Today’s onshore models are, on average, three […]

For power generation operators navigating the complex landscape of North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) compliance, two critical questions frequently arise: when does a generation control facility become a Low Impact BES (Bulk Electric System) Control Center, and when does it escalate to Medium Impact status? Understanding these thresholds is essential for proper planning and […]

For Rayburn Electric Cooperative, ownership of the 758-MW combined cycle plant in Sherman, Texas, means stable rates, hardened reliability through heat waves and winter storms, and a hedge against the

A deliberate shift from reactive maintenance to a reliability-centered operating culture cut the 500-MW combined cycle plant’s forced outage rate by 90%—and delivered perfect availability through Texas’s

At 4:30 a.m., before the sun is up, a lineworker steps onto a site that did not exist six months ago. By mid-morning, crews from three different contractors will be working in parallel: civil teams finishing trenching, electricians pulling cable, another crew preparing for energization. The schedule is tight. The handoffs are constant. On paper, […]

Inconsistent fuel quality puts constant strain on aging waste-to-energy boiler systems. Modernizing startup burners, combustion controls, and flame detection can restore reliability and keep plants

When designed to interface directly with a utility’s medium-voltage infrastructure, battery energy storage systems (BESS) must meet stringent performance, protection, and reliability requirements that extend

Modern power challenges—from renewables and microgrids to artificial intelligence factories—are driving renewed adoption of digital twins as flexible, high-fidelity environments for zero-risk

Power industry severe service applications can be difficult, but new advanced trim designs and external noise reduction devices have created higher-performing and more cost-effective alternatives. Power industry applications practically define the phrase “severe service.” Elevated temperatures and pressures, cavitation, erosive solids, and high noise all conspire to push control valve technology to its very limits. […]

For years, utility wildfire liability was largely framed around a straightforward question: who caused the fire? That question still matters, but it is no longer the only one that matters.

  As data centers expand to meet growing AI, cloud computing, and digital infrastructure demands, many facilities are incorporating onsite power generation to support reliability and accelerate deployment. This shift creates new emissions monitoring, reporting, and compliance responsibilities. Download this white paper for a practical overview of emissions monitoring strategies for data centers with onsite […]

At a 57-year-old hydro plant where the real product is drinking water for 2.7 million people, GE Vernova replaced two original generators on a four-month outage window—proving that reliability, not output

Utilities and power generation companies are bolstering operational efficiency and plant reliability by implementing advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI)–driven predictive maintenance

Shadow a utility work crew for a day and you would be amazed at how many obstacles, inefficiencies, and headaches they face from the mobile applications they use. These teams are productive despite those applications, not because of them.

The unique demands of floating offshore wind turbines require a blend of specialized coating systems engineered to help prevent corrosion and extend asset service life in some of the world’s harshest environments.

This webinar explores an integrated approach to natural gas monitoring that combines real-time, in-line process Raman spectroscopy with advanced flow measurement and control. Process Raman technology provides continuous gas composition and heating value (BTU) measurements, while the flow computer platform delivers standardized flow calculations, operational monitoring, and remote visibility from wellhead to pipeline. Attendees will […]

The steam turbine and generator package for Oklo’s first Aurora powerhouse at Idaho National Laboratory (INL)—a pioneering application of a commercially established industrial turbine platform at the heart of a first-of-a-kind advanced reactor’s conventional island—is in active production at Siemens Energy’s facilities in Görlitz and Erfurt, Germany. In details provided to POWER, both companies confirmed the […]

Meeting the increasingly important but complex needs of the energy industry requires not only excellent design and engineering, but also advanced sensor capabilities that extend beyond the limits of current technology. A piece of the solution for enhanced technology will come from quantum sensors, which leverage quantum mechanics to deliver tools that will push past […]

System planners and grid operators are treating extreme heat as an assumed operating condition given new pressures, including drought, demand growth, and fuel concerns. Will it be enough? For decades, the U.S. power system treated extreme heat as a tail risk, managed through seasonal readiness—something for which to prepare. But hotter conditions are now arriving […]

NextNav, a Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) company with a history of telecommunications mergers, requested a rule change that would allow it to build out a network of high-power broadband operations. The proposed rule would impact every U.S. electric utility.

Summer is the season utilities brace for. Demand peaks as air conditioners run flat out, equipment runs hot, and the workforce that keeps the grid alive does so under some of the year’s most punishing conditions. The same months that strain transformers and conductors also strain the people climbing structures and pulling cable beneath them. […]

The power sector recognizes the urgent need to harden the power grid, which involves upgrading and fortifying electrical infrastructure to withstand severe weather, cyberattacks, and surging demand for electricity. The U.S. Dept. of Energy is providing billions of dollars to groups involved with modernizing the grid, underscoring the importance of measures designed to support power […]

According to the State of the Global Climate 2024 report released by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the continued rise in global temperatures is driving a measurable increase in both the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Among these, tropical cyclones, including hurricanes and typhoons, as well as extreme precipitation events, have emerged as […]

With hundreds of 7FA and 7EA gas turbines approaching end-of-life thresholds and industry-wide constraints on forgings and shop capacity, MD&A has invested a decade in reverse engineering, supply chain development, and production of rotor components to offer utilities an independent path forward. The gas turbine bubble of 2000 to 2004 saw between 600 and 700 […]

How industrial middleware unlocks the full value of operational data AI and why most AI programs fail without it   Power companies are being asked to deliver higher reliability while their operating environment becomes more dynamic. Conventional power generation: must run with greater flexibility, grid assets must absorb new load patterns, renewable portfolios must operate […]

Duke Energy’s 11-unit nuclear fleet finished 2025 with a capacity factor greater than 97%—its best result on record. For Steven Capps, Duke’s senior vice president and Chief Nuclear Officer, that number is the foundation everything else has to sit on. “2025 was the best year we have had in terms of overall capacity factor for […]

There has never been a time when so much power was needed so fast. Driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, more data center capacity is in development or under construction now than has been built in all of history. According to analyst firm Industrial Info Resources (IIR), each month of 2025 saw at least […]

Khalid Mandri is president of ABB Installation Products. Mandri recently provided POWER with his insight about how electrification supports decarbonization, and how it aligns with optimizing power infrastructure, including the grid.

Operators are trying to coax more output from aging fleets, with fewer experienced people, under increasingly unforgiving reliability expectations. In that environment, preventive maintenance has become an

Modern predictive maintenance depends on sensors and data streams that double as attack surfaces. Protecting the grid now means treating cybersecurity as a reliability discipline. In the interconnected age of