POWER

Many utilities have taken advantage of relatively low-cost natural gas to address environmental pressures and upgrade their power generation portfolio in one of three distinct ways—replace, repower, or

Perhaps because the public has been more obsessed in recent years by cybersecurity breaches involving everything from social media accounts to classified military secrets, the amount of attention given to the

On Sept. 25, 2012, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a construction and operating license (COL) to General Electric-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment LLC (GLE) for its uranium enrichment plant

Even if you missed Bob Peltier’s retirement signoff in last month’s column, you will have noticed that something has changed. POWER has a new editor at the top of the masthead (its 10th in 131 years

When Gary Leonard, General Electric’s global technology director for aero-thermal and mechanical systems technologies, spoke with POWER Contributing Editor Mark Axford at this year’s Gulf Coast Power

Aging human machine interface (HMI) hardware will eventually become a burden on plant operation. Obsolete HMIs can cause problems with connectivity, historical data loss, and hardware failure. As the hardware

P at Wood III —former head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Texas Public Utility Commission, and current consultant and non-executive chairman of Dynegy—addressed a packed house at the

Norwegian company Thor Energy began a five-year-long irradiation test of thorium fuel at the Institute for Energy Technology’s research reactor in Halden, Norway, marking the most recent investigation into

HDE’s Quick-Check Transformer & Capacitor Testers provide a quick and easy test of the primary and secondary sides of de-energized transformers and capacitors for opens or shorts. The Quick-Check

The $2.9 billion London Array—the world’s biggest offshore wind farm—opened this July in the Outer Thames Estuary about 12 miles off the coasts of Kent and Essex. The 175-turbine installation is arranged

By Kelly A. DalyFERC Moves on Natural Gas–Electric CoordinationBy Kelly A. DalyNatural gas–fired power generation has increased significantly in recent years. This trend generally is considered a positive

China hit two of its most significant hydroelectric milestones in recent months: Initial operation of the 13.86-GW Xiluodu project—the country’s second-largest hydropower project after the 22.5-GW Three

In his climate change speech earlier this summer, President Obama announced a major policy shift: The U.S. government will end financing for virtually all new coal power plants oversees. In the wake of that

Mexico Creates Council to Meet Clean Energy Target. The Mexican Energy Secretariat on July 5 announced creation of the Renewable Energy Council , a body designed to spearhead eight initiatives outlined in a

In March 2013, and for the first time in the 35-year history of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) initiated an enforcement action in

Owner/operator: AES Jordan PSC AES Corp.’s $300 million, 370-MW gas-fired Amman East Power Plant entered commercial service in 2008 and was the first independent power plant in Jordan. The Jordanian

Owner/operator: OMV Petrom S.A. Romania began the process of restructuring its vertically integrated, state-owned electricity industry to meet European Union (EU) directives several years before it joined the

Owner/operator: Florida Power & Light No one can accuse Florida Power & Light (FPL) of having anything against natural gas. The biggest consumer of gas in a state with the second-biggest appetite for

Once flush with cheap electricity, the Republic of South Africa has recently been beset by power shortages and reliability challenges as a result of decades of underinvestment in its electrical infrastructure

Owners: Chugach Electric Association Inc. and Anchorage Municipal Light & PowerOperator: Chugach Electric Association Inc. Alaska’s vast land mass broken up by mountainous regions and glacier fields does

Cybersecurity awareness and best practices are increasingly central to the power generation, transmission, and distribution industry. Industrial cybersecurity concerns, recently heightened by awareness of how

The backlash against renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) has begun in earnest. In more than 20 states across the country, efforts are afoot to freeze, water down, or repeal one standard or another.

240-W LED High-Bay Light for Hazardous Areas Larson Electronics released the the HAL-HB-240W-LED 240-W LED light for high-bay and floodlight applications in Class 1 Division 2 areas. Available with 19-, 25-, 40- and 125-degree optic configuration, this high-powered LED light comes closer to replicating 1,000-W metal halide illumination. At 240 W, the HAL-HB-240W-LED Class 1 […]

AEP’s SWEPCO requested proposals in December 2005 for new generation to meet long-term capacity needs, and by August 2006 the company settled on coal-fired technology for a new plant site in Arkansas. Construction began in early 2008, and the new plant entered commercial service in December 2012. For overcoming numerous legal and regulatory obstacles and for building the first ultrasupercritical plant in the U.S., the John W. Turk, Jr. plant is awarded POWER’s 2013 Plant of the Year Award.

The theologian John Wesley, so taken with electricity, reverently called it the soul of the universe. Less impressed, perhaps, are state regulatory commissions that nonetheless set service territory boundaries to avoid the added expense in duplicative facilities. Becoming the sole source of the good stuff also invited regulation of rates, service standards, and whatever else […]

Te Mihi Power Station is a two-unit 166-MW geothermal plant currently undergoing commissioning on New Zealand’s North Island. It replaces the Wairakei Power Station constructed in 1958—but with a much smaller environmental footprint. The double flash technology selected produces ~25% more power from the same amount of geothermal fluid that is currently used at Wairakei. For its continuing commitment to renewable geothermal energy, Contact Energy Ltd.’s Te Mihi Power Station is the winner of POWER’s 2013 Marmaduke Award for excellence in power plant problem-solving. The award is named for Marmaduke Surfaceblow, the fictional marine engineer and plant troubleshooter par excellence.

Two VVER-1000 reactors built and designed by Russian state firm Atomstroyexport under a $3 billion contract are slated to be commissioned this summer in the State of Tamil Nadu in India.

South Korea, the world’s fourth-largest producer of nuclear power, in June warned of “unprecedented” power shortages this summer after it shut down two reactors due to faulty safety equipment and delayed the start of operations of another last month.

In Japan, where all but two of 50 reactors remain shuttered for safety checks following the 2011 Fukushima catastrophe, at least four major utilities were gearing up to apply for safety screening of 12 reactors across six plants.