Technology

  • GE Digital Launches Accelerator Tools to Help Energy Companies Accelerate Digital Transformation

    Advanced digital techniques and product configurations incorporate energy subject matter expertise and best practices from GE Digital’s engineers and technology partners Tools can accelerate time to leverage predictive analytics, asset health and reliability processes, asset strategy optimization, and change management workflows without custom development SAN RAMON, Calif. – JUNE 6, 2022 — GE Digital today […]

  • GE Digital Partners with Visionaize to Provide 3D Visualization Capabilities to APM

    Designed to enable increased situational / contextual awareness with 3D plant models for inspection, maintenance, and engineering activities Ability to access and contextualize enterprise data helps to optimize asset management processes and facilitate decision making SAN RAMON, Calif. – JUNE 6, 2022 — GE Digital today announced a technology partnership with Visionaize, a provider of […]

  • Zinc Batteries Power Stationary Energy Storage

    As solar, wind and other renewable resources play a larger role on the power grid, renewables’ essential partner—energy storage—must keep pace to provide power at peak hours when the sun doesn’t shine, and the wind doesn’t blow. Rechargeable zinc batteries offer an ideal energy storage solution; they can release power back to the grid for […]

  • France’s NUWARD SMR Will Be Test Case for European Early Joint Nuclear Regulatory Review

    The French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN), the Czech State Office for Nuclear Safety (SUJB), and Finland’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) have picked France’s NUWARD small modular reactor (SMR) design as a test case for an early joint regulatory review for SMRs. The development marks a notable step by European regulators to align practices in a […]

  • Security of Cyber-Physical Systems

    “Cyber-physical systems” are the next generation of closely integrated physical and cyber systems. Several critical systems such as the power grid, autonomous transportation systems, and process control systems are examples of cyber-physical systems. They are liable to be attacked by malicious agents who can compromise the sensor measurements being used to control them. Indeed, there […]

  • Duke Energy One, L3Harris offer new operational solution for nuclear power plants

    ▪ Innovative new service for nuclear facilities provides customized, immersive 3D simulations. ▪ Solution provides way for customers to address operational opportunities, challenges while helping to improve efficiency, reduce costs. CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Duke Energy One and L3Harris Technologies have announced a customized, cost-effective solution for nuclear power plants that will provide complete 3D simulations […]

  • ENGIE and Google Cloud join forces to accelerate wind energy development with advanced data management and artificial intelligence

    ENGIE and Google Cloud aim to optimize wind energy management on the power markets through an Artificial Intelligence based solution. ENGIE and Google Cloud signed a new partnership for the development of an Artificial Intelligence-based energy solution to optimize the value of ENGIE’s wind portfolio on the short term power markets. ENGIE and Google Cloud’s […]

  • Much-Watched Reciprocating Engine Hydrogen Pilot Kicks Off at Michigan Power Plant

    A landmark project to test fuel blends of up to 25% volume of hydrogen mixed with natural gas in reciprocating internal combustion engines (RICEs) has launched at WEC Energy Group’s 56-MW A.J. Mihm power plant in Michigan. If successful, the pilot—one of the first of its kind in the U.S.—could provide key insight into how […]

  • The Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Energy Trilemma

    The Fourth Industrial Revolution is arriving in a most timely manner to help resolve the world’s energy trilemma—the transition to net-zero, energy security, and energy affordability. For many years, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has been at the forefront of discussions on climate change and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Below, I outline our key takeaways […]

  • The Vital Link: How HVDC Is Modernizing the Grid

    Significant advances in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission are in step with rapid changes to energy systems worldwide. Shortly after POWER magazine began publication in 1882, the competitive

  • New Life for Dead and Dying Coal Plants?

    As coal plants are retired, power companies must decide what to do with sites. Some old plants have been added to the National Register of Historic Places and repurposed as commercial or office space, while

  • Solar Power Plant Maintenance with Thermal UAV Inspection Technology

    Thermal imaging is a vital tool for detecting defects and anomalies at solar power plants. However, capturing thermal images with handheld equipment is time-consuming and susceptible to human error. Unmanned

  • Optimizing Power Plant Load Flexibility

    The operating profiles of traditional generators has changed to manage the variability of renewable resources. Several critical processes were not engineered to manage these highly variable operating profiles

  • Automating Control of Work: What Power and Utilities Leaders Need to Know

    Control of work, or CoW, processes have a long heritage in the power and utilities sector, acting as an extension to an organization’s existing process safety management approaches. And these

  • Headway for Potential Deployment of BWRX-300 Nuclear Reactor in Saskatchewan

    The potential deployment of a BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan gained a boost with a cooperation agreement between GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s (GEH’s) Canadian subsidiary GEH SMR Technologies Canada and the Saskatchewan Industrial and Mining Supplier’s Association (SIMSA). GEH SMR Canada on May 26 said a memorandum of understanding […]

  • DOE Awards GE Two Projects to Test Hydrogen Combustion

    General Electric (GE) has been awarded two projects from the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) as it continues to develop and test equipment and systems needed for hydrogen combustion in gas turbines. GE on May 25 announced the proposals, which were selected by DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, are worth more than […]

  • Hydrogen, Ammonia–Fired Gas Turbine Development Gets U.S. Government Fast-Track Boost

    The U.S. government has set out to fast-track technology development enabling hydrogen and ammonia combustion in power-generating gas turbines, furnishing six novel industry-led projects with a combined $24.9 million on May 19. Projects include development of hydrogen-ready combustion technologies for F-class retrofits, more efficient hydrogen and ammonia burners, and a potential demonstration of a rotating […]

  • Russians Achieve Milestone with New Nuclear Fuel

    Rosatom announced that it has started the fourth irradiation cycle of fuel assemblies with VVER-type fuel rods in the MIR research reactor (Figure 1) at the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors in Dimitrovgrad, Ulyanovsk Region. The reactor tests have been ongoing since early 2019. The rods have four combinations of cladding and fuel matrix materials. […]

  • Enel Launches Gridspertise Business to U.S. Market, Expects to Accelerate Digital Transformation of Power Grids

    Enel, a multinational power company with operations in 30 countries and more than 90 GW of power generation capacity in its portfolio, is leveraging its global expertise as the world’s largest privately owned operator of digitally managed power distribution grids, by expanding its Gridspertise business to the U.S. market. First launched in Europe and Latin […]

  • DOE’s Decision to Build Versatile Test Reactor Coming Soon

    (Updated—May 19, 2022): The Department of Energy (DOE) is poised to decide whether it will build the 300-MWth Versatile Test Reactor (VTR), a fast neutron national user facility that could provide the nuclear industry with a much-needed high-performance testing capability for advanced reactors and existing commercial reactors. The DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) on […]

  • How Developments in Electrical System Design Are Helping to Tackle the Challenges of Wind

    As a clean and renewable power source, wind offers massive potential for alleviating some of the growing challenges that countries worldwide are looking to address through the development of new forms of energy generation. At ABB, we look at how developments in electrical system design are helping to turn wind into a major source of […]

  • DOE Launches $2.5B Fund to Upgrade and Build New Transmission Lines

    The Biden administration has launched efforts to shape the $2.5 billion Transmission Facilitation Program (TFP), a key Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) initiative dedicated to building out critical new transmission lines and related facilities across the country. The Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office on May 10 issued a joint notice of information (NOI) […]

  • Quantum Technology: Applications in Cybersecurity for Power Utilities

    With the advent and implementation of smart grid infrastructure across power utilities, there has been a paradigm shift in the efficiencies of the grid. The use of digital communication technology has led to high-speed communication enablement across various components as well as better data analysis and real-time control. This has proven to be advantageous not […]

  • Keeping Coal Relevant: University of Wyoming Leads the Way

    To say the coal industry faces challenges is an understatement. Coal-fired power plants are being retired around the globe as efforts to decarbonize the world’s power supply have intensified due to climate change concerns. That’s a problem for people working in the coal industry, as well as for states and governments that rely on coal […]

  • ERCOT, MISO Warn of Potential Power Supply Shortfalls

    (Updated—May 6, 2022) The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) over the past week separately expressed concerns about power supply uncertainties in the face of upcoming warmer-than-normal temperatures. MISO raised an alarm on April 28 when it said that it projects “insufficient firm resources” to cover the summer […]

  • Brüel & Kjær Vibro announces VCM-3/SETPOINT product enhancements

    DARMSTADT, Germany (May 4, 2022) – Brüel & Kjær Vibro (B&K Vibro), one of the leading worldwide independent suppliers of condition monitoring solutions for rotating machinery, has delivered a range of product enhancements for its VCM-3/SETPOINT® offerings to deliver a single, integrated SETPOINT® condition monitoring system (CMS) solution. VCM-3 data can be fully integrated with VC-8000 data […]

  • History of Power: Duke Energy’s Century-Old Legacy

    Duke Energy, one of the largest energy companies in the world, grew out of a system of lakes and dams along the Catawba River to generate power for the Piedmont Carolinas. While the company has sustained a

  • Large-Scale Hydrogen Projects Take Shape as Technology Continues to Evolve

    If hydrogen-based power technology and decarbonization schemes seem like a novelty to you, you may not be paying close enough attention to developments happening around the world. While some hydrogen pilot

  • UK Leans Heavily on Nuclear in Bold New Energy Strategy

    A long-awaited energy strategy published by the UK government on April 6 lays out bold commitments that tackle Great Britain’s multi-pronged challenges, including achieving net-zero carbon emissions while

  • Small Modular Reactors Provide Opportunity to Rethink Automation for Nuclear Generation

    An emerging generation of small modular reactors is encouraging suppliers and regulators alike to consider new digital instrumentation and control approaches. While instrumentation and control (I&C)