Global Monitor

A superconducting tokamak at the National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI) in South Korea has achieved a world record of more than 70 seconds in high-performance plasma operation. Researchers hailed the achievement as a “huge step forward for the realization of fusion power.” According to NFRI, researchers used a fully non-inductive operation mode—a “high poloidal beta […]

A wastewater treatment plant in the Danish city of Aarhus is reportedly producing enough power to cover all of the energy used for the whole water cycle in its catchment area—from water production and water

Canada Inches Closer to Nationwide Carbon Price. Canada’s government in early December struck a deal with eight of the country’s 10 provinces to introduce its first national carbon price. The government has proposed that carbon would cost C$10 per metric ton in 2018, rising by C$10 a year until it reaches C$50 in 2022. Only […]

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global power production from combined-heat-and-power (CHP) technologies has stagnated since 2000, lagging far behind growth in conventional power technologies and commercial heat generation. Despite having an average efficiency of 59%, CHP’s share of global generation in 2013 stood at just 9% (Figure 1), the bulk of it at […]

Solar roadways—roads that incorporate embedded photovoltaic cells—have piqued interest for several years. A few examples are finally being rolled out, though their practical applications are still being evaluated. On December 20, global transport infrastructure group Colas completed installing a solar panel paving system it calls “Wattway” (Figure 5) over 50 square meters (m2) at the […]

A draft national electricity plan published in December by India’s Central Electricity Authority (CEA)—a statutory organization that is overseen by the Ministry of Power—looks to add 101,645 MW of new conventional capacity during the current 12th Five-Year Plan (2012–2017), nearly 85% of which will be coal-fired. But after that, through 2022, the country will refrain […]

China has officially begun construction of its first offshore nuclear power plant, a demonstration project that will employ the domestically developed ACPR50S small modular reactor (SMR). China General Nuclear Power Corp. (CGN) on November 4 told reporters at a press conference that the project (Figure 6) is a “top priority” that will further the country’s […]

The U.S. may be getting its first overhead 600-kV high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) line in more than 20 years. Developers are advancing the Plains and Eastern Clean Line, a 720-mile (1,150-kilometer [km]) project that could deliver 4 GW of renewable power from the Oklahoma Panhandle region to states in the Southeast. The project is spearheaded by […]

If broad policy commitments announced by various countries are implemented, coal will not only lose its rank as the dominant fuel for power generation to renewables by 2040, but the world’s coal fleet will be significantly transformed by technology advances, the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) newly released World Energy Outlook (WEO-2016) forecasts. Under a baseline […]