Research and Development

Xylem Inc., a global water solutions company, announced the launch of Sensus Evolve, its new intelligent grid platform designed to help electric utilities gain deeper insight, act faster, and adapt to a rapidly changing energy landscape.

An international nuclear power services company has confirmed it plans to submit an application to build new generation capacity at a long-closed nuclear power plant in Wisconsin.

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Type One Energy and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville are partnering to establish a world-class facility that will drive American innovation and move fusion energy closer to reality. This high-heat flux (HHF) facility, located at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Bull Run Energy Complex in East Tennessee, will evaluate how materials react under extreme conditions in a fusion device.

This year will be a pivotal period for the global energy transition. The International Energy Agency’s recent revision to its net-zero roadmap reveals a changing narrative: we are no longer waiting on breakthrough technologies. Sixty-five percent of the emissions reductions we need are achievable with tools sitting on the shelf today. So, the debate is no […]

Power systems today operate in an environment where reliability and safety must be maintained despite rising loads, expanding interconnections, and increasing dependence on distributed energy resources. One of the most important technologies that supports this stability is the digital overcurrent relay.

As artificial intelligence (AI) models and workloads continue to scale in size and sophistication, their hunger for processing power—and the energy that fuels it—is accelerating faster than any previous wave of digital innovation.

The electricity sector faces a timing problem that’s becoming impossible to ignore. Data centers, artificial intelligence (AI) deployment, industrial reshoring, and broader electrification are driving load growth at rates not seen in decades—and much of that new demand wants carbon-free, firm power. Nuclear checks those boxes. But can the industry deliver capacity fast enough? POWER […]

Recent breakthroughs at U.S. fusion labs, along with new public-private partnerships, are bringing us closer than ever to realizing fusion energy’s limitless potential. However, the U.S. has a major gap to fill in fusion research and development (R&D), and workforce development.

Distributed energy resources (DERs) have become a major part of the power generation landscape, particularly in support of a more reliable and resilient grid. Generating electricity from a variety of sources, including fossil fuels and renewables, using smaller-scale installations is now a key element of demand response and energy efficiency.

Chicken Switch Hitter CBS ArcSafe, a leading manufacturer of remote racking and switching solutions for low- and medium-voltage switchgear, introduced the RSK-CSH-W Chicken Switch Hitter (Figure 1), a wireless

In early 2020, the prevailing narrative in the power sector was a continuation story of the developments from the decade before: renewable buildout will keep compounding, thermal capacity will keep retiring (albeit at a slower rate), markets will evolve to compensate for flexible generation products, capital will keep moving earlier in the development value chain […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched the “Genesis Mission,” a national effort to build an integrated artificial intelligence (AI) platform across its 17 national laboratories. According to The White House, the initiative will “accelerate scientific discovery, strengthen national security, secure energy dominance, enhance workforce productivity, and multiply the return on taxpayer investment into […]

The Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) is merging with a California-based company focused on development of nuclear fusion in a $6-billion deal. The all-stock transaction announced December 18 would create one of the first publicly traded fusion companies.

As AI demand accelerates, the race is on to bend the power curve before it bends the grid. The first electric refrigerators were mechanical curiosities—loud, bulky appliances that consumed staggering amounts of electricity. But they spread anyway, because the productivity gains were too great to ignore. Daily habits shifted. Food systems reshaped. Household labor changed […]

Vema Hydrogen, developer of a sustainable hydrogen production technology, said it has entered a hydrogen purchase and sale agreement with Verne, a provider of on-site power and cooling solutions. Verne will leverage Vema’s clean energy, known as Engineered Mineral Hydrogen (EMH), to provide low-emission power for its data center customers.

Fusion technology company Thea Energy said it has completed its preconceptual fusion power plant design. The company, founded in 2022 as a spin-out of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Princeton University, is advancing the stellarator as part of its Helios system.

A California-based nuclear energy company with plans to place small modular reactors (SMRs) in mile-deep boreholes said it will break ground December 9 for a pilot project at a site in Parsons, Kansas. Berkeley-headquartered Deep Fission on December 4 said the company’s Gravity Nuclear Reactor is bring prepared for the Great Plains Industrial Park. Deep […]

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has selected the five commercial teams that will potentially demonstrate advanced applications—including data center integration—at its much-watched Microreactor Application Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) platform, an 85-kWth/20-kWe liquid-metal-cooled test bed currently under construction at the lab. The initial selections, unveiled on Dec. 4, mark the “first potential end users for MARVEL,” […]

China’s Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) in November reported it had achieved thorium-to-uranium fuel conversion inside an operating molten salt reactor (MSR). The milestone provides the first

The limitations of lithium-ion batteries are prompting a search for longer-duration solutions. Compressed air energy storage (CAES) and other emerging technologies are gaining traction as safer, scalable

The UK has confirmed that Wylfa on the island of Anglesey, North Wales, will host three Rolls-Royce small modular reactors (SMRs) that could deliver first power in the mid-2030s—launching a state-backed, fleet-based nuclear deployment through publicly owned entity Great British Energy–Nuclear (GBE-N). The UK government has framed the SMR project, which is underpinned by more […]

Global shifts in energy demand are prompting power plants to reassess their production and efficiency needs. Energy-intensive AI data centers and increased renewable power loads to grids demand greater plant flexibility. Ramp-up and shutdown cycles require plants to rely more on cycle chemistry analytics to support fluctuations. The loss of personnel expertise due to layoffs […]

Ammonia-to-power solutions provider Amogy will join with South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries in a multi-year strategic contract manufacturing partnership. The companies on November 12 said SHI plans to establish a dedicated facility in South Korea to produce and test Amogy’s ammonia-to-power systems.

From financial dashboards to factory-based assembly, utilities and their contractors are deploying new tools and processes to improve project cost performance. In decades past, the decision to pursue a major

Rhythm Energy, a provider of renewable energy for U.S households and businesses, said it will introduce a new virtual power plant (VPP) offering that enables residential customers in major markets to better integrate home batteries, and other connected assets, with the energy grid. The new offer announced November 11 will help customers lower their electricity […]

The explosive growth of cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and enterprise data storage has transformed data centers into the critical infrastructure of the digital economy. Yet their extraordinary and continuous electricity demands—often exceeding 100 megawatts per site—have made energy access and reliability the single most consequential factor in determining where these facilities are built. Across the […]

In this case study, Lamons helped a Montana refinery overcome a critical flange misalignment issue during the final stages of an FCC unit turnaround. Traditional methods and standard gaskets failed to resolve the problem, threatening costly delays and safety risks. Leveraging our engineering expertise and rapid response capabilities, Lamons designed and delivered a custom wedge […]

A novel hydrogen combustion engine technology trial, led by EMEC at Kirkwall Airport in Orkney in the UK, was completed in October. This marks the first time hydrogen has been used to meet both the power and heat demands of a commercial airport in the UK.

Officials with Denmark-headquartered Aalborg CSP said the company has developed technology that could convert retired coal-fired power plants into thermal storage facilities for renewable energy.

A key component of a system that would deliver fusion energy in the U.S. has arrived at Commonwealth Fusion Systems’ (CFS) campus in Devens, Massachusetts. The company on October 28 said the first half of the vacuum vessel at the heart of SPARC, the group’s tokamak machine, is now on-site.