Research and Development

Constructing a power plant is no small task. Due to the scope of the job, many projects experience schedule delays and cost overruns. However, with the right tools and teamwork, similar jobs can benefit

POWER was at the POWERGEN International exhibition and summit, which was held in New Orleans, Louisiana, Nov. 19–21, 2019. Among the experts we met with at the show were Paul Browning, CEO of Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Americas; Chris Mieckowski, director of global solutions marketing and strategy with Siemens; Robert Yeager, president of Emerson’s Power […]

INNIO and HanseWerk AG sign joint letter of intent on the realization of an innovative hydrogen pilot project in the center of Hamburg, Germany Flagship project plans to enable sector coupling at megawatt level HAMBURG (Germany) – JENBACH (Austria) – November 25, 2019 – The German federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein want to make […]

FPT Industrial reaffirms its commitment to pioneering sustainable power solutions by displaying its Cursor X power source concept for the first time in North America at the 2019 Power-Generation International trade show in New Orleans, Louisiana (booth #2611). “We are excited to give Power-Gen attendees the opportunity to experience FPT’s vision of the next generation […]

Twenty-three projects chosen by the Department of Energy (DOE) in response to its 2019 Grid Modernization Lab Call provide a broad look at the critical issues that are roiling the nation’s power sector, as well as the tools and technologies that it has determined will best bolster the grid of the future in the near […]

ExxonMobil and FuelCell Energy announced a new joint-development agreement to enhance carbon capture fuel cell technology, as the groups work on a process to capture combustion exhaust from power plants and other industrial facilities. The two-year deal, announced Nov. 6 and an extension of an earlier agreement, is aimed at optimizing core technology, process integration, […]

Efforts to commercialize production of high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel, which is needed for an array of advanced reactors, ramped up this week with two major announcements.  As the Department of Energy (DOE) contracted Centrus Energy to demonstrate production of HALEU fuel for advanced reactors at the DOE’s American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio, private […]

The pace at which new digitalization technologies are being adopted in the power sector is dizzying, but news from major players in the sector—among them, AES, Invenergy, Google, and IBM—this week suggests it will only accelerate.  For more insight into power plant digitalization, including the latest in digital monitoring, diagnostic, analytics, Industrial Internet of Things […]

Of the many challenges power and industrial plant maintenance teams face, stretching the capabilities of their ultra-lean staff is one of the most critical. Assets can range from industrial generators, to

The closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in 2013 left a stranded coastal asset. However, the existing transmission infrastructure, site control, and geographic topology make it an ideal site

Italian turbine maker Ansaldo Energia and carbon capture specialist Equinor are collaborating on the validation of a 100% hydrogen gas turbine combustor. Under an agreement announced on Oct. 24, Equinor (formerly Statoil) will co-fund tests that could show Ansaldo’s GT36 H-class gas turbine combustor can be operated purely with hydrogen. “The purpose of this collaboration […]

Siemens celebrated the official opening of an innovation center in Orlando, Florida. The only one of its kind in the U.S., it pairs design with manufacturing, robotics, rapid prototyping, scanning, and digital tools. Designed to support the customers of Siemens Gas and Power, it is equipped with the latest digital technologies to make repairs faster […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced 12 projects had been selected as part of its Practices to Accelerate the Commercialization of Technologies (PACT) Laboratory Call. The projects will receive about $2.5 million in awards, combined with more than $1 million in cost share “to develop new ways to increase technology commercialization by reducing barriers […]

WILMINGTON, North Carolina—October 21, 2019—GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) and Synthos SA have agreed to collaborate on potential deployment applications for GEH’s BWRX-300 small modular reactor in Poland. Synthos, a manufacturer of synthetic rubber and one of the biggest producers of chemical raw materials in Poland, is interested in obtaining affordable, on-demand, carbon-free electricity from […]

WEST GLOCESTER, R.I., USA—FM Global, one of the world’s largest commercial property insurers, has opened a US$16 million Electrical Hazards and Gas Detection Laboratory at its world renowned 1,600-acre (648-hectare) Research Campus in West Glocester, R.I., USA, following nearly two years of construction. Fireballs, explosions, combustible and toxic gas leaks and short circuits—industrial property hazards […]

GE Renewable Energy has made major gains in orders for its 5.3-MW Cypress onshore wind turbine and the 12-MW Haliade-X offshore wind turbine. Prototypes of both are still being tested in the Netherlands. Key Contracts for Innovative 5-MW Onshore Machine  The GE business division introduced the first turbine in the Cypress platform, a 4.8-MW machine, […]

Clean Coal Technologies Inc. (CCTI) has begun reassembling a test facility designed to produce a cleaner-burning and more-efficient coal. The coal beneficiation and byproducts extraction plant, first built in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for an initial test of the technology, and then moved to Gillette, Wyoming, is expected to be completely rebuilt in the next few months, […]

Chemical looping combustion (CLC), an advanced coal power technology that could markedly simplify carbon capture at power plants, has moved significantly closer to commercialization, owing to a breakthrough in oxygen carrier durability, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) said.    The national laboratory, which is part of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), revealed on […]

NTPC Ltd., one of India’s largest power generating companies, on Sept. 3 announced it had commissioned the country’s first ultrasupercritical (USC) coal-fired unit at the two-unit 1,320-MW Khargone plant that is under construction in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The development marks a major milestone for India, which depends on coal for 56% of its […]

New environmental regulations have forced many coal power plant operators to consider alternative options for handling their boiler bottom ash. Although mechanical drag systems can often meet regulatory

The ITER Organization has awarded a contract, for a global value above 200 M€, for the Tokamak Assembly (TAC2) to DYNAMIC, a company created specifically for the purpose of guaranteeing the seamless execution of the work by the collective contributions of its founding members: Ansaldo Nucleare, Endel Engie, Orys Group ORTEC, SIMIC, Leading and Ansaldo […]

Exelon’s Byron Unit 2 nuclear power plant has completed installation of EnCore Fuel, Westinghouse Electric Co.’s accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) solution, marking the start of the first test of uranium silicide fuel pellets in a commercial nuclear reactor.  The installation, completed during the plant’s scheduled 18-day spring refueling outage this April, but publicly announced on Sept. […]

There have been a lot of changes in how power plants do business. As financial pressure mounts and lean-staffing strategies are implemented, finding time to do all the work that needs to be done can be a

This year, it seems hardly a week has gone by without a new report making us even more nervous about climate change. It’s as if the editorial theme for 2019 was: “It’s worse than you thought.” Maybe

San Antonio-based Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) said on Aug. 12 it will get $3 million from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and another $760,658 from an assortment of industry giants to design a large-scale flameless pressurized oxy-fuel combustion pilot plant.  The announcement is a major boost for the promising, but yet unproven technology, that […]

The world’s nuclear sector is struggling to stay economically afloat amid a deluge of renewables and natural gas power, and reinvigorating it will require operational flexibility from new or existing

A pilot project was initiated by China’s largest energy provider to test the effectiveness of fog-based power augmentation for a gas turbine at a compressor station. The system provided a significant

Coal-fired plants have been powering the electric grid for more than a hundred years, but the technology being used in them is not stagnant, as many advancements have been made. One new design—the Clean