Renewables

Europe’s largest generator of renewable power will no longer invest in new offshore wind projects and may postpone some international hydro plants. Norwegian state-owned power company Statkraft will stop

Combined heat and power (CHP) is hot again—in more ways than one. After a surge in capacity during the 1980s, kick-started by the 1978 federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) that was designed

Advances in firing biomass, including bagasse, in Cuban sugarcane operations.

  Look out Tesla, the Germans are coming. The U.S. residential energy storage market took another step forward on January 29 when German firm sonnen announced that it was partnering with solar manufacturer SolarWorld to offer residential solar-plus-storage systems in the U.S., much like the systems announced by Tesla and Solar City last April. Unlike […]

The New York State Public Service Commission on January 21 approved a 10-year, $5 billion Clean Energy Fund that is expected to address climate change and strengthen resiliency in the face of extreme weather. It will also bolster Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s aggressive Clean Energy Standard, which calls for the state to meet 50% of its […]

Recent news out of Europe shows just how important wind energy has become to the continent. Record wind power consumption, huge capacity additions, and new expansion in previously untapped offshore areas are all making headlines, but policy changes and overproduction could start to become challenging. Denmark Leads the Way In Denmark, 2015 was a banner […]

Following the D.C. Circuit’s denial of motions for stay, 26 states have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to immediately block the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) contentious Clean Power Plan from taking effect. The January 26 application, directed to Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., notes that the states filed petitions for review of the carbon rule […]

UniEnergy’s Technologies (UET) manufactures and installs large-scale energy storage solutions for utility, commercial, and microgrid applications. Their battery systems enable customers to address power needs, such as “frequency regulation” as well as “transmission generation deferral” and “peak shaving. This case study details how OSIsoft’s Connected Services enabled UET to offer capacity guarantees for their technology.

By a 6–2 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court on January 25 ruled that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) had authority under the Federal Power Act (FPA) to issue rules requiring equal market participation by demand response (DR) resources. FERC Order 745, issued in 2011, required the nation’s Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Regional Transmission […]

New energy technologies, decreasing renewable energy costs, and low natural gas prices are forcing changes in the way traditional power companies must plan for the future. “A fundamental rethink is now well underway about how energy gets produced, delivered, consumed, and managed in many parts of the world, including the U.S.,” said Ethan Zindler, head […]

Energy and environment issues have figured prominently in past State of the Union (SOTU) addresses. Here’s a look back at President Obama’s previous speeches. See what Obama said in his final SOTU speech on January 12. 2010: Nuclear Gets the Spotlight In his very first State of the Union address, President Obama called for incentives […]

In his final State of the Union (SOTU) address on January 12, and arguably less so than in any other address he has given over the last seven years, President Obama made sparse mention of energy and climate change. The president dedicated most of the energy references in his address to “clean” energy, encapsulating wind […]

Silicon Valley Power (SVP)—Santa Clara, Calif.’s municipal electric utility—has decided to stop importing out-of-state electricity from the San Juan Generating Station, completely eliminating coal from its power supply. San Juan is a 1,646-MW four-unit coal-fired power plant located in Waterflow, N.M., and operated by PNM. SVP owns an interest in San Juan through its participation […]

State renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) provide around $7.4 billion in annual economic benefits and substantial reductions in water withdrawals and consumption, according to a new study from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and National Renewable Energy Laboratory released on Jan. 6. The study, “A Retrospective Analysis of the Benefits and Impacts of […]

The autonomous region of Xinjiang has an important strategic position in China’s economy—which consumes more energy than any other nation—yet several conditions limit the most effective use of its fuels. This article provides an overview of the situation. Since ancient times, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) has been in a particularly important position in […]

A significant transformation of the global power mix is under way, noted the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its newly released World Energy Outlook (WEO-2015). Renewables are getting subsidized boosts

Nearly five years after the world’s first large-scale floating deepwater wind turbine was erected 11 kilometers (km) offshore Karmøy, southeast Norway, Norwegian energy firm Statoil has made a final

Wind production in the U.S. hit record highs in October 2015, natural gas prices hit record lows, and solar photovoltaic (PV) adoption is continuing to grow to unprecedented levels. Energy storage prices are

The autonomous region of Xinjiang has a strategic position in China’s economy, yet several conditions limit the most effective use of its fuels. This article provides an overview of the situation. A more detailed version, with maps and tables, appears here under the same title. Since ancient times, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) has held […]

In mid-November, current members of POWER’ s Generating Company Advisory Team responded by email to a set of questions about their concerns, challenges, and new initiatives as they plan for the year ahead

From issuance of the final Clean Power Plan to mammoth mergers, 2015 will be remembered as a tumultuous year. Twelve months ago, as folks were emerging from an eventful 2014, POWER made some bold predictions, including that fuel economics will drive 2015 U.S. power markets, and the labor crunch will complicate the gas turbine arms […]

POWER‘s monthly infographic sheds light on power sector trends globally, and in 2015, it highlighted changes in plant retirements, sector revenues, rule costs, workforce, emissions technologies, and electricity costs, among other subjects. January 2015: Baseload Retirements How coal plant retirements compare with retirements of other baseload generation sources. February 2015: Power Revenues How revenues for fossil power […]

A status update and forecast for solar photovoltaic power in Greece, Croatia, and Italy.

North America’s reserve margins are trending downward, even though electricity demand has generally fallen, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) warned in a new report. The international regulatory authority established to gauge and improve the reliability of North America’s bulk power system (BPS) said in its annual long-term report that electricity demand has dropped […]

In a major boost to the wind and solar industries, Congressional leaders agreed on a multiyear extension of renewable energy tax credits, which could provide several years of predictable policies, encouraging investment in new projects. The tax credits are part of a 2,009-page omnibus-spending bill unveiled by the House Appropriations Committee on Dec. 15. The […]

Delegates of 195 nations, including the U.S., on Dec. 12 reached a landmark deal at the Paris COP21 conference that commits the world to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in an effort to combat the effects of climate change. Though scientists have said global temperature increases need to kept below 2 degrees C to avoid […]

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan (CPP) is likely to be complicated at least as much by political and legal opposition as by technological challenges in reducing carbon emissions, several speakers at POWER magazine’s inaugural conference on legal issues in the generation industry noted on Dec. 7 in Las Vegas. “Navigating Legal Implications of […]

FirstEnergy Corp., which may enter into a settlement with Ohio to safeguard the future of its Davis-Besse nuclear plant—a deal critics have blasted as “corporate welfare”—just got the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s permission to operate the 1978-built reactor until 2037. The 20-year license extension marks a milestone for Akron-headquartered FirstEnergy, which has warned it might have […]

This story is being written as world leaders gather in Paris for the COP-21 climate summit. Much of the reason they are meeting is because of the widespread burning of coal and the resulting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that are altering the planet’s biosphere. Though the burning of coal is not the only reason the […]

The power sector should view the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) recent drive to tighten regulations on air and water emissions as an opportunity to improve its efficiency and environmental footprint rather than as an obstacle, said EPA General Counsel Avi S. Garbow at POWER magazine’s inaugural conference on legal issues in the generation industry. “We want […]