Technology

Salt River Project (SRP) and Flatland Storage LLC, a subsidiary of EDP Renewables North America LLC (EDPR NA), have entered into an agreement to provide 200 MW of new energy storage to Arizona’s grid. The Flatland Energy Storage Project will be a 200-MW/800-MWh battery energy storage system located near Coolidge, Arizona. The project will utilize […]

Officials from the U.S. and Ukraine said the countries will partner on building small modular reactors (SMRs) to replace the latter’s coal-fired power generation, with the SMRs used to help Ukraine decarbonize its steel industry. A statement from the U.S. State Dept., released at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Nov. 16, […]

A consortium of developers and state-run agencies announced plans for a 10-GW green hydrogen hub in the Malaysian state of Sabah, on the northern tip of Borneo. Property developer LBS Bina Group on Nov. 14 said it has a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with several groups for the facility. LBS is set to lead the […]

A global power management company known for its technology advancements is collaborating with a software-enabled installation platform for electrification in a joint effort designed to support the U.S. residential market. Eaton on Nov. 14 announced it will work with Chicago, Illinois-based Treehouse to enable residential electrification projects, including electric vehicle (EV) charging. The groups on […]

Itron, which provides energy, water, intelligent infrastructure services and more for utilities and cities, announced it is joining with California utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) to make electric vehicle (EV) charging more accessible and affordable for PG&E’s customers. The groups on Nov. 13 said that as part of PG&E’s effort to modernize its electric […]

In an era when utilities and power generators rely on digital information technology (IT) infrastructure to help manage oversight of plant operations, ensuring uptime has never been more essential. Unfortunately, severe weather events can strike at any time—ranging from heavy snowfalls to scorching heat and hurricane winds—causing power outages that could bring production to a […]

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 […]

Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC), a developer of much-watched microreactor technology and advanced nuclear fuel, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The move signals a critical restructuring phase through which the company will seek to secure new ownership while ensuring uninterrupted operations. The company’s Oct. 29 filings at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District […]

Dominion Energy has sold a 50% noncontrolling interest in its 2.6-GW Coastal Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) commercial project to infrastructure investment group Stonepeak. The Richmond, Virginia–headquartered utility in an Oct. 25 financial filing said it received proceeds of $2.6 billion for the sale. The amount represents “reimbursement of approximately 50% of project-to-date capital investment.” […]

A Virginia-based energy company plans to build a natural gas-fired power plant along with multiple data centers on some 2,200 acres in that state, according to documents filed with local planning authorities. Reports say the power plant could have as much as 3,500 MW of generation capacity, which would make it the largest such facility […]

A fusion energy company that counts executives such as Eric Schmidt and Bill Gates among its backers has emerged from stealth, announcing $900 million in pledged funding. Pacific Fusion, whose technology builds on recent fusion advances at two U.S. national labs, is the latest U.S.-based group to join a growing list of companies working on […]

As global efforts intensify to mitigate climate change, carbon capture has emerged as a vital technology to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Power generation, a major source of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, is under increasing pressure to adopt technologies that reduce its carbon footprint. As highlighted by recent rulings and federal initiatives, the focus on […]

An initiative aimed at connecting more of Africa’s population to the continent’s power grids will use GE Vernova’s GridOS orchestration software. A newly completed Information and Coordination Centre (ICC) in Abomey-Calavi, Benin, designed for the West African Power Pool (WAPP), is considered “a groundbreaking initiative aimed at transforming the region’s energy landscape,” according to an […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded contracts with a total potential value of $8 million to four nuclear fuel companies to further U.S. enrichment capabilities for high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU), a critical piece of the next-generation nuclear supply chain. The selected companies include Centrus Energy’s American Centrifuge Operating, URENCO’s Louisiana Energy Services, Orano […]

Energy and utilities companies are grappling with unprecedented challenges. With the cost of electricity surging by 28.5% in just five years, the average American now spends nearly $300 a month on utilities, leading to a rise in customer defaults and mounting bad debt. Global energy demand is only set to grow in the coming years […]

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 […]

A $900 million funding opportunity released by the Department of Energy (DOE) on Oct. 16 seeks to spur “first mover” teams that could deploy the first two Gen III+ light water small modular reactors (SMRs) in the U.S. It will also provide funding for “fast follower” deployment support by addressing critical gaps that have long […]

The power generation sector is looking at numerous ways to provide enough electricity to satisfy demand from data centers. Bloomberg Intelligence recently said its research shows data centers, buildings filled with servers and other computing equipment for data storage and networking that supports operations and artificial intelligence (AI), could be responsible for as much as […]

In yet another major set of deals spearheaded by a tech giant in support of nuclear power development, Amazon will back the deployment of 5 GW of new X-energy small modular reactor (SMR) projects by 2039, starting with an initial four-unit 320-MWe Xe-100 plant with regional utility Energy Northwest in central Washington. Separately, Amazon signed […]

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 […]

Chinese state-owned manufacturer Dongfang Electric announced the company has completed production of a 26-MW offshore wind turbine, continuing a trend of ever-more-powerful turbines from that country. The turbine’s nacelle, shown dwarfing company workers in a photo posted to social media on October 12, now ranks as the world’s largest. Dongfang said it has been designed […]

President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law in 2022. The IRA is the largest public investments in renewable energy in American history and created more than 20 different tax incentives for renewable energy and related manufacturing. Certain Republic politicians have directed vitriol at the IRA. However, even if Republicans win the White […]

UPDATED (Oct. 11): The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has upgraded its G4-level “severe” geomagnetic storm watch to a G3-level “strong” geomagnetic storm warning after an anticipated coronal mass ejection (CME) arrived at Earth at 11:15 a.m. EST on Thursday, traveling at nearly 1.5 million miles per hour. The G3-level warning is now in […]

In a significant breakthrough for the development of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycles, the 10-MWe Supercritical Transformational Electric Power (STEP) Demo pilot plant in San Antonio, Texas, has wrapped up Phase 1 testing, demonstrating the commercial readiness of its next-generation indirect sCO2 Brayton cycle. The $169 million project—the largest of its kind in the […]

The Nanko Power Plant in Osaka, Japan, will be upgraded with new gas turbines from GE Vernova. The 1,800-MW station, which was commissioned in late 1990, is replacing three boilers and three steam turbines in an effort to increase the efficiency of the facility and reduce its emissions of carbon dioxide. GE Vernova on October […]

Energy analysts have said the increasing need for reliable baseload power generation means natural gas-fired power plants will become even more important as demand for electricity increases. Several experts who have spoken with POWER noted the availability of natural gas—the U.S. leads the world in natural gas production, far outpacing second-ranked Russia—will drive continued construction […]

Voters in Kazakhstan reportedly have approved a plan that would bring the country its first nuclear power plant. Election officials said 70% of voters in a referendum held October 6 support the strategy promoted by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, who has said nuclear power is a way to move the country away from reliance on coal-fired […]

A U.S. bank that supports technology exports to international groups is committing $98 million toward development of a small modular reactor (SMR) project in Romania. The board of directors of EXIM, the U.S. export-import bank, on October 2 announced approval of a final commitment for a loan for pre-project services for the SMR, which would […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded capacity contracts of up to $1.5 billion to four major transmission lines under its Transmission Facilitation Program (TFP) to aid the transfer of 7.1 GW of new capacity throughout Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The DOE’s Grid Deployment Office (GDO) on Oct. 3 also released its […]

The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is transforming our world, but it comes with an insatiable surge in data centers that are powered by an ever-growing appetite for energy. As AI and high-performance computing (HPC) applications proliferate, the tech industry faces a growing challenge: building the next generation of data centers and finding suitable locations with […]