Renewables

  • Technology Boosts Reliability of Power Plants Despite Shifting Business Foundations

    There is no industry more concerned with continuity of service than the power industry. Maintaining power supply to constituents is the critical mandate of every plant, whether harnessing energy from the sun, wind, water, coal, or nuclear sources. While consistency is a top priority, the plants themselves are often in a state of flux due […]

  • Voith wins modernization order for Togolese hydropower plant Nangbeto

    Voith wins modernization order for Togolese hydropower plant Nangbeto Extensive modernization ensures a future-oriented operation of the West African power plant for the next 30 years High level of involvement of local partners creates jobs on site Training courses enable the operators to handle upgraded components properly Heidenheim. Voith is the general contractor for the […]

  • Portland General Electric and NextEra Energy Resources to develop nation’s first major energy facility co-locating wind, solar and battery storage

    Project will advance Oregon’s clean energy future while delivering affordable electricity for PGE customers Portland, Ore. Feb. 12, 2019 — Portland General Electric Company (NYSE: POR) and NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), today announced plans to construct a new energy facility in Eastern Oregon combining 300 megawatts of […]

  • California Governor Wants ‘Strike Team’ to Develop Utility Plan

    California Governor Gavin Newsom on February 12 said the state has formed a “strike team” as it works to develop plans to help not only utility ratepayers but also utility employees. The move comes in the wake of the bankruptcy filing by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) as the state’s largest utility deals with its […]

  • Tri-State and EDP Renewables announce 104-MW Crossing Trails Wind Farm

    Westminster, Colorado (February 12, 2019) — Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association (Tri- State) and EDP Renewables (EDPR) today announced a 104-MW, 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) that will enable the continued development and eventual construction of the 104 MW Crossing Trails Wind Farm. The project, which is expected to be operational in 2020, marks Tri-State’s […]

  • Tri-State announces Duane Highley as next Chief Executive Officer

    (February 12, 2019 – Westminster, Colo.) — The Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Board of Directors has selected Duane Highley as the cooperative wholesale power supplier’s next chief executive officer. Highley, who currently serves as president and chief executive officer for Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp., and Arkansas Electric Cooperative Inc., will succeed Mike McInnes on […]

  • The ‘Green New Deal’ Out West

    COMMENTARY Launched last week by New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the “Green New Deal” appears to pick up where President Franklin Roosevelt left off with his “Second Bill of Rights” announced in his 1944 State of the Union Address1. More manifesto than mandate, the Green New Deal seeks to be a lens through which legislators’ […]

  • Iraqi Official Casts Doubt on Deals With GE, Siemens

    Multibillion-dollar energy deals that both Siemens and General Electric (GE) signed with the Iraqi government last year may not come to fruition, according to the country’s electricity minister. The Financial Times on February 10 reported that Luay Al-Khatteeb, who took his post late last year after the deals were brokered, told the newspaper, “I don’t […]

  • Financial and Gas Turbine Blade Troubles Plague GE Power

    GE Power’s financials spun out further on a dismal trajectory during the fourth quarter of 2018, plagued by slack market demand for products and services, technical glitches of a flagship gas turbine model, and poor project execution. Despite a series of divestments and corporate reshuffles, including of leadership, for the 12 months that ended on […]

  • Decarbonization, Electrification Key Among 8 Priorities for U.S. Investor-Owned Power Companies 

    In line with customer preferences, U.S. investor-owned electric companies are heavily invested in decarbonization and electrification, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) told Wall Street analysts and bankers on Feb. 6. In its annual presentation to potential investors and industry observers, the trade association that represents U.S. investor-owned electric companies lamented a number of uncertainties affecting […]

  • Schneider Electric Selected to Perform Microgrid Expansion at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar

    BOSTON, February 6, 2019 – Schneider Electric, the global specialist in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, today announced the expansion of its microgrid project at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Miramar to boost resilience. A California Energy Commission (CEC) Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) grant will enable the $3.9 million project that […]

  • Sulzer Schmid’s new technology platform slashes cost of drone-based rotor blade inspections

    Zurich, Switzerland, 06 February 2019 – Sulzer & Schmid Laboratories AG, a Swiss company pioneering next-generation technology for the inspection of wind turbine rotor blades, announced today that it has launched a new highly competitive inspection platform. The company’s new 3DX™ HD product has been developed as a cost-effective solution to cope with large volumes […]

  • Hexagon Helps Electric Utilities Cut Fault Location Time from Hours to Minutes

    HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (Feb. 5, 2019) — Hexagon’s Safety & Infrastructure division has released a new software application that aids electric utilities in determining the location of faults more quickly and accurately. Launched at DistribuTECH 2019 in New Orleans, Hexagon’s Intergraph InService Fault Location helps utilities improve outage restoration by cutting fault location time from hours […]

  • Go Electric Launches Hive Microgrid-Enabled Switchgear

    ANDERSON, Ind., Feb. 5, 2019 — Go Electric Inc., a provider of energy resiliency and microgrid solutions, today announces the launch of its new microgrid-enabled switchgear product, Hive. Hive is designed and engineered to provide facilities with critical energy reliability and resiliency when experiencing disturbances from the electric grid. By integrating all the control functionality […]

  • NIPSCO Announces Three New Indiana Wind Farms

    Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO), which is phasing out coal-fired power as part of its “Your Energy, Your Future” plan announced late last year, on Feb. 1 said it will develop three new wind farm projects in the state that will add about 800 MW of renewable power generation capacity to its portfolio. The […]

  • THE BIG PICTURE: World’s Biggest Power Companies

    In 2017, the 10 largest power companies, ranked by their installed generation capacity, owned 18% of total global installed capacity, while the next-largest 15 owned around 10%—meaning that the top 25 companies own nearly 30% of global installed power generation capacity, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Chinese companies account for more than one-eighth of global installed […]

  • Show Preview: Connected Plant Conference

    The Connected Plant Conference is a forum designed for professionals in the power generation and chemical process industries who are leading digital adoption at all stages. Sessions are tailored to offer

  • Powering the Dragon: How China’s Power Sector Is Evolving

    China’s power sector reforms represent perhaps the world’s largest industrial reform program, with important consequences on both domestic and global levels. In 2015, Erdaoqiao, a settlement in southwest

  • DERMS Technology Part of Australia’s Push for Renewables

    A new distributed energy resources management system (DERMS) is being deployed in Western Australia, designed to manage distributed energy resources (DERs) across nearly 1 million square miles, with a focus on

  • COP24’s Hefty Impact on the Power Sector

    Two weeks of intense negotiations at the 24th meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) in Katowice, Poland, last December culminated in

  • Fuel Cell Technology Key to South Korea’s Energy Future

    South Korea is reliant on coal-fired and nuclear power for much of its power generation, and is among the world’s leading importers of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The administration of President Moon

  • POWER Digest – February 2019

    BHEL Completes India Coal Plant in 46 Months. Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) in January said it successfully built and commissioned the single-unit, 800-MW Kothagudem Thermal Power Station (KTPS), in

  • Designing for Extremes: Battery Storage in the Mojave Desert

    When Doosan GridTech installed a 25-MVA/10-MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) at its Beacon Solar Plant site in Kern County, California, the

  • Making the Connection: Digitization Ramps Up Optimization

    Power generators continue to expand their use of digital technologies. Data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are all part of a rapid transformation in how utilities are improving the

  • Planning for the Future of Intelligent Power Generation

    An Electric Power Research Institute-led collaborative utility project, called I4Gen (Insight through the Integration of Information for Intelligent Generation), is exploring new technologies for digitally

  • Hydro: An Old Generating Dog Can Offer New Tricks

    Hydroelectric power doesn’t get much attention in today’s discussions of how to generate electricity, particularly in a world looking to boost renewable technologies such as wind and solar. But the oldest

  • Siemens Gamesa will supply 567 MW to ReNew Power for two wind projects in India

    Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) has secured a new order in India from ReNew Power, India’s largest renewable energy Independent Power Producer (IPP). The scope includes the supply of 270 units of the SG 2.1-122 wind turbines, with a total capacity of 567 MW, to two wind power facilities*. As per the agreement with ReNew, […]

  • U.S. Department of Energy awards Virginia Tech researchers $1.8 million to tackle challenges facing U.S. power grid

    January 31, 2019 — The Department of Energy has awarded four Virginia Tech researchers a $1.8 million grant to reduce the stress renewable energy sources put on the U.S. power grid. The Virginia Tech Center for Power Electronics Systems (CPES) and the Power and Energy Center (PEC) will partner with Siemens to tackle this challenge. […]

  • GE Restructure Will See Leaner Power but Heftier Renewable Energy Division

    GE has announced it will integrate its renewables, grid, and energy storage assets into a simplified, single business that nearly doubles the size of its Renewable Energy division, as the company banks on the accelerated uptake of grid-connected renewables worldwide.  The expansion will see GE’s grid solutions, solar solutions, and storage businesses move from GE […]

  • PG&E Files for Bankruptcy, Prepares to Reorganize

    California utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Jan. 29, as the company faces as much as $30 billion in potential liabilities for its role in a series of wildfires in the state. The filing was expected after the company notified its workers two weeks ago it was preparing a […]