POWER
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History
Chernobyl at 40: The World’s Worst Nuclear Power Accident and Where It Stands Now
On the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, POWER sent a freelance photographer and correspondent to the site in Ukraine to document the massive decommissioning effort still underway—and the new
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Data Centers
Full Throttle: Five Trends Reshaping the Gas Power Boom
A once-predictable industry is moving at hyperscale speed. Here are five trends defining the biggest gas power buildout in a generation. Natural gas power is in the middle of its biggest buildout in a
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Electrification
A Powerful Change Supporting Cleaner Energy
Electric utilities and energy consumers have discovered the benefits of electrification as a way to decarbonize operations and take advantage of more intelligent power systems. The push for decarbonization
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Renewables
Geothermal’s Rise a Hot Topic Worldwide
The global surge in energy demand is spurring investment in several sectors, and is bringing renewed interest in areas such as geothermal. The world’s literal hot spots—places such as Iceland, Indonesia, Kenya, and part of the U.S.—are seeing new projects, often as part of testing of advanced technologies such as enhanced geothermal systems (EGS).
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Gas
Cracking the Power Supply Chain Code
The power industry finds itself in an uncomfortable bind. Demand for electricity is surging, driven by data center buildouts, broad electrification, and the retirement of aging coal fleets, but the equipment
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Energy Security
Europe’s Grid Is Already a Hybrid War Target—Most Utilities Aren’t Ready
European electricity infrastructure has become a target of sustained hybrid warfare, and a new report from Eurelectric, the region’s power sector trade group, finds that most of the continent’s utilities
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Sustainability
Every Fifth Pole: Ameren’s Staggered Strategy for Grid Hardening
Ameren Illinois and Ameren Missouri found a “creative” way to strengthen their utility service territory by strategically installing fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite utility poles by Creative
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Renewables
The Hidden Idle Asset Trap: A New Era of BESS Optimization in Europe
Record battery deployments across Europe are masking a growing crisis: assets that are grid-connected but financially idle, stranded by saturated markets and outdated optimization strategies.
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Legal & Regulatory
Guidance for Optimizing Solar Power Project Tax Credits
Most commercial solar projects must now meet rigorous “physical work of a significant nature” requirements to establish federal tax credit eligibility.
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O&M
The Critical Role of Coatings in SMR Design
Electricity demand for data centers worldwide is projected to double by 2030. As a result, developers are looking at small modular reactors (SMRs) to add low‑carbon power generation capacity.
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News
POWER Digest [April 2026|
Hatch and Hydrostor Partner to Deliver World’s Largest Advanced Compressed Air Energy Storage Project. Global engineering firm Hatch and long-duration energy storage (LDES) developer Hydrostor announced Feb
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Energy Security
Battery Storage Is Reshaping the Grid; Integration Strategy Will Shape the Outcome
The electric sector is standing at a pivotal moment. Utilities are no longer observers in the renewable transformation but instead are becoming direct owners and operators of technologies that were once primarily developed, financed, and managed by third-party developers. Among these technologies, battery energy storage systems (BESS) are moving to the center of long-term generation […]
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Commentary
How Artificial Intelligence Can Accelerate Power Delivery to the U.S. Grid
Power demand in the U.S. is rising faster than the grid was designed to accommodate, driven in large part by rapid growth in data centers. Large, concentrated data center loads are clustering in regions where
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Environmental
Smart Systems Power Up Modern Emissions Monitoring
Capable new lasers with quantum cascade and tunable diode technologies lay the foundation for accurate, low-maintenance, and fast-response continuous emissions monitoring systems to monitor multiple gas
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blackouts
THE BIG PICTURE (Infographic): Blackouts in 2025
Major power outage events in 2025 reveal a broad spectrum of reliability risks, spanning voltage instability and protection failures to extreme weather and heat-related transmission stress. Compared with recent years, which were largely characterized by weather-driven disruptions and resource-adequacy events, 2025 incidents more clearly highlight vulnerabilities in interconnected system operations, including voltage management, reactive power […]
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Commentary
America’s Once-in-a-Generation Energy Opportunity
America has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild its energy backbone. For the first time in decades, capital investment, technological innovation, and bipartisan political will are aligning to
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Data Centers
Engine Power Plants Surge as Data Centers Drive Unprecedented Demand
Manufacturers respond with gigawatt-scale deployments, fast-start technology, and expanded production capacity. The global appetite for electricity has never been more insatiable, and at the heart of this
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advanced nuclear
China’s Advanced Nuclear Efforts Are Pushing Frontiers
While the bulk of focus on advanced nuclear technology has honed in tightly on the U.S., from enrichment and conversion to advanced fuels, reprocessing strategies, and fast-spectrum systems, several other
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Legal & Regulatory
How America’s Power Regions Chose Their Futures and How That Has Played Out
On April 24, 1996, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued Order 888, requiring all public utilities owning or operating interstate transmission facilities to file open-access
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Electrification
Turning Customer Batteries Into Grid Capacity: How Behind-the-Meter Storage Is Reshaping the Future of Flexible Power
Power outages have become increasingly common, and longer in duration, due to extreme weather and temperature events. Behind-the-meter (BTM) batteries are proving their worth, as they have become more than niche devices quietly supporting backup power during storms. These batteries now offer vital support in an increasingly volatile energy ecosystem.
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Commentary
Beyond Reactors: The Full Fuel Cycle Investment Needed for a Nuclear Future
A resurgent nuclear industry cannot succeed unless the U.S. invests in the entire nuclear fuel cycle—from uranium mining to long‑term waste storage. Without strengthening this industrial backbone, nuclear power’s potential may remain more aspiration than reality.
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Technology
Why the Promise of AI Is Real, but Potential Yet Unrealized
While artificial intelligence (AI) adoption has spread rapidly, meaningful productivity gains remain elusive because organizations have conflated easy-to-deploy horizontal AI tools with the domain-specific
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Legal & Regulatory
The Real Barriers to Power Sector Carbon Capture
Despite growing technical maturity, post-combustion carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects for power generation continue to face decisive hurdles. Integration complexity, financing structures, and risk
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Instrumentation & Controls
No Boots on Deck? How AI Enables Autonomous Energy Operations
Artificial intelligence (AI) has pushed the idea of a “one-button start-up” from sci-fi closer to engineering reality. But where is industrial AI for energy operations today, and how far away is that fully
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Energy Security
Overcoming BYOG Chaos with Unified, Layered Control
Bring-Your-Own-Generation (BYOG) is emerging as a practical solution for power-hungry facilities that can’t wait on grid upgrades. Success hinges on a unified control architecture that coordinates diverse
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Trends
Powering Tomorrow: A Multi-Technology Roadmap for the Global Energy Transition
As global electricity demand surges 40% by 2035 and warming projections worsen, nuclear, geothermal, gas, offshore wind, storage, and fusion must all advance—along with the workforce to build them. The global energy landscape is undergoing its most significant transformation since the Industrial Revolution. Electricity demand is surging at unprecedented rates while the imperative to decarbonize […]
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Energy Storage
Battery Storage Comes of Age: From Grid Accessory to Essential Infrastructure
From plunging costs to policy upheaval, the global battery storage sector is transforming grid design—and facing unprecedented challenges. The energy storage industry stands at a pivotal crossroads. On one side, costs are plummeting so dramatically that utility-scale batteries can now deliver solar power around the clock at competitive prices. On the other, regulatory upheaval—particularly in […]
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Offshore Wind
Offshore Wind Industry Posts Record Growth Amid U.S. Policy Setbacks
Record capacity, record auctions, and record-breaking turbines mark a maturing industry, but U.S. policy reversals and macroeconomic headwinds threaten to slow momentum. The global offshore wind industry achieved significant milestones in 2024 and early 2025, with installed capacity surpassing 83 GW and a record-breaking 56 GW awarded in competitive auctions worldwide. Yet, this momentum faces […]
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Data Centers
Shared Power: Building Data Centers That Serve Everyone
The unprecedented revolution in digital infrastructure, driven by the explosion in artificial intelligence (AI) services and cloud computing, is fueling an economic boom so large it drove 92% of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first half of 2025. However, this wave of technological innovation is hiding rising ratepayer burden and mounting reliability […]
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Gas
New Gas-Fired Plants Bring Needed Generation, Flexibility to the Power Sector
Several natural gas–fueled units are being developed as a way to support the industrial sector, including data centers, and to help integrate more renewable energy to the grid.