Renewables

  • Culture Is Key to Optimizing Plant Efficiency

    The power industry faces many challenges, which require a dedicated workforce to overcome. How can a company get everyone pulling in the same direction? It starts with a strong culture. The electric utility

  • Joining Forces with Europe Brings Learning and Promising Results for U.S. Renewable Energy

    One of the most hopeful statistics regarding the world’s energy goals comes from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, whose study explained that it’s possible for America

  • Floating Offshore Wind Buoyant on New Developments, Projects

    Floating offshore wind made a remarkable splash this fall. As two much-watched projects sailed toward construction, optimism about the industry’s accelerated growth was buoyed by projections from the

  • Renewable Power Generation on Rise in Turkey

    The market for renewable energy in Turkey has been growing since the country enacted a “Renewable Energy Law” in 2005. Progress has been steady and has ramped up in recent years after renewable energy

  • Report: Blockchain Not Well-Suited to Transactive Energy

    Blockchain—a distributed database technology that allows a network of parties to securely transact with each other—has been hailed as a game-changing innovation in the power sector for its potential to

  • POWER Digest [December 2019]

    Israeli Group Supports Construction of 1.3-GW Gas-Fired Plant. The Israeli National Infrastructure Committee on Nov. 4 approved a plan to build Israel’s largest privately run power plant, saying the facility

  • Decarbonization: Utilities Leading the Way

    Decarbonization is a word that seems to be used quite regularly these days. For the power industry, it refers to the shift in electric generating resources from carbon-heavy coal to carbon-free nuclear or

  • Unlocking Value at the Grid-Edge: Extending the Reach of the Utility Control Room

    Just 10 years ago, the magnitude of behind-the-meter distributed energy resources (DERs) at the edge of the grid was not materially significant. All that has changed, and we’re now at an inflection point: by

  • Worm Gear Technology Helps CSP Plant Stay Locked on Target

    Solar power generation continues to increase, with forecasts from BloombergNEF (BNEF) calling for global solar generation to make up 22% of the world’s electricity by 2050, up from about 2% today. BNEF has

  • International Business: Before You Enter a New Market, Do Your Due Diligence

    As an attorney who has spent the majority of his career litigating and settling international commercial disputes, I have experienced several instances where U.S. companies jump at the opportunity to expand

  • Why Power-to-Gas May Flourish in a Renewables-Heavy World

    While still in its infancy, power-to-gas provides a promising approach to convert renewable power into “green” hydrogen and methane, furnishing the renewables sector with a potentially lucrative array of

  • China Ramping Renewables, and Building More Coal Plants

    Officials in China in 2017 said the country—the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases—would move away from coal-fired power generation. They promptly canceled more than 100 coal power plant construction projects. But coal remains king in China, which in the past two years has added 43 GW of coal-fired generation capacity, according to a report […]

  • Siemens Gamesa celebrates ‘Strength of the Wind’ with firm 448-MW Scottish offshore order

    Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) has announced the firm order to supply wind turbines for the 448-MW Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) offshore wind power project, being developed by the utility EDF Renewables in Scotland. The contract further cements SGRE’s market-leading position. The company will install 54 of its SG 8.0-167 DD offshore turbines, with a […]

  • What’s Driving Wholesale Power Price Changes? Not What You Think

    Falling natural gas prices tamped down annual U.S. wholesale power prices over the last decade by $7/MWh to $53/MWh—to a much higher degree compared to the impact of wind and solar growth—a new report from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) suggests.  The Nov. 20–published report, The Impact of Wind, Solar, and Other Factors on Wholesale Power […]

  • Experts Share Insight on the Industry at Recent Power Event [PODCAST]

    POWER was at the POWERGEN International exhibition and summit, which was held in New Orleans, Louisiana, Nov. 19–21, 2019. Among the experts we met with at the show were Paul Browning, CEO of Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas; Chris Mieckowski, director of global solutions marketing and strategy with Siemens; Robert Yeager, president of Emerson’s Power […]

  • 6 Takeaways from POWERGEN International 2019

    The POWERGEN International exhibition and summit—one of the world’s largest power-industry events with more than 750 exhibitors—was held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, Nov. 19–21, 2019. POWER was there (Figure 1) to connect with leaders from the industry and report on the latest news from the show. Hot topics […]

  • ABB wins contract to upgrade Copel hydroelectric power plant in Brazil

    ABB’s digital solutions and engineering services will improve availability and reliability of power in the State of Paraná, with ABB winning a $US2.5 million contract to upgrade Copel’s Governador José Richa hydro power plant. ABB will provide excitation systems and speed regulation for four generator units at the 20-year-old Governador José Richa[i]  hydro power plant […]

  • New Siemens Gamesa DD Flex concept increases capacity on its largest offshore wind turbine to 11 MW

    Offshore wind industry leader Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) expanded its product portfolio today at the WindEurope Offshore 2019 Conference & Exhibition with the launch of the new Siemens Gamesa DD Flex concept and the SG 11.0-193 DD Flex offshore wind turbine. Built on the current largest offshore wind turbine in the SGRE fleet, the […]

  • Siemens Gamesa now able to actively dictate wind flow at offshore wind locations

    Actively dictating the wind flow in any offshore wind power plant has likely been the dream of developers and engineers since the first turbines were installed in Danish waters in 1991. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) is therefore proud to launch the Wake Adapt feature today at the WindEurope Offshore 2019 Conference & Exhibition in […]

  • EDD to lead $4.9MM U.S. DOE Project for Resilient DER Integration

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy has selected Electrical Distribution Design (EDD) to lead a project focused on increasing solar situational awareness and grid resilience through threat detection. EDD, working with project partners PEPCO Holdings (PHI), Clean Power Research (CPR), Florida State University (FSU), Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), University of Delaware (UD), […]

  • Regulators: Central Station Generation Will Stay Dominant Despite Emerging Tech

    A nationwide survey of state utility commissions suggests regulators are increasingly grappling with issues that could “profoundly” alter energy delivery and utility business models. However, over the next decade, they expect central station generation will continue to dominate state portfolios, and utility-scale solar growth will surpass customer-owned photovoltaic (PV).  The survey to take the “regulatory […]

  • ABB wins $30 million power equipment order to bolster Germany’s renewable energy integration

    ABB has won an order worth around $30 million from Amprion GmbH, a German transmission grid operator that provides electricity to more than 29 million people, from the Alps in South of Germany to Lower Saxony, to supply phase-shifting transformers (PSTs) that will optimize power flow in the German electricity network and help in the […]

  • G20 Investment Summit: Voith signs comprehensive service and operations consultancy contract for Ethiopian hydropower plant

    Signing of the contract in attendance of the Federal Minister for Economics and Energy Peter Altmaier and the Minister of Energy of Ethiopia Dr. Seleshi Bekele Stable energy supply as a foundation for further social and economical development Enormous hydropower potential in Ethiopia HEIDENHEIM, Germany. The technology group Voith has signed a comprehensive service and […]

  • The Cleanie Awards Honorees: Moving Clean Energy Industry Forward

    Companies and individuals honored by The Cleanie Awards, a comprehensive awards program focused on the clean energy industry, are a diverse group, representing nearly every facet of the clean technology and renewable energy market. The 2019 honorees received their awards at the Solar Power International (SPI) event in Salt Lake City, Utah, in late September. […]

  • ‘GREEN Act of 2019’ Extends Tax Credits for Renewables

    The Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 19 released a draft tax package for clean energy projects that includes a five-year extension of the 30% solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), along with new incentives for energy storage. The legislation also supports incentives for electric vehicles (EVs), offshore and onshore […]

  • GE Will Close Georgia Plant; 200 Jobs at Stake

    GE Renewable Energy has confirmed the company will close its GE Grid Solutions manufacturing plant in Waynesboro, Georgia, with the 200 workers at the facility offered the chance to relocate to a similar site in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, or apply for other jobs within the company. The plant is expected to close by year-end 2020. The […]

  • The POWER Interview: How Industry 4.0 Will Improve Sustainability

    As the world continues to face climate uncertainties, industrial companies are looking for ways to ensure they are as sustainable as possible while maintaining profitability. POWER’s recent Distributed Energy Conference included a session on sustainability from the viewpoint of utilities and others in the power generation industry. Many companies are working toward the goal of […]

  • IEA World Energy Outlook: Solar Capacity Surges Past Coal and Gas by 2040

    Solar photovoltaic (PV) could surge ahead of coal and gas and become the largest source of installed power capacity in the world in the next two decades if countries pursue stated policies and targets, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its newly released World Energy Outlook 2019 (WEO2019).  The agency’s annual publication, which it […]

  • How the DOE Plans to Modernize the Grid in the Near Term

    Twenty-three projects chosen by the Department of Energy (DOE) in response to its 2019 Grid Modernization Lab Call provide a broad look at the critical issues that are roiling the nation’s power sector, as well as the tools and technologies that it has determined will best bolster the grid of the future in the near […]