Technology

Six times during the previous year the local utility supplying power to a large soap manufacturing plant in the Midwest suffered power outages, shutting down the plant’s production lines. Each time the lines

Power plants across the U.S. are working to minimize water use in order to comply with regulatory requirements and offset the growing cost of water. This article offers some important recommendations to manage

Magnetic flow meter technology is an optimal tool for wastewater processing, which can apply across power generating facilities that require water for cooling, steam, or other applications. In recent years the

Veolia Water Technologies’ low-temperature CoLD crystallizer technology can help coal power plants clean and recover water for reuse from the wastewater produced in wet scrubber systems. The innovative

Several industry-led developments and a possible new advanced nuclear demonstration have been announced since the White House working group laid out a national strategy to revive the nuclear industry last week. Centrus Energy on April 28 signed a letter of intent with Advanced Reactor Concepts (ARC), developer of a 100-MWe sodium-cooled fast-reactor design, that potentially […]

Propelled in part by the White House Nuclear Fuel Working Group’s (NFWG’s) recent roadmap to strengthen the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle, the nation’s nuclear industry this week blazed ahead on efforts to energize a U.S. commercial fuel supply that it says will be crucial for the widespread development and deployment of advanced nuclear reactors.  At […]

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (April 28, 2020) — As cities and corporations accelerate their adoption of electric trucks and buses, AMPLY Power, the leader in charging solutions for fleets, has secured $13.2 million in Series A funding from investors, including Soros Fund Management and Siemens. They are joined by existing seed round investors, including Congruent Ventures, PeopleFund, and Obvious Ventures. AMPLY Power platform, called […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 28, 2020) – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced selections to receive funding to accelerate advanced nuclear technology development. There are two selections – one to support site preparation for a future domestic advanced reactor demonstration project and one for an advanced reactor regulatory licensing grant. The projects have a […]

April 28, 2020 — Flender, a leading global supplier of mechanical drives and a subsidiary of technology giant Siemens has announced plans for a expansion into Western Australia with a new state-of-the-art facility in Tonkin Highway Industrial Estate in Bayswater. The move comes as Flender continues to grow in the region and looks to expand […]

Flagship power plant and equipment firm Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) plans to change its name to “Mitsubishi Power” once it receives approval from antitrust authorities in several countries. The rebrand announced by the Yokohama, Japan–headquartered MHPS on April 24 will reflect a change in ownership announced in December, when Japanese technology conglomerate Hitachi said […]

Moltex Energy, a privately held nuclear power development company headquartered in the UK with an office in New Brunswick, Canada, has entered into a collaboration agreement with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) to support Moltex’s nuclear fuel development program for its Stable Salt Reactor (SSR), among the latest technology advancements for small modular reactors (SMRs). The […]

MELBOURNE, April 24, 2020 — Future Grid, developer of proprietary Smart Grid software that has been successfully implemented in electricity utilities across Australia, announced today that they will be entering the U.S. energy market. Future Grid aims to help U.S. utilities mitigate grid impacts caused by the transition to renewable energy by providing unprecedented visibility […]

The U.S. will attempt to regain its international standing as a world leader in nuclear energy through a three-pronged strategy that will essentially seek to strengthen the full domestic nuclear fuel cycle, possibly deny imports of nuclear fuel fabricated in Russia or China, and promote advanced reactor technologies. The strategy is outlined in the White […]

Dropsafe aids expansion into a wider variety of operating environments in multiple industries with XE & ME models Hong Kong, 23rd April – Global leader in Drops prevention, Dropsafe, has announced today that it is expanding its Barrier range to meet industry demand for robust Drops prevention solutions across all environments. Industries such as power generation and […]

To help nuclear generators manage worker fatigue amid the intensifying COVID-19 pandemic, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has so far granted individually requested exemptions from work-hour controls to seven U.S. nuclear power plants. As described by NRC Director of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Ho Nieh in March 28 letters sent to at least three industry leaders, […]

One of the more memorable experiences from my years with GE’s renewable energy business was managing through a growth spurt in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. From 2009–2012, U.S. installed wind capacity more than doubled, from 25 GW to 60 GW. The 14 GW installed in 2012 remain a single-year record. It is no […]

Suitable for all markets, the new digital smart positioner is appropriate for both control and on/off valve applications where enhanced diagnostics are required. It is ideal for highly critical applications in chemical/petrochemical processes. The YT-3700 and YT-3750 pneumatic smart positioners employ continuous monitoring and graphic display of valve position, set point target over time and […]

The latest version of the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council’s (ESCC’s) resource guide to assess and mitigate COVID-19 suggests the U.S. power sector continues to grapple with key concerns involving control center continuity, power plant continuity, access to restricted and quarantined areas, mutual assistance, and supply chain challenges. In its fifth and sixth versions of the […]

Independent power producer Neoen Australia said an expansion of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery system has completed its network connection, bringing the Tesla-supported Hornsdale Power Reserve, adjacent to a wind farm in South Australia, to a rated size of 150 MW/193.5 MWh. It’s the latest in a series of projects being developed worldwide to add […]

The technology group Wärtsilä has been granted funding of EUR one million to support its research in the field of Power-to-X technology. The X-Ahead project is aimed at developing deep expertise of both the technical and business potential of Power-to-X, which will be used to promote a carbon-neutral economy for Finland. It will also act […]

John Lammas, GE Power’s chief technology officer and vice president of generation technology, an innovator who championed breakthroughs in gas turbine technology both for jet travel and power generation, died suddenly on April 12. GE commemorated Lammas in an emotional tribute to his 35-year legacy at the technology conglomerate, noting his work could be seen […]

2020 will be a year dominated by environmental issues. Governments are under increasing pressure from climate activists and protest groups to address carbon emissions and reduce fossil fuel consumption. The effect of this scrutiny has been largely felt in the energy sector. This decade organizations within this industry will have to manage new environmental taxes […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on April 16 withdrew the legal justification for an Obama-era rule that required coal-fired power plants to reduce their emissions of mercury. The Mercury and Air Toxic Standards (MATS) remains in place, but Thursday’s action by the Trump administration could prevent similar regulations from being implemented in the future. EPA […]

The U.S. nuclear power fleet last year achieved its lowest recorded average total generating costs in two decades—$30.42/MWh—though it ran at a record-high 93.4% average capacity factor. Total generating costs were 7.6% lower last year compared to the prior year, and have fallen nearly 32% since 2012. The numbers, highlighted in the Nuclear Energy Institute’s […]

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to delay the implementation of seven reliability standards that relate to cybersecurity, training, disturbance monitoring and reporting, generator relay loadability, and coordination of protection systems for performance during faults. In an April 6 filing to FERC, NERC noted the rules […]

The need to reduce carbon emissions is real. In 2018, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that global emissions would need to reach net-zero (or carbon-neutral) by 2050 to prevent severe climate change impacts. Electricity is a major contributor—electricity generation was responsible for approximately 33% of total CO2 emissions in the U.S. in […]

With the growth of distributed energy resources, including rooftop solar, wind turbines, battery energy storage systems, electric vehicles, and demand response technology, distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS) are becoming increasingly important for utilities. Brad Williams, vice president of Industry Strategy with Oracle Utilities was a guest on The POWER Podcast. He touched on a […]

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) latest annual energy flow chart suggests that in 2019, for the second year in a row, wind and solar made up the largest increases in U.S. energy supply, but American consumption of energy fell after a record year in 2018. The national lab’s annual U.S. energy flow chart, or Sankey […]

In the face of widespread disruption driven by economic, regulatory and consumer forces, the energy sector is increasingly adopting digital technologies to transform the industry and bring it into the future. However, this move to modernization can unintentionally expose organizations to a range of new security threats that must be addressed. Digital Transformation—A Move to […]

It’s a rite of spring for the U.S. nuclear power industry. Plant operators schedule refueling outages, taking a reactor offline not only to refuel but also to perform repairs or other maintenance, and facility upgrades. It’s a task made more problematic this year, as social distancing and travel restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic […]