T&D

With unprecedented changes and challenges facing the U.S. energy sector, the Department of Energy has spearheaded a comprehensive assessment of the nation’s energy policy. Released the same day as ELECTRIC POWER 2015 opened, the first installment of this review was highlighted in the conference’s keynote address. U.S. energy infrastructure needs not just substantial investment for […]

No one can accuse the officials who oversee California’s energy market of lacking ambition. Fresh on the heels of Gov. Jerry Brown’s January promise to raise the state’s renewable generation target from 33% in 2020 to 50% in 2030, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) in April announced that it and Oregon utility and Berkshire […]

Duke Energy announced on May 19 that it will construct a new 650-MW natural gas–fired combined cycle power plant (CCPP) and retire its 375-MW Asheville coal power plant by early 2020. The plan also includes the addition of solar generation at the site as well as construction of a new substation and 40-mile transmission line […]

At Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), repeated generation transitions have marked the giant public power utility’s long history, from hydro, to coal, to nuclear. The latest resource plan points to natural gas, along with renewables and energy efficiency, as the basis for the agency’s generating future. At the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), generation transitions are nothing […]

In the opening move of what is certain to be a long and contentious process, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee, introduced a suite of bills covering a broad range of energy issues, from infrastructure to regulatory reform to civil enforcement. Along with several others introduced by […]

In his May 6 appearance on Comedy Central’s Daily Show, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz addressed both the military and civilian energy issues that the Department of Energy is responsible for. His discussion with host Jon Stewart ranged from the recent negotiations with Iran over that nation’s capability to enrich fissile material to domestic energy […]

The wireless transmission of power by microwave over long distances is viable, Japanese technology firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has proved in a recent ground demonstration test. The company has been developing the new technology for use in space solar power systems (SSPS)—which it says will be “the power generation systems of the future.” As […]

Europe—and especially Germany—has been struggling with how best to integrate large amounts of renewable generation while maintaining grid stability. While considerable attention has been devoted to expanding national transmission systems, new links between those national grids are growing in importance. The biggest project so far took a step forward when, on March 19, the consortium […]

Investor-owned electric utilities in the U.S. spent $16.9 billion in 2013 to build transmission infrastructure, a report recently released by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) shows. The ninth annual publication of the EEI’s Transmission Projects: At a Glance  highlights a cross-section of more than 170 major transmission projects completed in 2014 or planned over the […]

The U.S. energy infrastructure needs not just substantial investment for the future but also considerable rethinking about its role and functions in order to be positioned to deal with a rapidly changing energy landscape and evolving threats from cyber attack and climate change. That was the message from William F. Hederman, Jr., Department of Energy […]