Latest
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Instrumentation & Controls
Equipment Showcase: Instrumentation and Control
The power generation industry is constantly evolving, with advanced technologies becoming more ubiquitous in power plants. Along with this evolution, instrumentation and control equipment continues to be key
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News
Energy Storage as a Service: Why Renting Can Be Better Than Buying
The burgeoning as-a-service model, offering greater user flexibility and attractive economics, is now a viable option for energy storage. As with transportation, office equipment, and other capital-intensive
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News
EPA: Mercury Rules for Coal, Oil Power Units Not ‘Appropriate and Necessary’
Because compliance costs to coal- and oil-fired power plants for the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) far exceed quantifiable benefits to regulating hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emissions, the Trump administration has proposed it is not “appropriate and necessary” to regulate HAP emissions from power plants under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act (CAA), […]
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News
Despite Financial Hurdles, Utility Capital Spending to Remain Elevated
Despite higher taxable income and pressure on balance sheets, capital spending by regulated utilities will remain elevated—and much of it will be dedicated to replacing aging infrastructure, hardening or efficiency-boosting measures, and on renewables and environmental projects, said Moody’s Investors Service in a recent sectoral briefing. The credit ratings agency for the first time this […]
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News
Tenaska Gas-Fired Plant Comes Online in Pennsylvania
The Tenaska Westmoreland Generating Station began commercial operation on Dec. 21, the latest natural gas-fired facility to enter the PJM market. The 940-MW Tenaska plant, located near Smithton in South Huntingdon Township in Westmoreland County in southwest Pennsylvania, was built in just more than two years, though its planning and permitting process took several years […]
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News
Bipartisan Nuclear Modernization Bill Clears Congress
A bipartisan bill to modernize regulation of the nation’s nuclear power fleet passed in the U.S. Senate on Dec. 20 and the House on Dec. 21 without much opposition. It now heads to President Trump. S.512, better known as the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA), seeks to provide a program to develop […]
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News
NV Energy Accelerates Retirement of One of Nevada’s Last Coal Units
NV Energy plans to retire a 254-MW coal-fired unit in a power-constrained region of Nevada at the end of 2021, four years ahead of schedule. The company will instead purchase 1,001 MW from new solar photovoltaic projects equipped with 100 MW of long-term battery storage, effectively doubling its total renewable generation from 14% in 2017 […]
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News
Finnish Nuclear Plant Start-up Delayed Again
Another nuclear power project has been delayed, as the Fennovoima consortium and Russia’s state-run nuclear company Rosatom said the Hanhikivi 1 power plant’s projected start-up date has been pushed to 2028, four years behind the original schedule and eight years later than the proposed start when Finland’s government supported the project in 2010. The announcement […]
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News
Tianwan Unit 4 Latest Chinese Reactor to Come Online
Unit 4 of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in China entered commercial operation this past weekend after completing commissioning. It began supplying power to the country’s national grid on Dec. 22. Tianwan NPP is the largest facility built with a Russian-Chinese framework of economic cooperation, with Units 1 through 4 based on the VVER-1000 reactor […]
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Fuel
NERC: Accelerated Coal and Nuclear Retirements Pose Limited Reliability Risks
The accelerated retirement of coal-fired and nuclear generation by 2022 could adversely affect reliability in four regions, including in the East and over parts of the central U.S., the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) warned as it released findings from a “stress-test” scenario. But the entity tasked with ensuring reliability and security of the […]