Research and Development

The combination of combined heat and power plants with thermal energy storage and industrial heat pumps provides a sustainable and efficient heating sector option. In recent years there has been a growing

Efforts to combat climate change drive the growth of renewable energy technologies as governments and utility companies increase investments in solar and wind installations to meet rising electricity demands. Onshore wind is a well-developed market, while offshore wind is beginning to expand due to its high production efficiency and significant energy production potential. According to […]

Southern Nuclear, a subsidiary of Southern Company and operator of more than 8.2 GW of nuclear power capacity, said it has completed the installation of lead test assemblies with additively manufactured debris-filtering bottom nozzles (AMBN) at Alabama Power’s Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant. The AMBN assemblies are a new technology manufactured by Westinghouse Electric Co. […]

The U.S. Senate has passed the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act, sweeping legislation that seeks to promote U.S. nuclear leadership, accelerate advanced nuclear technology development while preserving existing nuclear generation, bolster national security measures, and enhance regulatory efficiency to support new nuclear deployment. The Senate passed the bill on […]

Dynamic line rating (DLR) enables utilities to unlock up to 40% additional capacity from existing infrastructure, allowing grid operators to rapidly increase energy throughput. This capability is crucial in today’s energy landscape, where the proportion of renewable energy sources is quickly expanding, and the existing aging infrastructure cannot support this growing demand. Operating power lines […]

The future of energy may depend on technology with roots in the video game industry, by a company founded more than 30 years ago that wanted to use accelerated computing to improve the look and feel of the gaming experience. Jensen Huang, NVIDIA’s CEO and president since co-founding the Santa Clara, California-based company in 1993, […]

Lhyfe, a pioneer in the production of green and renewable hydrogen, delivered 350 kilograms of green hydrogen (Figure 1) to natural gas expert Géométhane, on June 13, for it to test injecting hydrogen into salt caverns at its Manosque site in the south of France. The injection, which was completed within the day, is a […]

Bill Gates’ nuclear innovation firm TerraPower has broken ground on the non-nuclear portion of Kemmerer Unit 1, a 345-MW Natrium sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) power plant. The groundbreaking on June 10 makes the federal demonstration project the first advanced nuclear reactor project to move from design into construction in the Western Hemisphere, the company noted. […]

Decarbonization goals call for advancing high-impact energy technologies. The U.S. has pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, a goal that presents both challenges and opportunities in the field of advanced materials. This ambitious goal requires a wide range of technological advancements to enable the shift from fossil fuel-based systems to more sustainable and low-carbon […]

Engineering firms are increasingly recognizing the importance of digital construction and its transformative impact on electrical engineering and MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) design. Leveraging digital construction tools enables firms to optimize design processes, enhance collaboration, and deliver more efficient and sustainable solutions for their clients. Rahul Mittal, senior electrical engineer at Arup, has been […]

A year after EPRI and the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) unveiled the first phase of their Advanced Reactor Roadmap, the nuclear industry and its stakeholders have rallied to make significant strides in aligning around the roadmap’s strategic priorities.   Over the past year, efforts have been particularly focused on increasing engagement, promoting regulatory efficiency, and […]

The solar industry is on a continuous innovation curve — driving advancements, pushing boundaries, and harnessing solar energy’s power to increase returns and drive down the lower levelized cost of energy (LCOE). Stakeholders across the solar value chain have a variety of ways to optimize solar photovoltaic (PV) throughout the project lifecycle. And for each […]

The U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) announced it was preparing to make as much as a $1.66 billion loan guarantee to Latham, New York-based Plug Power, with the money earmarked for construction of as many as six clean hydrogen facilities across the U.S. The DOE on May 14 said the funds were part of a […]

EPRI, in collaboration with Southern Company and Storworks, has recently completed testing of a pilot concrete thermal energy storage (CTES) system at Alabama Power’s Ernest C. Gaston Electric Generating plant (Gaston) marking the largest such pilot in the world. The technology was developed by Storworks. The 10-MW-hour-electric (MWhe) energy storage solution (Figure 1) is charged […]

For more than a century, fossil fuel companies have drilled oil and gas wells to increase the production, consumption, and export of fossil fuels. These wells are often abandoned once they are no longer profitable, and are sometimes left unplugged or improperly plugged, causing local environmental hazards and contributing to global climate change. There are […]

The market for customizable, scalable, turnkey energy storage solutions continues to evolve, as companies look at providing systems that will work from an individual application level all the way to grid and utility-scale deployment. Kontrolmatik, an Istanbul, Turkey-headquartered systems integrator and global engineering, procurement, and construction leader in power generation, transmission, and distribution, and its […]

Representatives from the Japanese technology company Asahi Kasei and its partners including the Japanese government recently celebrated the official opening of a new hydrogen pilot plant in Kawasaki, Japan. Asahi Kasei said the trial operation of four 0.8 MW modules at the site (Figure 1) is another milestone toward the realization of a commercial multi-module […]

High-burnup fuel rods, manufactured by GE Vernova’s Nuclear Fuel business, Global Nuclear Fuel (GNF), have been delivered to the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for examination after commercial operation. The rods completed three full cycles of operation at a U.S. nuclear power plant. “This shipment of these rods is another […]

Enhancements will enable research into the physics of advanced fusion reactors and accelerate the drive to commercial fusion energy. The DIII-D National Fusion Facility has completed a series of important enhancements, providing researchers with several first-of-a-kind tools for controlling and understanding the function of fusion plasmas. These upgrades will further strengthen DIII-D’s standing as one […]

The U.S. was one of the world leaders in solar equipment manufacturing a few decades ago, but then the Chinese stole the show. Now, however, American companies are finding a lot of new opportunities as a

Japanese firms JERA and IHI Corp. have launched the world’s first large-volume fuel ammonia demonstration testing at JERA’s 1-GW Unit 4 of its 4.1-GW Hekinan Thermal Power Station in Aichi Prefecture

Energy transition is the “new normal” (or the only way forward in some peoples’ minds), which aims to reduce emission levels through various forms of decarbonization. Some of the key drivers are increased penetration of renewable energy into the energy supply mix and battery energy storage systems. While these measures contribute incrementally to decarbonization, the […]

Transformational changes in the energy space will need to occur to meet the current global community’s decarbonization and climate protection commitments. Low-carbon-intensity hydrogen could provide valuable

Frontier Energy, GTI Energy, and the Center for Electromechanics at The University of Texas at Austin on April 23 hosted the grand opening of a hydrogen research and demonstration facility. The project was developed as part of the “Demonstration and Framework for H2@Scale in Texas and Beyond” project, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s […]

Three major chemical processing companies announced the startup of a demonstration plant to show the viability of large-scale electrically heated steam cracking furnaces. BASF, SABIC, and Linde on April 17 said the facility, at BASF’s Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany, will begin operating after three years of development, engineering, and construction work. The three groups […]

Molten salt reactors (MSRs) represent a fascinating intersection of nuclear history and modern innovation. The concept of using molten salts as both a coolant and fuel carrier dates back to the 1950s, with the pioneering work of Alvin Weinberg and his team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). In 1965, ORNL successfully operated the Molten […]

The future of gas turbines and hydrogen are intricately intertwined. Gas turbine manufacturers know that they need their equipment to be ready to operate on higher levels of hydrogen as electrolysis technology

India in March began fuel loading at a 500-MWe/1,250-MWth prototype fast-breeder reactor (PFBR) located at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, marking a crucial phase for the second stage of the country’s ambitious

Employing artificial intelligence (AI) in the power industry may seem like a futuristic concept, but the truth is that it’s available in several innovative applications today. Power companies that tap into

The UK government has ambitions for 24 GW of nuclear energy by 2050 to help in providing energy security for the UK and for meeting its net-zero goals. Among groups helping to revive and expand the UK’s nuclear industry is the University of Sheffield Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (Nuclear AMRC), part of the High […]