Renewables

China in mid-September increased its renewable portfolio standard (RPS) to 35% of electricity consumption by 2030. The country has already heavily invested in wind and solar, and it anticipates more gains will

A myriad of issues come into play when parties execute power industry mergers and acquisitions. Part 1 of this two-part series examines what dealmakers need to know before making any transactions

New Zealand’s largest geothermal plant was synchronized to the country’s national grid in October. The project took just more than three years to complete. Eastland Group, a Gisborne, New Zealand-based

Washington state’s latest effort to fight climate change, Initiative 1631 (I-1631), is on the November ballot. With a broad coalition of support from business, environmental, and special interest groups

Ørsted Snaps Up Deepwater Wind in Major U.S. Offshore Wind Deal. Danish offshore wind farm developer Ørsted in October entered into an agreement with U.S.-based D.E. Shaw Group to buy a 100% equity interest

The profitability of a wind farm depends directly upon reducing uncertainty when wind resources are being assessed and when wind turbines are being fine-tuned. Project risks vary from site to site, depending

To remain efficient and profitable, utilities must anticipate the ebb and flow of the market. That means companies must gain visibility into the generation and consumption of energy. With network-level

A study from a London-based group focused on financial aspects of the energy industry said up to $60 billion of coal-fired power generation assets may be stranded in Southeast Asia in the next 10 years. The study released this week by Carbon Tracker said renewable energy resources and more-stringent environmental policies make investments in new […]

X-Elio and Sofos Harbert have entered into an agreement to create a Joint Venture for the development of solar energy projects in the US It is expected that the new company will be initially focused on the Southeastern market of the United States The new group has confirmed its intention to expand to other markets […]

NRG Energy, which recently shed a substantial portion of its competitive generation portfolio and has shifted efforts to stimulate growth of its retail business, unveiled a simplified renewables procurement process that does not require a power purchase agreement (PPA).  The company on October 18 launched “Renewable Select,” a plan that it says transforms the “lengthy […]

A subsidiary of grid operator PJM Interconnection has joined with a Switzerland-based group to build and evaluate a blockchain-based tool to help the U.S. power generation industry. Energy Web Foundation (EWF) and PJM Environmental Information Services (PJM-EIS) on October 25 said they would collaborate on developing and testing a reference implementation of EWF’s open-source Energy […]

Proactive equipment maintenance continues to be a priority for power plant operators. ServiceMax, a GE Digital company that provides field service management software, on October 25 announced it has launched its Predix ServiceMax Asset Service Management (ASM), a new offering to help operators “transform their entire asset maintenance process from a break-fix model to a […]

Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding on October 15 to develop power plants in the country with General Electric (GE). The Financial Times on October 18 said the $15 billion deal was brokered after senior officials in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iraq that relations with the U.S. would be threatened if Iraq […]

Kazakhstan Electricity and Power Market Operator (JSC “KOREM”) summed up the results of the final auction for the construction of renewable energy power plants. According to the results, Hevel Group was awarded a 15-year PPA for the sale of power from a 70-MW solar plant in southern Kazakhstan. Commissioning is planned for 2019-2020. “This tender […]

Hybrid power approaches are becoming increasingly important for the generation and storage of clean, renewable energy The Voith Hydro Holding GmbH & Co. KG and the Siemens Energy Management Division sign Letter of Intent for collaboration in appropriate hybrid power projects containing hydropower Starting point of the collaboration will be the integration of hydropower into […]

Utilities are faced with many disruptive changes in the power market. Customers are demanding cleaner energy and turning to distributed generation as a solution. One expert suggested power companies must react and evolve their business models to change with the times. During a keynote presentation at the Distributed Energy Conference in Golden, Colorado, on October […]

Test Your Knowledge The quizzes provided here offer an easy way to test your knowledge of various power-related subjects. If you want to learn more about the quiz topics, follow links to articles from the POWER archive, which are provided on each individual quiz webpage. Competitive Maintenance Strategies Quiz https://www.powermag.com/test-your-knowledge-competitive-maintenance-strategies/ Scaffold Safety Quiz https://www.powermag.com/test-your-knowledge-scaffold-safety/ Monitoring and Treatment of Closed-Loop […]

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Oct. 8, 2018) — CPS Energy has taken a major step in using new technology to produce emission-free renewable energy during high energy use days. This focus on reliability, environmental stewardship and innovation was announced today as Greater San Antonio’s natural gas and electric provider broke ground on their first solar energy and battery […]

FRANKLIN and LEBANON, Tennessee – (October 9, 2018) – The Lebanon, Tennessee, Waste-to-Energy Gasification Plant reached a milestone last week as the plant maintained a 94% uptime rate over the last 100 consecutive days. More than 460,000 kWh of green electricity was generated during 2,259 operating hours. This success was accomplished through outstanding teamwork, hard […]

Albuquerque, NM (October 8, 2018) – The Public Regulation Commission (PRC) voted to approve the location control permit for Pattern Development’s Corona Wind Projects in a 4-0 vote. As a result, construction can begin on an estimated 950 wind turbines, to produce 2,200 MW of power. “We greatly appreciate the commission’s diligent work to ensure […]

Siemens Gamesa has secured its first order in Russia from Enel Russia, one of the country’s independent power producers (IPP), for the supply of 90 MW of wind turbines. This is the first order for Siemens Gamesa in the country and belongs to the preliminary agreement signed with Enel in 2017 for the supply of […]

Natural gas combined cycle, wind, and residential solar photovoltaic technologies may be the least-expensive way to generate power across a wide swathe of the U.S., an interactive map published and recently updated by the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s Energy Institute shows.  The interactive chart (Version 1.4.0, retrieved on October 4, 2018), first published […]

Industry aggressively fought the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) when the Obama administration proposed it in 2011 and finalized it in February 2012, warning it would precipitate the closure of a swathe of coal capacity nationwide. Six years later, the rule appears to have had a sizable impact on the power sector, but not […]

(October 2, 2018) — ONYX InSight, a predictive analytics provider that gives asset owners clarity and control over their operations, has signed a contract with EDF Renewables to provide predictive maintenance services at the Blyth Offshore Demonstrator Project (Blyth). The contract will see ONYX InSight monitor the project’s 8.3MW MHI Vestas V164 wind turbines – some […]

Spurred by the shale gas revolution, natural gas’s stunning rise to dominate the U.S. power profile has been echoed by a number of countries, particularly in the Middle East. In Europe, where domestic natural gas production is actually in decline—and consensus is that shale gas won’t likely play a major role on the continent—natural gas […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggests that if states fully implement the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule—which it proposed in August 2018 to replace the 2015 Clean Power Plan—by 2025, U.S. power sector carbon dioxide emissions could be about 34% below 2005 levels. At the end of 2016, they had fallen 24%, and by the end […]

Silicon Valley Power implemented a system using machine-learning technology to monitor critical power plant components. The solution has proven to reduce downtime and save money. Furthermore, its wireless

We’ve all heard that phrase about leading or following. In today’s energy world, and more so in tomorrow’s, this saying takes on a new meaning that can be summed up in two words: distributed generation

Though experts say biomass should continue to play a key role in the U.S. renewable power portfolio for its baseload properties, contributions to forest management, and other reasons, a swathe of uneconomic

The California Independent System Operator’s Energy Imbalance Market (EIM) is a real-time energy market, the first of its kind in the western U.S. EIM’s advanced market systems automatically find low-cost