Power
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Legal & Regulatory
Planning for ‘Flip Dates’ in Tax Equity Partnerships
The U.S. government offers certain benefits to renewable energy projects, primarily in the form of tax credits and depreciation. But the reality is that a growing number of tax-equity partnerships are reaching the end of their lifespan, and the sponsors and tax-equity investors in these projects need to be preparing for the future. In fact, […]
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Nuclear
Vogtle Unit 4 Achieves Commercial Operation, Now Largest Nuclear Power Plant in the U.S.
The road was long and the challenges difficult, but Plant Vogtle is now the largest nuclear power plant in the U.S., as Unit 4 was declared commercially operational on April 29. With four units now available, Plant Vogtle has the capacity to generate a total of about 4,664 MW of electricity. “The completion of the […]
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Interview
The POWER Interview: The IRA’s Impact on Tax Credits, Tax Equity, and Renewable Energy
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) represents the largest incentive effort for clean energy in U.S. history. Its impact touches multiple sectors, including solar, wind, hydrogen, energy storage, and more. The IRA includes more than 70 investment, production, and excise credits designed to facilitate the transition to cleaner energy production. The legislation promotes advanced manufacturing, and […]
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Solar
Feds Release Final Rules on Clean Energy Tax Credits
Renewable energy project developers now have important clarification about the transferability of clean energy tax credits, as the U.S. Treasury Dept. and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released final rules on the issue on April 26. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed in 2022 created two new credit delivery mechanisms—so-called elective pay or direct pay, […]
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Electrification
From Mine to Line through End of Life, How Technology is Optimizing Battery Production
The battery industry is experiencing a seismic shift as demand for renewable energy solutions increases. With electric vehicle (EV) sales expected to double from 2023 to 2027, reaching 31.6 million units, and shortages of cobalt and lithium expected through 2027, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights, innovation is necessary. There is a growing demand for […]
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Legal & Regulatory
EPA Unleashes Four-Pronged Assault on Fossil Fuel Power Pollution
In an unprecedented move, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on April 25 simultaneously finalized four major environmental rules covering greenhouse gases (GHG), air toxics, wastewater discharges, and coal combustion residuals from fossil fuel-fired power plants. Among the rules is the EPA’s final Carbon Pollution Standards, which marks the agency’s third attempt to broadly curb […]
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Waste to Energy
Technology Turning Food Waste into Renewable Energy
Food waste is an enormous environmental and economic crisis that demands urgent solutions. Each year, an astonishing 1.03 billion tons of food is wasted globally—enough to feed 1.26 billion hungry people. All that wasted food is responsible for a staggering 8% of total greenhouse gas emissions. As the world grapples with these mounting challenges of […]
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Electrification
Schneider Electric Releases All-In-One Battery Energy Storage System for Microgrids
Schneider Electric today announced a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) designed and engineered to be a part of a flexible, scalable, and highly efficient architecture. BESS is the cornerstone for a fully integrated microgrid solution that is driven by Schneider Electric’s controls, optimization, and world-renowned digital and field services. Graybar, a leading distributor of electrical, […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Federal U.S. Power Sector Initiatives Went Full Throttle in April: Here’s the List
The Biden administration has unveiled several sweeping actions over the past month aimed at boosting clean energy deployment, enhancing manufacturing jobs, and reducing pollutant emissions across the power sector. The measures—many announced as part of a comprehensive Earth Week agenda on April 25—are notable for their strategic push in an election year, highlighting the administration’s […]
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Commentary
The Cobra Effect of Fly Ash from Coal Power Plants in India
Have you heard about the cobra effect? During the colonial era, Delhi had a major cobra issue. The then-British government announced a bounty for dead cobras to reduce the number of snakes on the streets. Entrepreneurial spirits rose as people started breeding cobras and offered a dead one on the bounty. Money given on bounty […]
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Legal & Regulatory
NRC Advances Rule to Streamline Advanced Nuclear Reviews
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has voted to codify proposed changes to streamline a key environmental review process for advanced nuclear reactors. Nuclear advocates lauded the measure as one of the regulator’s most important actions in 2024. The NRC on April 17 approved its staff’s recommendation to publish a proposed rule that would amend […]
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Solar
Renewable Energy Group Buys 12 New York Community Solar Projects
BW Solar, a Canada-based a developer of community solar, distributed generation, utility solar, and utility-scale storage assets, said it has sold 12 New York community solar projects with a combined capacity of 76.7 MW to Catalyze, a clean energy transition company that finances, builds, owns and operates solar and battery storage systems. The groups on […]
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Hydrogen
Hydrogen Research Project Opens at University of Texas
Frontier Energy, GTI Energy, and the Center for Electromechanics at The University of Texas at Austin on April 23 hosted the grand opening of a hydrogen research and demonstration facility. The project was developed as part of the “Demonstration and Framework for H2@Scale in Texas and Beyond” project, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s […]
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Electrification
Groups Collaborate to Electrify Chemical Processing Plants
Three major chemical processing companies announced the startup of a demonstration plant to show the viability of large-scale electrically heated steam cracking furnaces. BASF, SABIC, and Linde on April 17 said the facility, at BASF’s Verbund site in Ludwigshafen, Germany, will begin operating after three years of development, engineering, and construction work. The three groups […]
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Distributed Generation
How to Provide Reliable and Resilient Electricity Amid Today’s Changing Climate
The United Nations has gone on record to spotlight the negative effects of climate change that have affected the world in recent years. The group stated, “destructive storms have become more intense and more frequent in many regions … while the frequency and extent of tropical storms has led to destroyed homes and communities, causing […]
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Hybrid Power
Navigating the Interconnection Queue Is One of Many Challenges Clean-Energy Projects Face
There are several obstacles to overcome when building a clean-energy project, but perhaps the biggest is getting through the generator interconnection queue (GIQ). Every regional transmission organization (RTO) and independent system operator (ISO) in the U.S. has a significant backlog in its GIQ and processing interconnection requests can take years to complete. This has created […]
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Hydrogen
Hungarian Group Inaugurates Green Hydrogen Production Project
A Hungarian company that operates refineries and petrochemical plants, and runs service stations across Central and Eastern Europe, said it is set to begin commercial operation of a 10-MW green hydrogen production plant in Százhalombatta, Hungary. MOL Group, headquartered in Budapest, said the plant will produce 1,600 tonnes of hydrogen annually using electricity from renewable […]
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Cybersecurity
McCrary Institute, ORNL Launch First U.S. Regional Cybersecurity Center to Protect Grid
A $12.5 million project to establish the first U.S. regional cybersecurity research and operations center focused on grid protection has garnered a $10 million Department of Energy (DOE) grant. Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security is partnering with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to create the Southeast Region Cybersecurity Collaboration […]
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Hybrid Power
Trina Storage, Pacific Green Sign Energy Storage Deal at UAE Summit
An energy storage division of a global solar power provider announced it has signed a letter of intent to supply equipment for several energy parks being developed by a UK-based renewable energy company. Trina Storage, part of China-headquartered Trina Solar, on April 19 said it would partner with London-based Pacific Green on several projects, and […]
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Legal & Regulatory
EPA Denies Industry Petition to Delist Stationary Combustion Turbines as Hazardous Pollutants
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has denied an industry petition seeking to delist stationary combustion turbines from the agency’s list of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) major source categories regulated under section 112 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The agency’s final action on April 11 responds to an August 2019 petition filed by several […]
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Full Coverage
South Korean Nuclear Power Plant Will Assess Feasibility of Medical Isotope Production
Framatome and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to demonstrate the feasibility of producing non-carrier added lutetium-177, a medical isotope used for a variety of lifesaving cancer treatments, at the Wolsong nuclear power plant in South Korea. Under this MoU, Framatome and KHNP will jointly perform a technical […]
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Hydro
OPG Embarks on Major Refurbishment of Niagara Falls Hydropower Stations
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) will partner with GE Vernova to complete a 15-year project to refurbish the iconic 1.7-GW Sir Adam Beck I and II hydroelectric complex near Niagara Falls. The C$1 billion ($724 million) project unveiled on April 16 will comprise the first phase of OPG’s larger plans to overhaul all five of its […]
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Nuclear
Massive Electrical and Instrumentation Contract Awarded for Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Project
BGEN, one of the UK’s largest engineering firms, has been awarded an £84 million project by GE Steam Power Systems to provide electrical and instrumentation solutions to Hinkley Point C (HPC), which is a two-unit EPR nuclear power station under construction in Somerset, England. When complete, Hinkley Point C is expected to deliver 7% of […]
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Legal & Regulatory
FERC Proposal Would Cut Reactive Power Compensation, a Potential Hit to Independent Power Producer’s Revenue Mix
In a time where capacity revenues are pricing lower and many generation owners find that their facilities are not being dispatched for energy on a consistent basis, reliable revenue streams are increasingly important. In addition to selling energy and capacity, many generation facilities collect fixed, monthly payments for the provision of “reactive power,” which are […]
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Solar
Clean-Energy Companies Urge Congress to Pass Siting, Permitting, and Transmission Reform
Nearly 200 solar and storage companies sent a letter to congressional leaders on April 17 calling for legislation to improve permitting, project siting, transmission, and public lands access for solar and solar plus storage projects. Market forecasts show that a range of policy and economic outcomes will determine the volume of solar deployment over the […]
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Energy Security
Dependable Backup Power System Provides Peace of Mind for Cheese Business
Cheese Merchants uses close collaboration with Charles Equipment to power its mission to deliver fresh, premium cheese products to vendors across the U.S. Volvo Penta’s D16 engine serves as a key ingredient for standby power systems designed to drive quality and customer service. Cheese Merchants has come a long way since Pasquale Greco founded the […]
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Wind
Group Says Record 117 GW of New Wind Power Generation Installed in 2023
A report from a leading wind power trade association said a record 117 GW of new wind energy generation capacity was installed worldwide last year, a 50% increase from the prior year. The “Global Wind Report 2024,” published April 16 by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), said “the world is moving in the right […]
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Renewables
Japan Energy Giant Launches UK-Headquartered Renewable Energy Group
The largest electric power company in Japan announced the spinoff of a new global renewable energy business, and said the venture would be headquartered in London in the UK. JERA, founded in 2015 as a 50-50 joint venture between TEPCO Fuel & Power, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo Electric Power Co., and Chubu Electric […]
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T&D
Harnessing Heat Vision for Smarter Substation Monitoring
As decision-makers look for practical and worthwhile ways to improve substation monitoring, they often turn to heat-vision applications, such as infrared thermography. Such methods allow people to use specialized equipment to see abnormal temperature patterns—such as hot spots or unusual coolness—within industrial assets. This approach supports substation reliability by reducing outages and warning people earlier […]
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Connected Plant
A Generational Turnover Could Jeopardize the Nuclear Industry’s Recent Momentum
In the coming decade, the nuclear industry faces the daunting prospect of seeing one in four employees retire. According to the 2022 Global Energy Talent Index, 25% of its current workforce is over 55, compared to 20% in the oil and gas industry, and only 10% in the renewable energy sector. And, at age 65 […]