Technology

  • Small Modular Reactors Aren’t Difficult Nuclear Waste Generators

    Many experts believe small modular reactors (SMRs), which are generally classified as nuclear power reactors with an electrical output of 300 MW or less, offer great promise for supplying the world with carbon-free energy. Several SMR designs are under development by companies around the world including NuScale Power, GE-Hitachi, Terrestrial Energy, TerraPower, Toshiba, X-energy, and […]

  • GE Releases New Option to Cut Emissions on Its Mobile Gas Turbines

    GE Gas Power announced on Dec. 6 that it has deployed an “innovative technical solution” on four TM2500 aeroderivative gas turbines at the California Department of Water Resources’ (DWR’s) sites in Yuba City and Roseville, California (Figure 1). The solution reportedly reduced nitrogen oxide (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions by more than 90%, surpassing […]

  • Three Nuclear Giants Will Vie for Czech Republic’s Dukovany Expansion

    Competition for a new unit of up to 1.2 GW at the Czech Republic’s Dukovany nuclear power plant site has stepped up, with France’s EDF, South Korea’s Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), and a Westinghouse-Bechtel team submitting initial bids, Czech utility ČEZ, said on Nov. 30. Elektrárna Dukovany II, a. s. (EDU II), a […]

  • Hybrids Combine Technologies to Enhance Electricity Production

    Solar + wind, solar + storage, wind + storage—even fossil fuels combined with renewable energy—are supporting the growth of hybrid power plants that are breaking the norms of traditional power generation

  • How Monitoring and Diagnostics Centers Benefit the Power Industry

    GE has been operating a monitoring and diagnostics center for the power generation sector for more than 25 years. From modest beginnings, the facility now monitors about 1,000 power plants around the world

  • Large Hydro Station Wins POWER’s Highest Honor, 21 Additional Outstanding Projects Recognized in 2022

    It’s always difficult to select winners from the field of nominations submitted to POWER for its annual awards, and this year was no exception. The Wudongde Hydropower Station was the big winner, while

  • Tracker Configurations for Bifacial Modules Support Distributed Generation Sites

    Industry trends toward bigger and heavier modules, along with greater adoption of bifacial technology, are changing the way designers of solar power sites are thinking about tracking systems. Distributed

  • Transformer Failures Disrupted Water Supplies in Houston For Nearly Two Days

    A nearly two-day-long boil water order that shuttered schools and businesses and affected as many as 2.2 million customers in Houston—the nation’s fourth-largest city—was caused by a power outage stemming from the failure of two city-owned transformers. The incident began on Nov. 27 at 10:30 a.m. when “a ground trip and current overload” tripped the […]

  • i.safe MOBILE receives “Global Market Leader” award

    Lauda-Koenigshofen, 29 November 2022. i.safe MOBILE GmbH has been awarded the title of ” Global Market Leader” in the category of “Explosion-proof mobile communication devices (mobile phones, smartphones, tablets)” by the information network DDW/Die Deutsche Wirtschaft as a newcomer in 639th place with a scoring index of 98.4 points. At a festive ceremony in Lauda-Königshofen, […]

  • A New Dawn for CCUS After Five Decades of Ups and Downs

    The world is on a quest for solutions to decarbonize its economy. More than 70 countries and over 1,200 companies have set a net-zero target, according to the United Nations. To limit warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius, emissions of hundreds of gigatonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) would need to be prevented and removed from […]

  • DOE Grants First-Round Civil Nuclear Credit Award—$1.1B—to Diablo Canyon 

    The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) first round of funding from its $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit (CNC) Program is poised to go to Diablo Canyon Power Plant, California’s only operational nuclear plant. Pacific Gas & Electric  (PG&E), Diablo Canyon’s owner, could receive up to $1.1 billion in credits to extend the 2.2-GW plant’s operation for […]

  • Waste Heat-to-Power Capture Pilot Launched in Ontario

    Hamilton, a city in Ontario, Canada, will host a pilot project to demonstrate a new technology designed to capture excess hydrothermal energy from its district heating and cooling plant and convert it into grid-quality power. The pilot hosted by Hamilton Community Enterprises (HCE)—the city’s utility solutions arm— will use Extract Energy’s “Heat Engine,” whose core […]

  • NET Power’s First Allam Cycle 300-MW Gas-Fired Project Will Be Built in Texas

    NET Power, developer of the novel Allam-Fetvedt supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power cycle, will build its first 300-MW natural gas–fired power plant at an Occidental-hosted site near Odessa, Texas. The “serial number one” project will demonstrate—at utility scale—NET Power’s potentially revolutionary technology, which promises to provide low-cost gas-fired power generation, no atmospheric emissions, no water […]

  • Using Technology to Improve Management of Utilities’ Fleets

    Utility fleet managers faced their share of challenges in recent years. They needed to respond quickly and effectively to emergency situations and rising customer expectations while keeping drivers feeling safe and supported. They also needed to maximize the utilization of vehicles while extending lifecycles and complying with regulations—even as they evolve faster than ever. Like […]

  • DTN Storm Risk Analytics Offers Enterprise Level Weather Insights to Mid-Size U.S Utilities

    First-to-market solution offers emergency managers access to better prepare and manage through weather impacts with advanced outage prediction technology   MINNEAPOLIS, MN (November 8, 2022) – DTN®, a data, analytics, and technology company, recently  launched Storm Risk Analytics, a first-to-market solution that combines advanced weather intelligence and machine learning outage prediction to help mid-size electric utilities more confidently make incident […]

  • Chimney Failure Takes Out Unit at Kusile, One of World’s Biggest Coal Plants

    A severe failure on a duct exiting the sulfur dioxide absorber at Unit 1 of Eskom’s massive coal-fired 4.8-GW Kusile power plant, which is under construction in Mpumalanga province, South Africa, has shuttered the 800-MW unit and delayed Unit 2’s return to service. Eskom on Nov. 2 announced the section of the Kusile 1 flue […]

  • Top 4 developments that will shape the air source heat pump market dynamics by 2030

    NOV. 2, 2022 — Air source heat pumps (ASHPs) have emerged as a low-carbon way of heating that can potentially overcome some of the concerns associated with extreme temperatures, changing climate, and environmental adversities. When properly installed, these heat pumps can deliver up to three times more heat energy than the electricity consumed. The need to […]

  • Potential Deal Brewing for Second Polish Nuclear Plant Based on South Korean Technology 

    Days after Poland chose Westinghouse to supply its AP1000 technology to the country’s first nuclear plant in Pomerania, northern Poland, the government and two Polish energy firms signed a letter of intent with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) to “push ahead” with development of a second nuclear plant based on APR1400 technology in Pątnów, […]

  • NRECA Receives $15 Million DOE Award to Expand Cyber Protection of Industrial Control Systems

    ARLINGTON, Va. – The Department of Energy today awarded a $15 million award to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association to help electric cooperatives expand their cyber monitoring capabilities of their industrial control facilities. The award will be spread over three years, with $10 million disbursed in 2022 and the remaining $5 million in subsequent […]

  • A Half-Century of Reliability: Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant

    Baltimore Gas & Electric set out to build the 1.8-GW Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant in 1967 because fossil energy was becoming expensive and controversial. Over its nearly 50 years of operation

  • New Units at Hongyanhe Further China’s Nuclear Ambition

    An innovative design, emphasizing safety and economic efficiency, is key to the reactor technology at China’s newest—and now largest—nuclear power plant. China’s nuclear power program has utilized

  • History of Power: Dominion Energy’s Fluid Transition

    A company that has corporate roots that go back to the Colonial era, Dominion Energy has been shaped by acquisitions and market forces. It is now in the midst of an extraordinary transformation to expand its

  • China Approves Commissioning of Thorium-Powered Reactor

    China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment on Aug. 2 gave Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) the green light to commission the experimental 2-MWth thorium-based molten salt reactor (TMSR-LF1) at

  • POWER Digest [November 2022]

    JX Nippon Acquires NRG’s Share of Petra Nova Carbon Capture Plant for $3.6 Million. ENEOS Group, a Japanese energy and non-ferrous metals business group that owns JX Nippon Oil and Gas Exploration, will

  • The Future of Sustainable Energy Production Hinges on Hydrogen

    A major lesson from the global energy price crisis has been the value of having a diversity of supplies—not relying on a small number of (sometimes unreliable or politically controlled) sources. With

  • In-Service Testing of Pressure Relief Valves

    Pressure relief valves (PRVs) are a critical line of defense for pressure vessel protection in the power industry. Generating facilities worldwide depend upon these devices to sense and quickly relieve

  • Effectively Manage Assets to Increase Uptime and Cut Maintenance Costs

    Advanced analytics solutions empower utilities to predict asset failures before they happen so they can progress from reactive to proactive maintenance. As the digital transformation of the power industry

  • Powering Resilience: How to Design Microgrids that Prepare for the Unexpected

    Microgrids offer an ideal solution to counter the risk of weather-related power disruption by bolstering operational resilience, reducing dependence on local utilities, and lowering energy costs. However, the

  • Using Advanced Energy Management Controls to Decarbonize Commercial Buildings

    The concept of decarbonization typically calls attention to the energy sources or inefficient systems that drive greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions upward—in order to decarbonize, we must reduce our usage of, or replace, these sources or systems. What’s important to understand, however, is how the infrastructures that rely on these current energy sources or systems operate, […]

  • PacifiCorp, TerraPower Evaluating Deployment of Up to Five Additional Natrium Advanced Reactors

    Regulated utility PacifiCorp has launched a joint study with nuclear technology firm TerraPower to evaluate the feasibility of deploying up to five additional Natrium pool-type sodium fast reactors (SFRs) and integrated energy storage systems at retired coal plant sites in the utility’s service territory by 2035. The joint study “will evaluate, among other things, the […]