Global Monitor

Dr. Ozgur Sahin, an associate professor of biological sciences and physics at Columbia University, who has helped develop a floating, piston-driven engine that generates power, most succinctly describes the

Nigeria brought 1.5 GW of natural gas–fired generation from three brand new power plants online in May, adding much-needed capacity to the grid. But because the West African country that is Africa’s biggest economy doesn’t have the means of transporting its abundant gas resources to its power plants, its crippling power shortages are expected to […]

The 1,240-MW coal-fired Mong Duong 2 power plant in Vietnam—the country’s first new private sector power plant to be commissioned in the past 10 years—began commercial operations on May 11, six months ahead of schedule (Figure 6). AES Corp. built the plant on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. It has a 25-year power purchase agreement with […]

Australian firm Carnegie Wave Energy, operator of the Perth Wave Energy Project—the world’s first commercial-scale, grid-connected wave energy array—is on target to take its CETO technology to the next stage with a four-fold improvement on a dollar-per-MW basis, CEO Greg Allen said. The Perth Wave Energy Project employs three 10-meter-diameter buoys that generate about 5% […]

South Africa’s energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has pledged urgent resolution of the nation’s worsening power crisis. In her annual budget and policy speech in Cape Town on May 19, Joemat-Pettersson said the country was rushing to finalize its much-awaited Integrated Energy Plan, which, when approved by the Cabinet, will delineate South Africa’s future energy mix […]

An innovative wind turbine concept currently in the prototype phase captures the energy of vorticity, an aerodynamic effect also known as the “vortex shedding effect.” As the wind bypasses a fixed structure, its flow changes and generates a cyclical pattern of vortices. Once these forces are strong enough, the fixed structure starts oscillating, may enter […]

The global hydropower sector has seen an upsurge in development activity lately, with installed capacity growing by 27% since 2004 (Figure 2), a new report from the World Energy Council (WEC) suggests. 2. World hydropower development. Hydropower development around the world stalled from 1999 to 2005, reflecting the impact of the World Commission on Dams, […]

The political impasse stalling investments in renewables in Australia was breached in mid-May after lawmakers reached an agreement to revise the renewable energy target (RET). After months of intense wrangling, the Coalition and Labor parties struck a deal to cut the RET to 33,000 GWh from the current 41,000 GWh. That figure is far more […]

Costs for the Akademik Lomonosov, Russia’s flagship floating nuclear power plant, have reportedly mushroomed to 37 billion rubles ($700 million), an increase of more than 300% from the original 2006 estimate of nine billion rubles ($170 million). The project has also been plagued by delays owing to a shipyard switch. Originally slated for delivery in […]