Renewables

  • Dulas Advises On Planning Changes To Power Welsh Hydro Sector In New Government Report

    Leading renewable energy consultancy assesses the likely impact of permitted development rights on Welsh hydro-electric sector Machynlleth, 27 June 2018 – Dulas, a leading renewable energy consultancy, has completed research on behalf of the Welsh Government into the impact of potential changes to permitted development rights for small-scale hydro-electric projects in Wales. The research, recently […]

  • Siemens Gamesa secures Brazil’s largest-ever contract: 136 turbines for Iberdrola

    The company will deliver a total of 471 MW to a wind complex comprising 15 developments Siemens Gamesa is the number-two turbine OEM in Brazil with a market share of 24% Siemens Gamesa has reinforced its position in Brazil having signed its largest ever contract* in this market. The company will supply a total of […]

  • GE CEO: Company ‘Finished’ with Restructuring

    General Electric (GE) saw its stock price surge more than 7% on June 26 after the company said it would dissolve its stake in oil services company Baker Hughes and spin off its healthcare unit over the next few years. The announcement comes one day after GE said it would sell its Distributed Power business, […]

  • Test Your Knowledge: Monitoring and Treatment of Closed-Loop Cooling Water Systems

    There are often multiple closed-loop water cooling systems installed in a power plant. Chances are good that they cool or control temperature on some very critical components. It can be easy to ignore these systems because they are usually quite reliable. By its very nature, when a closed-loop system remains closed and operates properly for an extended period of time, it is often […]

  • DNV GL launches GPM Horizon—World’s first data monitoring platform for integrated wind, solar and energy storage systems

    Munich, Germany (June 21, 2018) – DNV GL is launching GPM Horizon, the world’s first data monitoring platform with full integration of current and future renewable energy systems including solar PV, wind and energy storage assets. GPM Horizon enables future-proof fleet management by bringing digitalization technologies and integrated renewables systems together in one platform, which […]

  • FlexGen Awarded Contract for ESS at Upton 2 Solar Power Plant

    Vistra Energy, headquartered in Irving, Texas, has awarded a contract to FlexGen to design and integrate a 10-MW/42-MWh FlexGen energy storage system (ESS) at Upton 2 Solar Power Plant in Upton County, Texas. At 180 MW, Upton 2 is Texas’ largest operating solar facility. The Upton 2 plant consists of 718,000 photovoltaic solar panels. The lithium-ion energy storage project at […]

  • Restructuring on Horizon for Siemens and GE

    Siemens and General Electric, two rivals battling financial problems due to fewer orders for their flagship energy products and services, could each announce major restructuring moves in the coming weeks, according to media reports. Reuters on June 21, citing a person familiar with the matter, said Siemens plans to merge or trim some of its […]

  • AEP’s $4.5B Wind Catcher Project Gets Louisiana’s Approval

    American Electric Power’s (AEP’s) proposed $4.5 billion Wind Catcher Energy Connection project—the largest single-site wind project in the nation—has garnered approval from the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC).  The LPSC on June 20 approved a settlement agreement related to the project, which is proposed by AEP subsidiary Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO). Under the proposal, […]

  • Siemens and Solarkiosk join forces to power Africa with microgrid solutions

    Siemens and SOLARKIOSK have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 20 at the Intersolar trade show. Both companies agree to join forces to enhance local businesses powered by SOLARKIOSK´s clean energy in non-electrified parts of rural Africa. SOLARKIOSK has deployed more than 250 projects in twelve countries serving roundabout 5 million people. The […]

  • Siemens’ CEO: Sale of Turbine Unit Just ‘Media Speculation’

    Siemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser on June 19 said reports last week that the German engineering company was considering a sale of its gas turbines manufacturing unit are “media speculation.” Kaeser made the remarks during an event in Zurich, Switzerland. He told Reuters that his company wants to improve the performance of the turbine unit, […]

  • Green Power EMC and Silicon Ranch Announce 194-MW Solar Portfolio

    TUCKER, Georgia (June 19, 2018) – Green Power EMC and Silicon Ranch today announced a significant expansion of their partnership to serve communities across Georgia with low-cost, renewable power. As part of the agreement, Silicon Ranch will bring an additional 194 megawatts (MWAC) of solar energy online by the year 2021. The total capacity will […]

  • Analysts: Coal Generation Will Plummet More Than 70%

    About half the world’s power will be generated by wind and solar resources by 2050. Generation from coal will drop more than 70% from today’s levels. That’s according to research from energy analysts published June 19 in the “New Energy Outlook 2018” (NEO) from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). The NEO report outlines information from […]

  • Valmet and Turun Seudun Energiatuotanto Develop Fuel Chain Management for Biopower Plants

    Valmet, together with its customer Turun Seudun Energiatuotanto Oy (TSE), is developing a comprehensive Industrial Internet-based set of production information systems and district heating network optimization solutions. This is being implemented for the first time as an integral part of TSE’s new multi-fuel power plant in Naantali, Finland. One of the cutting-edge solutions currently being […]

  • FERC: There Is No Grid Emergency

    President Trump wants to provide financial support to struggling coal and nuclear power plants. He’s told the Department of Energy (DOE) to make it happen. But a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill, along with commissioners from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), made it clear June 12 they don’t support federal government intervention […]

  • SPX Mobile Display Trailer Highlights Advantages of Marley® Cooling Tower Components

    Showcasing innovative gearbox, driveshaft, fan, and heat transfer fill options Overland Park, Kan. – SPX Cooling Technologies, Inc., a full-line, full-service industry leader in the design and manufacture of evaporative cooling towers and air-cooled heat exchangers, has outfitted an 18-foot mobile trailer with displays of field-erected cooling tower components. Visitors to the trailer can see […]

  • GE Will Cut Jobs, End Manufacturing at Virginia Plant

    General Electric’s (GE’s) power unit has said it will end manufacturing operations at its plant in Salem, Virginia, next year, with more than 260 workers losing their jobs, according to union officials. Officials noted that 42% of the affected workers are eligible for retirement. The plan announced June 8 said the Salem plant, which opened […]

  • ABB to install multipurpose microgrid in Australia

    ABB will supply a microgrid solution to the Energy Storage for Commercial Renewable Integration (ESCRI) project, which will provide a more secure power supply in an area that has high renewable penetration into the grid. The solution will connect an ABB Ability PowerStore™ 30 megawatt (MW) battery energy storage solution to the Electranet transmission system […]

  • Valmet to supply a multifuel power boiler and a flue gas cleaning system to Air Water & Energia Power Onahama Corporation in Japan

    Valmet will supply a multifuel power boiler and a flue gas cleaning system to Air Water & Energia Power Onahama Corporation at Onahama Plant located at Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The new CFB boiler will enable the power plant to achieve a stable power supply at high thermal efficiency while significantly reducing CO2 emissions. The […]

  • Xcel Will Retire Coal, Add Renewables in Latest Plan

    Xcel Energy, citing “historically low” costs for wind and solar power, said it wants to double its generation from renewable sources. Colorado’s largest utility also said it will retire two coal-fired units representing 660 MW at its Comanche Generating Station in Pueblo at least 10 years ahead of schedule. The changes were outlined in a […]

  • Six Glaring Interventions in Competitive Markets — Beyond the Trump Plan

    The Trump administration’s attempt to prop up uneconomic “fuel secure” generators in competitive markets is just the latest in a string of recent “extra-market” interventions that experts said imperil independent organized markets for electricity. In a recent white paper, Raymond Gifford and Matthew Larson, energy partners at Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP, said the restructured administrative […]

  • Exelon CEO Clarifies Headline-Grabbing No-Grid-Emergency Comment

    Chris Crane, CEO of Exelon Corp., seemed to take umbrage with the way comments he made on June 5 were reported by Utility Dive. The website published the headline “Exelon CEO: No grid emergency to justify DOE coal, nuke bailout,” but Crane went out of his way to clarify his position while on stage participating […]

  • West’s Largest Coal Plant Could Get a Lifeline

    The Navajo Generating Station (NGS) in Arizona is scheduled to close by year-end 2019, but intervention by the federal government could keep the West’s largest coal-fired power plant operating. At the same time, more than 300 of the plant’s workers, along with family members, union representatives and tribal leaders, held a rally in Phoenix on […]

  • Hurricane Season is Here; Is Your Grid Prepared?

    When Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017, no one could predict the level of devastation those 155-mph sustained winds would deliver. In its wake, Maria plunged the entire island of Puerto Rico into darkness, and decimated its aging distribution, transmission and generation infrastructure. By all predictions, it was going to […]

  • More Groups Weigh-in on Trump Move to Save Coal, Nuclear—Including Supporters

    Few entities have expressed approval of the Trump administration’s plan that includes a directive for system operators to buy or arrange purchase of energy or capacity from designated “fuel secure” power plants for two years until the Department of Energy (DOE) can address “grid security” challenges. The 41-page draft memo dated May 29—which was presumably authored […]

  • ABB to strengthen power infrastructure in Iraq

    ABB has won orders from the Ministry of Electricity in Iraq to deliver five fixed and 15 mobile 132 kilovolt substations that will help strengthen the power grid and provide electricity in central Iraq. The government of Iraq is rebuilding the country and investing in its grid as part of its ambitious plan to develop […]

  • Swift (and Angry) Reaction to Trump Move to Save Coal, Nuclear Plants

    Reactions from U.S. energy and legal and regulatory groups began pouring in minutes after the White House confirmed on June 1 that President Trump has directed the Department of Energy (DOE) to act immediately to stop the loss of uneconomic coal and nuclear plants.  White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a June 1 […]

  • Renewable Growth Soars, Buoyed by Distributed Generation

    Nameplate renewable capacity surged to more than 2,000 GW worldwide at the end of 2016, constituting more than 28% of total generating capacity (Figure 6). Most (56%) was hydropower, followed by wind (23%), and then solar, mostly from photovoltaic (PV) at about 15%. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) the expansion was fueled […]

  • POWER Digest [June 2018]

    Marking an important milestone in energy storage’s steady charge to become a key element in balancing variability posed by renewables, ACCIONA Energia has received a prototype certificate from DNV GL for a

  • Using Artificial Intelligence to Develop Electricity Load Forecasts

    Electricity is produced by a variety of generating units, each with different lead times and costs to be readied for service, and production costs once brought online. Because electricity is a commodity that

  • Power in Africa: Prospects for an Economic Foothold

    To sustain unprecedented economic growth, lift hundreds of millions out of poverty, and attract investment, African countries are taking bold steps to expand electricity infrastructure. Are the continent’s