Technology

Using reclaimed water as a makeup supply for cooling tower systems has become a popular option for reducing impacts on local water resources, but it comes with its own challenges because of its unique

Southern Co.’s Kemper County integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) project, stricken by steep cost increases and an in-service date delayed again to mid-March, isn’t economically viable in the face of projected long-term natural gas prices, the company said. Southern Co. subsidiary Mississippi Power reported that integrated operation of the facility’s two gasifiers and combustion turbines […]

Remote and online monitoring of plant performance parameters is an important step toward a fully connected plant, but alone it’s not enough to exploit the real value in the Industrial Internet of Things, speakers at POWER’s inaugural Connected Plant Conference on February 15 in Dallas said. Randy Bickford, president and CTO of software firm Expert […]

A variety of approaches have been used to capture new benefits from combined heat and power (CHP) facilities. Some owners have transitioned to new fuels or added renewables to the mix, while others have implemented unique business models to spur development. As district heating systems are brought into the 21st century, the CHP sector seems […]

A wastewater treatment plant in the Danish city of Aarhus is reportedly producing enough power to cover all of the energy used for the whole water cycle in its catchment area—from water production and water

Combined heat and power (CHP) has long been a popular option for industrial self-generation, but new technologies and business partnerships are taking the sector well beyond the traditional boilers and diesel gensets. The Erving Paper Mill in the western Massachusetts town of the same name has operated for more than 100 years. Once part of […]

NuScale will submit the nation’s first application for design certification of a small modular reactor (SMR) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Thursday. The Corvallis, Ore.–based company, which is majority owned by the Fluor Corp., has been developing its light-water reactor nuclear technology for more than 15 years. Development of the NuScale power module […]

Petra Nova—a commercial-scale post-combustion carbon capture project designed to remove more than 90% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) from a 240-MW slipstream of flue gas off of the W.A. Parish generating station in Fort Bend County, Texas—has been completed, according to project partners NRG Energy Inc. and JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp. The […]

Beyond major reliability events that have prompted regional blackouts in the past, the U.S. grid faces “imminent danger from cyber attacks,” warns the second installation of the Obama administration’s Quadrennial Energy Review (QER). Here are other key trends outlined in the comprehensive study of the nation’s electricity system. The QER, available on the DOE web site, identifies the threats, […]

A digital roundtable with four senior members of diverse generating companies reveals that regulations aren’t the top concern at the moment. Instead, decisions are being driven both by customer desires and