Power

Toyota Boshoku America (TBA), Onyx Renewables, and key project partners gathered on May 28 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of a 5.7-MW solar project that will fulfill 85% of electricity needs at TBA’s Illinois plant with clean, affordable energy.

A battery energy storage system (BESS) described as the largest deployed to date in the European Union (EU) has been commissioned in Bulgaria. Officials with the country’s Ministry of Energy said the 124-MW/496.2-MWh BESS, also the largest in the Balkans, supports the stability of Bulgaria’s power grid along with its transition to the use of more renewable energy resources.

Avangrid said it would invest $41 million across five projects in New York State to improve the capacity and reliability of the regional power grid. The company, a member of the Iberdrola Group, said the funding for the grid around Ithaca, New York, builds on Avangrid’s effort to modernize New York’s electrical and gas infrastructure.

The uncertainty surrounding the global tariff war is reshaping the landscape of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) within the energy sector. This dynamic environment presents both challenges and opportunities for investors, compelling them to navigate a complex web of trade policies, supply chain disruptions, and geopolitical shifts.

Type One Energy announced on May 27 that it had successfully completed the first formal design review of Infinity Two, which is based on the world’s only implementable, peer-reviewed physics basis for a fusion power plant recently published by the prestigious Journal of Plasma Physics. The Infinity Two design is progressing in support of a […]

The speed of decision-making at the grid edge has become critical for maintaining stability, preventing cascading failures, optimizing efficiency and integrating intermittent renewable resources. With the proliferation of distributed energy resources (DERs), electric vehicles and smart loads, grid edge intelligence has moved from a luxury to a necessity.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed it  is drafting a plan to eliminate all limits on greenhouse gases (GHG) from coal- and natural gas-fired power plants. The EPA on May 24 said a new rule on emissions would be published after interagency review.

The only commercial nuclear power plant in the U.S. Pacific Northwest is set for a $700-million upgrade that would add nearly 200 MW of generation capacity. The Columbia Generating Station in Richland, Washington, with a current capacity of 1,207 MW, will undergo an extended power uprate that will be done during the plant’s next three biennial spring refueling outages in 2027, 2029, and 2031.

Government officials in Estonia announced the country will initiate a spatial planning process and an environmental impact assessment for construction of the country’s first nuclear power plant.

Vistra Corp. has agreed to acquire seven natural gas power plants totaling 2,557 MW from Lotus Infrastructure Partners for $1.9 billion, as part of a strategy to meet surging U.S. electricity demand and expand its competitive generation portfolio. The deal, announced on May 15, is valued at approximately $743 per kilowatt and includes five combined […]

The Kerrville (Texas) Public Utility Board has selected MAN Energy Solutions to supply six 18V51/60G gas engines for a new 124-MW power plant. The facility, which will be built adjacent to the existing 51-MW Sky Global Power One in Colorado County, Texas, will leverage the site’s existing power transmission infrastructure. It will be designed as a peaker plant that will support the power grid during periods of high demand for electricity.

Technology group Wärtsilä will supply power generation equipment for a new 30-MW power plant being set up on Victoria Island in Lagos by Victoria Island Power Ltd. (VIPL), a Nigerian independent power producer. Wärtsilä, acting as the engineering, procurement, and construction lead for the project, also will operate and maintain the power plant for a period of five years.

AES Corp. announced the company has entered into two long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) to support tech company Meta’s data centers. The deal announced May 21 is for 650 MW of generation from solar projects that AES is bringing online in Texas and Kansas, serving the Southwest Power Pool market.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) 2025 Summer Energy Market and Electric Reliability Assessment has forecast higher wholesale electricity prices this summer in most regions. The assessment, published May 15, notes that if normal operating conditions prevail, all regions of the country will have adequate generating resources to meet expected summer demand and operating reserve […]

As the world transitions toward renewable energy sources, geothermal power has emerged as one of the most promising, yet underutilized, options in the clean energy portfolio. Unlike solar and wind, geothermal offers consistent baseload power generation capacity without intermittency challenges, making it an increasingly attractive component in the renewable energy mix. The geothermal sector has […]

Fluence Energy, a global group that delivers intelligent energy storage systems, services, and asset optimization software, announced the start of production at a new manufacturing facility in Goodyear, Arizona. The facility that opened May 20 will produce enclosures made with U.S. steel and battery management system (BMS) hardware for Fluence’s grid-scale energy storage systems.

Construction of the Empire Wind offshore wind power project is restarting after the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said an order to stop work on the installation has been lifted. The Trump administration, which has been vocal in its disdain for the U.S. offshore wind industry, last month had called for the project to be stopped.

A fleet of 100 Huaneng Ruichi autonomous electric mining trucks, the first of its kind in the world, has officially entered operation at the Yimin open-pit mine in Inner Mongolia, China. Powered by a 5G-Advanced (5G-A) network, the mine became the world’s first open-pit mine to achieve large-scale vehicle-cloud-network synergy, which has greatly improved production […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has invoked emergency authority to compel Puerto Rico’s public utility to dispatch mothballed oil-fired and fossil-fueled power units, citing an imminent threat to grid reliability following two major blackouts in less than a month. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, acting on behalf of the DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, […]

Global mining giant Rio Tinto said it will invest $1.2 billion to modernize a hydroelectric power plant in Quebec, Canada. The company on May 15 said the project is part of its bid to secure future aluminum production in the Canadian province. The money will pay for upgrades to the Isle-Maligne hydropower plant, which was commissioned in 1926 in Alma, Quebec.

New transmission lines will help meet power needs this summer. Con Edison will energize newly constructed transmission lines in Brooklyn and Staten Island this month, helping to keep service reliable when the demand for power rises and challenges the electric delivery system. The underground cables, which represent a combined investment of $505 million, will provide […]

Project manager Bechtel said construction of the 1.3-GW Mammoth Solar facility in Indiana is moving forward, with the company on May 16 saying the project “kicked its construction activities into a higher gear this month.”

Microgrids have proven their role in enhancing the reliability, resilience, and sustainability of the modern power system. Kirk Edelman, CEO of SolMicroGrid, provided POWER with several lists detailing the technologies behind microgrids, the companies that can benefit from deployment, and the services the systems can provide for their end-users.

All regions across the North American bulk power system (BPS) are generally positioned to meet peak demand under normal summer conditions, though elevated risks of electricity supply shortfalls could persist under extreme heat, surging demand, and resource variability, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) warns. In its May 14–released 2025 Summer Reliability Assessment (SRA), […]

Advanced nuclear developer Oklo announced it has successfully completed borehole drilling for site characterization work at its Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site, marking a pivotal milestone as the company progresses toward constructing its first commercial Aurora Powerhouse—a liquid sodium–cooled fast reactor designed for scalable deployment. The standard nuclear project development step, involved “drilling of several […]

Why microgrids with hydrogen for backup power will create significant benefits for consumers and utilities. The energy grid in the U.S., particularly in regions like California, Texas, and the Northeast, is overstretched and increasingly unable to meet modern demands. California’s grid, for instance, is facing unprecedented strain with the sale of more electric vehicles (EVs), […]

Most of the 440 operable nuclear power plants (NPPs) currently deployed worldwide have long been recognized as potential targets for attack by enemy military forces or terrorists. Such an attack could not only destroy the power-generating capacity of the plant but also release a large plume of radioactive material having the potential to cause long-term […]

The deciding factor in the artificial intelligence (AI) race may come down to our ability to provide new data centers what they need most: massive amounts of constantly available electricity. In the U.S., data centers and their need to accommodate AI account for about half the projected growth of electricity demand through 2030. But the […]

The energy and technology sectors are merging, the demand for power is surging, and the battle lines that have defined energy policy debates for decades are being overtaken by events. To lead the world in artificial intelligence (AI) and—as Adam Smith envisioned—enable people to earn a better living with greater ease, America must learn to […]

The federal government in 2021 passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (BIIJA), which allocated $8 billion in funding to establish hydrogen hubs at multiple locations across the U.S. Seven hubs were approved for funding by the Biden administration, and some work has already begun to build centers of low-carbon hydrogen production within these […]