Power Demand

There are many tools available to assist companies as they gain a better grasp on how their energy is being used, and what that means for the goal of efficient energy management. Not all solutions are created

An energy transition is underway across the world. Market upheaval, defining events, and recent policy changes have accelerated a shift away from coal toward renewables. Here is how this transformation played out for some of the world’s major economies over the past decade. Graphs show percent of each fuel source of total generation for that […]

News about the rate at which new renewable power capacity is being added to grids around the world has been overshadowed by a remarkable trend that could revolutionize the renewables sector. Over the past few

General Electric (GE) said December 7 it will cut 12,000 jobs in its power unit as the company continues to struggle with changes in the global power market. The company in a statement said the staff reductions will save $1 billion in 2018. “Traditional power markets including gas and coal have softened,” the company said, […]

The PJM Interconnection, the largest regional transmission operator in the U.S., faces many problems: adapting to state policies designed to skew power markets in the face of natural gas and renewable

Michigan regulators on October 25 gave their support to Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corp.’s (UMERC) plan for two new natural gas-fired plants in the state’s Upper Peninsula (U.P.). The plants approved by the Michigan Public Service Commission (PSC) would be built in Baraga and Negaunee townships. The plants are designed to produce a combined 183 […]

Criticism for Secretary of Energy Rick Perry’s recent notification of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) directing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to show favor to coal and nuclear plants was in no short supply during an October 12 hearing of the House Subcommittee on Energy. The hearing, which focused on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) missions and […]

Electric generation and natural gas, both important to each other, have differing cultures, vocabularies, and histories, so making them work together has been a challenge. Glut. That word describes the state

Independent System Operator-New England celebrated its 20th anniversary last July with a solid record in its energy and capacity markets, turning around a fragmented regional electric system. Can it repeat

Houston-based Calpine Corp., which confirmed in July it was looking for a buyer, announced August 18 it has agreed to be bought by Energy Capital Partners (ECP) in a $5.6 billion deal. ECP is a private equity firm that focuses on investments in North American energy infrastructure. The purchasing group also includes a consortium of […]

Exelon could begin construction as soon as next week on an expansion of its 135-MW West Medway oil-fired peaking plant in West Medway, Massachusetts. The company’s plan to add two units and 200 MW of generation to the existing three-unit facility was deliberated for 29 months by state and local officials before a state board […]

The rise of some sources of alternative energy such as renewables, storage, energy efficiency, and demand response, and decline in others—specifically nuclear—will continue to impact regional gas and

A federal appeals court has ruled the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) should not have denied a 2012 proposal by PJM in which the regional power operator sought to revise its minimum offer price rule (MOPR). The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 7 said FERC went beyond its “passive and reactive role” under […]

New Jersey officials this week said the state’s Board of Public Utilities is funding feasibility studies for a series of microgrids across the state that could provide needed power to municipalities at times of critical need, such as after a natural disaster. The board said the idea is designed to further the State Energy Master […]

Grid behavior in today’s power generation environment is a stochastic system that is more variable than in the past. One common issue is the response to economic dispatch, in which formerly baseload thermal

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s (MISO’s) geographic footprint extends down the middle of the U.S. Because of the structure of its market, MISO has artfully avoided some nasty policy and

The nation’s power grid may or may not have reliability issues if too many renewables are added to the energy mix, according to conflicting statements by Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner Colette D. Honorable. Speaking June 27 at the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) 2017 Conference in Washington, D.C., […]

The Trump administration says it’s not going to pick winners and losers when it comes to energy generation, but it sure doesn’t seem to like wind and solar, judging from a recent presentation by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. The nation needs a diverse energy mix, including nuclear, coal, natural gas, and renewables, several energy industry […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said PJM can restart two coal-fired units at Dominion Energy’s Yorktown, Va., power plant, two months after the aging units were shut down because they could not meet federal emissions standards. The emergency order from the DOE, issued June 16, allows the units to run during the hot summer […]

The conversation at the ELECTRIC POWER Conference and Exhibition, as underscored by comments made in its keynote address and at the annual event’s executive roundtable, was optimistic yet cautious, owing to

Freshly reeling from a statewide blackout, South Australia’s government in March released an energy plan that seeks to cut its reliance on an electricity interconnector with eastern Australia that feeds the

New York’s electricity system and markets face a blizzard of changes, driven by policy, politics, and economic forces. The New York Independent System Operator and the New York State Energy Research and

There have been numerous pronouncements recently about the upcoming demise of the bulk power grid as consumers are projected to move toward decentralized green energy sources. We don’t believe that the end

The boom in renewable energy, spurred by dramatically falling costs, has led some experts and political figures to begin talking seriously about what was once science fiction: A world powered entirely by renewable generation. But is it truly feasible or economic? One series of studies suggests it is—with some important caveats. In the first half […]

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global power production from combined-heat-and-power (CHP) technologies has stagnated since 2000, lagging far behind growth in conventional power technologies and commercial heat generation. Despite having an average efficiency of 59%, CHP’s share of global generation in 2013 stood at just 9% (Figure 1), the bulk of it at […]

Beyond major reliability events that have prompted regional blackouts in the past, the U.S. grid faces “imminent danger from cyber attacks,” warns the second installation of the Obama administration’s Quadrennial Energy Review (QER). Here are other key trends outlined in the comprehensive study of the nation’s electricity system. The QER, available on the DOE web site, identifies the threats, […]

How do you get generating company executives and those who interact with the power industry to think outside the box when planning for the future? The answer may involve a board game. Humans are pre-programmed to prefer routine, tradition, and regularity, without questioning whether longevity equals good. Fear of the unknown, and the power of […]

The U.S. market for electricity is trifurcated. More than half the country is served by competitive generators bidding against each other in wholesale markets. Almost half is served by conventional state-regulated, vertically integrated utilities controlling generation and transmission. The rest, a much smaller portion, consists of government-owned and customer-owned utilities, some of which are generators […]

The owner of a merchant 1,022-MW combined cycle natural gas–fired power plant in California has filed for bankruptcy protection, citing regulatory policies and market forces that have depressed revenues. La Paloma Generating Co. on December 6 filed for U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy, blaming a debt of $524 million that it racked up even though its four-unit […]

China’s Sichuan provincial government has moved to restrict construction of small and medium hydropower projects between 2016 and 2020 in an effort to improve grid planning and efficiency. Policy proposals posted on the Sichuan government’s website in October seek to prohibit small-scale hydropower projects and limit medium-sized plants over the next five years. Reuters reported […]