POWER
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Commentary
What RTOs and ISOs Can Learn from the Parable of the Fox and the Hedgehog
An ancient proverb imparts: the fox knows many little things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. This insight is expanded through the moral of Aesop’s fable, “The Fox and the Hedgehog,” which
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Coal
POWER Digest [August 2022]
Emerson Involved in Coal-to-Biomass Switch. Albioma, a French independent energy provider, is working with Emerson, a global technology and software company, on the transition of the Bois Rouge 108-MW
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Top Plant
Wudongde Project Takes Hydro to New Heights
A multi-year, multibillion-dollar undertaking on China’s Jinsha River has achieved several “firsts” for the hydropower sector, earning POWER’s highest honor thanks to its development, design, and
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Top Plant
Repowering Project Aims for Pinnacle of Success
Clearway Energy Group reaffirmed its commitment to renewable energy, and to its support of West Virginia’s push for cleaner energy, with a repowering of the Pinnacle Wind Farm. The project extends the wind
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Top Plant
Harnessing Cooling Tower Plumes to Provide Purified Water
A novel technology that is surprisingly simple in principle promises to significantly reduce water consumption in evaporative cooling tower systems by capturing water from cooling tower plumes. Sonal Patel
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T&D
Advanced Power Grid Sensors and Switches Reduce Downtime and Improve System Reliability
A Fault Isolation Service Restoration module, part of an Advanced Distribution Management Solution, has improved grid reliability, and reduced outages and outage durations, for customers of PPL Electric
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Renewables
How a Solar and Storage Portfolio Ramped Up a City’s Sustainability and Financial Outlook
The City of White Plains, New York, enlisted DSD Renewables to design, engineer, develop, construct, and finance a nine-site, 6.8-MW community solar and 1.7-MW/8-MWh energy storage portfolio. The
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Solar
Turning Public Transit into a Solar Paradigm
An innovative project that combines solar power with electric buses is POWER’s Distributed Energy Award winner. The microgrid it created can help the community during emergencies, as well as during peak
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Hydrogen
Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field Demonstrates Hydrogen Integration
The Fukushima Hydrogen Energy Research Field is revitalizing an earthquake-stricken region and providing a remarkable boost to Japan’s ambitions to launch a hydrogen society. While global interest in
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News
Risks and Opportunities: It’s an Interesting Time to Be in the Power Industry
War rages in Europe. Natural gas prices are through the roof. Drought threatens hydro production. Weather extremes are becoming commonplace. Supply chains are strained. Demand for electricity is headed
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Hydrogen
RWE to Take Over Vattenfall’s 1.4-GW ‘Hydrogen-Ready’ Dutch Gas-Fired Plant
German energy giant RWE will in September acquire Vattenfall’s 1.4-GW Magnum combined cycle gas-fired power station, a project in the Netherlands where work is underway to explore converting one of the three
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Solar
Floating Solar Project Supports Portugal’s Decarbonization Strategy
The largest floating solar farm in Europe, located on the reservoir for a hydroelectric dam in Portugal, is expected to begin producing power this month. The July startup of the Alqueva installation (Figure
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Nuclear
Rick Perry Believes in Nuclear Power—Is He onto Something or on Something?
Rick Perry, the former governor of Texas (2000–2015) and former U.S. Energy Secretary (2017–2019), who has more recently been in the news because of his support for legalizing psychedelic drugs, including
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O&M
Marnie Surfaceblow—Beware of Hissing Feedwater Heaters That Can Bite Your Bottom Line
Small problems can lead to large impacts on a long-term basis. Heat rate surveys, improved instrumentation, and utilizing real-time monitoring and diagnostics can help recover plant efficiency and save money
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O&M
Essential Prep and Closeout of Demolition Projects—What Power Plant Owners Need to Know
Industrial demolition projects of any scale are complex undertakings that require much more than just knocking things down and cleaning them up. Quite the opposite, in fact. Demolition, including of a retired
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Legal & Regulatory
Understanding—and Planning—for Regulatory Challenges to Offshore Wind
Offshore wind projects have been bolstered by federal and state initiatives that support the technology to achieve emissions-reduction goals. However, development and grid integration of these projects
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Workforce
Leveraging Digital Confined Space Technologies to Mitigate the Growing Labor Shortage
It’s becoming harder and harder for managers to find the skilled labor needed to operate and maintain power plants. That’s why utilizing technology to enhance safety and efficiency is so important. Digital
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Legal & Regulatory
Carbon Management Tax Policies Are Required to Achieve Net-Zero by 2050
President Biden signed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) into law late last year, cementing his administration’s support for carbon management technologies and their essential role
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News
POWER Digest [July 2022]
Large-Volume Ammonia Co-Firing Demonstration at JERA Coal Plant to Begin a Year Earlier. Japanese firms JERA—a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) and Chubu Electric—and IHI Corp. on May
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T&D
The Vital Link: How HVDC Is Modernizing the Grid
Significant advances in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission are in step with rapid changes to energy systems worldwide. Shortly after POWER magazine began publication in 1882, the competitive
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Distributed Energy
Reliability, Resiliency, Cost, and Climate Driving C&I Power Systems
Commercial and industrial (C&I) entities want to ensure they have electricity when they need it. Businesses also are looking at sustainability, decarbonization, and control of their energy costs as factors
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Solar
Vermont and ISO-New England Provide an Interesting Renewable Energy Transition Case Study
Vermont doesn’t get a lot of attention outside of Bernie Sanders, but the state’s power system is worth taking a look at as it has undergone a notable shift toward renewable energy. About 80% of
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Hydrogen
Nuclear, Hydrogen, CCUS Part of at Least 42 Country Ambitions
At least 42 nationally determined contributions (NDCs) submitted under the Paris Agreement as of December 2021 indicate governments plan to utilize carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen and ammonia, and
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Renewables
Morocco Project Could Support UK’s Renewable Goals, Hydrogen Economy
A project to bring solar and wind energy from a 10.5-GW project in Morocco to the UK will feature what is likely the world’s longest subsea, high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables. The importation of
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Marmaduke
Marnie Surfaceblow: What Is Killing This Biomass Boiler? Marnie and Maya Are on the Case!
When seeking answers to critical operations problems, consider that multiple root causes may be at play—thus requiring many different solutions. Watch as our heroines track down the culprits! As they trudged
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O&M
Gaskets and Fasteners: What Sets a Supplier Apart?
Gaskets and fasteners are vital to plant reliability and efficiency. While basic nuts, bolts, and gaskets haven’t changed much over the years, some of the materials used in them have evolved and designs have
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Coal
New Life for Dead and Dying Coal Plants?
As coal plants are retired, power companies must decide what to do with sites. Some old plants have been added to the National Register of Historic Places and repurposed as commercial or office space, while
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O&M
How to Prevent Condensation-Induced Water Hammer
Condensation-induced water hammer (CIWH) is the term commonly used when describing a variety of transients that occur when water vapor is rapidly condensed by cold water. This article describes the various
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O&M
Commissioning and Acceptance Testing Are the Foundation for Total Electrical System Lifecycle Management
To manage the challenges of today’s complex electrical power systems and tightening budgets, facility managers need to understand the critical connection between electrical commissioning and acceptance testing, and planning for lifecycle management. To assist in this responsibility, this article will review the scope of services required for each stage of electrical system lifecycle management, and […]
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O&M
Solar Power Plant Maintenance with Thermal UAV Inspection Technology
Thermal imaging is a vital tool for detecting defects and anomalies at solar power plants. However, capturing thermal images with handheld equipment is time-consuming and susceptible to human error. Unmanned