Sustainability

Through a cutting-edge heat exchange system, the Museum of Bavarian History in Regensburg, Germany, efficiently heats and cools its building, showcasing a promising solution for urban decarbonization and clean

The outlook for the power generation sector in 2025 promises a continuation of the energy transition, though there’s plenty of debate about the direction of the industry. Advocates for renewable energy, particularly in the U.S., are concerned about how the incoming Trump administration—with its support for fossil fuels—could impact the growth of clean technologies. Utilities […]

Advanced nuclear firm Oklo has partnered with Switch, a Las Vegas-based data center designer, builder, and operator, to deploy 12 GW of Aurora powerhouses through 2044 in a  historic deal hailed as “one of the largest corporate clean power agreements ever signed.” The two companies announced a groundbreaking Master Power Agreement on Dec. 18 to […]

Houston-based geothermal technology firm Quaise Energy is exploring how geothermal heat could hybridize and decarbonize a remote, privately owned power coal-fired plant that supports mining operations at Nevada Gold Mines (NGM), the single largest gold-producing complex in the world. A Dec. 3-announced partnership between Quaise and NGM— a joint venture company owned by Barrick Gold […]

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized how industries operate, and data centers have become the nerve center of this transformation. From streaming services to real-time collaboration tools, the data centers that house and manage our digital lives are expanding rapidly to meet the surging demand. Yet, as AI’s impact and importance grow, so […]

Technology group Wärtsilä is part of a new research project exploring innovative technology for cleaner, more energy-efficient engines utilizing a closed-loop combustion cycle. The research, announced on Nov. 26, will focus on the use of argo, a non-toxic ideal gas present in the atmosphere, to increase efficiency of balancing engines. The co-innovation project is run […]

Utility companies are going headfirst into a whirlwind of challenges from increasing electricity demands and new sustainability initiatives, to meeting evolving customer expectations. Power demand in the U.S. is on a sharp upward trajectory, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) having forecast a new peak of 4.099 trillion kWh in 2024, climbing further to […]

GE Vernova has unveiled a 100% hydrogen-ready aeroderivative gas turbine solution based on its LM6000VELOX package. The first-of-a-kind technology will be showcased at the 200-MW Whyalla hydrogen power plant in South Australia, with commissioning slated for early 2026. “It is projected to mark the first time a GE Vernova power plant project, at a commercial […]

You don’t need me to tell you how artificial intelligence (AI) is impacting the power grid; you can just ask AI. Claude, an AI assistant created by Anthropic, told POWER, “AI training and inference are driving unprecedented demand for data center capacity, particularly due to large language models and other compute-intensive AI workloads.” It also […]

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) has launched an ambitious new initiative alongside power companies, grid operators, and several tech giants to establish five to 10 “flexibility hubs” that will demonstrate how data centers can be leveraged as flexible grid resources starting in the first half of 2025. EPRI’s three-year Data Center Flexible Load Initiative […]

With the global population expected to reach approximately nine to 10 billion by 2050,  and one billion people still without energy access, our energy requirements are not only growing but also evolving. Each equinox reminds us of the essential balance we need to strive for in achieving net zero by 2050. COMMENTARY Crucially, the need […]

I’m no Thomas Edison, but he sure was on to something with direct current (DC). Edison was a prolific inventor and extraordinary entrepreneur with many of his innovations still in operation today. How exactly did he do that? Well, he wasn’t just someone who invented stuff. He had another aspect of his character that’s underappreciated—his […]

In a deal that marks the first corporate agreement to deploy multiple small modular reactors (SMRs) in the U.S., Kairos Power and Google have signed a Master Plant Development Agreement to facilitate the development of a 500-MW fleet of molten salt nuclear reactors by 2035 to power Google’s data centers. The first reactor is expected […]

The U.S. electric grid is under more strain than ever to support exponential electricity demand due to artificial intelligence (AI), data centers, electric vehicles, and hotter temperatures. Its infrastructure is made up of 180 million power poles spread out over 5.5 million miles that are frequently bombarded with increasingly severe storms and weather. Worsening SAIDI […]

SEIL Energy India Limited, the only coal plant to win a POWER Top Plant award this year, stands out for its advanced supercritical technology, exceptional operational performance, and commitment to

U.S. energy needs have changed dramatically over the last few decades, and questions are growing as to whether our grid can manage these new demands. Aside from rising temperatures—the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared 2023 the hottest year on record—the energy sector is managing a trio of additional challenges: City populations are growing, creating […]

Europe is pursuing an ambitious energy transition to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. To reach this goal, the region has set stringent targets to decrease reliance on Russian fossil fuels and increase the adoption of renewable energy across the power and transportation sectors. Significant strides are being made in developing solar and […]

Singapore stands at a pivotal juncture in its journey toward sustainability, with renewable energy (RE) emerging as a beacon of hope in the fight against climate change. Post-COP 28, many countries, including

Space-based solar power (SBSP) could prove transformative to global energy demand by providing price-efficient, continuous clean energy from orbit (Figure 1). Recent developments, including low-cost space access, mass-produced satellites, robotics, and other commercial-led innovations, will unlock this capability within the next 10 to 20 years. While both U.S. allies and adversaries are rapidly advancing their […]

Utilities are in a tricky spot. While reliability is one of three key focus areas for utilities as they navigate the clean energy transition, along with decarbonization and affordability, it’s become an increasingly hard pillar to deliver on, especially as growing peak demand becomes a year-round consideration. This past summer we’ve already seen large portions […]

As the urgency to combat climate change intensifies, the energy sector faces unprecedented financial risks. One of the most pressing issues is the risk of stranded assets. This challenge was first brought to widespread attention by the Carbon Tracker Initiative’s 2011 report, which highlighted the financial risks associated with unburnable carbon. Now, the risk of […]

The push for decarbonization in Europe is reshaping the power sector. Stringent environmental regulations and ambitious renewable energy targets have necessitated the expansion and upgradation of the electricity distribution network. This is to accommodate the increased adoption of distributed energy resources (DERs) and electrification across sectors. These factors are expected to significantly drive the demand […]

This week marks the second anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a critical milestone for the section 45Q tax credit, the foundational policy for the deployment of carbon management technologies, which was further enhanced in the IRA. The 45Q tax credit provides a credit on a per-ton basis for carbon that is captured from […]

Over the last few years, the energy industry has moved down a path of massive change, disruption, and uncertainty. In the U.S., growth projections over the next 15 years include 2,000 GW of PV solar and wind, 1,100 GW of storage, all seemingly coming from nowhere, driving grid interconnection requests at the end of 2023 […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a plan to implement a new label program that it expects will help federal purchasers and buyers find and choose more climate-friendly construction materials. Under the label program, which stems from “extensive public input,” the EPA will initially focus on asphalt, concrete, glass, and steel products with “lower […]

The Biden administration will invest $2.2 billion in eight projects under its Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership (GRIP) program to bolster the nation’s power grid with nearly 13 GW of new transmission capacity across 18 states. The funding, announced on Aug. 6, marks the second round under the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) GRIP program, a […]

Fuel cells are not some novel new technology. In fact, most history books credit the invention of the fuel cell to Welsh chemist and physicist William Grove, who, in the late 1830s and early 1840s, conducted experiments proving that electric current could be produced from an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen over a platinum […]

I thought the title from R.E.M.’s 1987 song was a fitting headline for this article. I contemplated using Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” but I thought R.E.M.’s “stream of

This June, the European Council formally adopted a first-of-its-kind regulation that sets out to restore at least 20% of the European Union’s (EU’s) land and sea areas by 2030 and all ecosystems in need of

Power companies understand the importance of safety and incorporate many safeguards into plant designs. Yet, the materials used in these defenses also matter, and fiberglass-reinforced polymer (FRP) is an