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President Biden recently laid out a detailed plan to strengthen America’s forests. Renewable wood energy—that is, biomass energy produced from wood that is not suitable for higher-value products—is an

Coal-fired See our August 2022 issue for stories covering these plants: Osaki Cool Gen, Japan Shanghaimiao Power Plant, China Renewables See our September 2022 issue for stories covering these plants: Bighorn Solar Project, Colorado Boone Dam Hydro Project, Tennessee Energypark Haringvliet, Netherlands Harvey Milk SFO Terminal, California Svartsengi Geothermal Power Plant, Iceland Western Spirit Wind, […]

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, […]

Poland continues to move forward with its plan to deploy nuclear power, choosing U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Co. to build the country’s first large-scale nuclear power plant. The decision, announced late Oct. 28 by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, is seen as a move by Poland to strengthen its relationship with the U.S. and continue moving […]

In a constantly plugged-in world, people rely on always available and uninterrupted electricity, now more than ever. While the electric industry has invested significantly to meet customers’ demand on the grid, utilities increasingly turn to their customers to provide reliable, cost-effective grid services with customer-sited distributed energy resources (DERs) like energy storage and demand response. […]

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 […]

In its third quarter 2022 earnings call presentation, Southern Company reduced its “Total project capital cost forecast” for Vogtle Units 3 and 4 to $10.383 billion from $10.453 billion, which is what it had reported in the company’s second quarter 2022 earnings call presentation. The company’s cost estimate reduction doesn’t mean that total project costs […]

A fuel fabrication facility that will create reliable fuel for TerraPower and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s (GEH’s) 345-MWe Natrium pool-type sodium fast reactor (SFR) demonstration in Wyoming and future Natrium nuclear plants is taking shape at Global Nuclear Fuel–Americas’ (GNF-A’s) nuclear fuel fabrication plant in Wilmington, North Carolina. GNF-A, a 2007-established GE-led joint venture with […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has ramped up efforts to explore recycling spent nuclear fuel (SNF), or used nuclear fuel (UNF), from the nation’s fleet of light water reactors (LWRs), doling out $38 million in federal awards to a dozen projects on Oct. 21. Teams will receive funding under the DOE’s March 2022–launched “Converting UNF […]

Cybersecurity risks can occur daily, taking multiple forms. While there are personal measures that the general population can do to eliminate some of these risks, power utility companies must take a more aggressive approach to keep the communities they serve safe and their security unquestioned. COMMENTARY Should a power utility company face a cyberattack, it […]