POWER

Temporary power may be the most widely distributed “distributed” generation worldwide, and its distribution is spreading, thanks to its ability to quickly meet urgent needs not only for event, construction, and post-disaster emergency power but also for fast-growing economies and stressed grids. That’s making it a serious competitor for “permanent” power in some situations. When […]

The Springerville Generating Station has been a work in progress since the first unit entered service in 1985. The PRBCUG recently recognized Springerville with its 2014 Plant of the Year award for implementing industry best practices, continual improvements, and worker safety.  The presentation of the Powder River Basin Coal Users’ Group (PRBCUG) Plant of the […]

Once touted as the savior of coal power and the future of clean coal generation, integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology has seen its prospects swamped by soaring costs and technological challenges. Though it remains controversial, its proponents are not ready to give up. If you’re an energy sector observer with an interest in integrated […]

Though our current power grid is more sophisticated and reliable than when Thomas Edison designed it nearly a century ago, it uses the same model: A company burns fuel to create electricity, which is then sent hundreds of miles along inefficient wires to customers who are given a single energy choice: on or off. Now, […]

The world’s first floating wind turbine array could be installed offshore of northeast Scotland by 2017 if a project recently unveiled by Kincardine Offshore Windfarm Ltd. proceeds as planned. The joint project between Pilot Offshore Renewables and the construction giant Atkins entails the installation of eight turbines on semi-submersible platforms about 8 miles off the […]

Last year, the U.S. exported nearly twice the amount of wood pellets it sent overseas in 2012—and almost all of it went to Europe for heat and power needs. This trend has gained momentum since 2009, when the European Commission (EC) enacted its 2020 climate and energy package, and will possibly continue in the long […]

Chile Banks on Renewable Capacity Expansion, Energy Efficiency. Chile in mid-May released a $650 million investment plan to reduce energy costs and promote non-hydro renewable energy development for the country that imports about 60% of its primary energy resources. The plan calls for a 30% cut in marginal power costs on Chile’s central grid, which […]

One of the world’s first grid-scale iron-chromium redox flow batteries was interconnected this May to the distribution grid. The EnerVault Turlock, which its developer EnerVault says is a 250-kW, 1-MWh battery grid-scale energy storage system, will be charged by a 150-kW dual-axis tracking solar photovoltaic system in an almond orchard in California’s Central Valley, will […]

The most contentious (though not necessarily the most expensive) proposed environmental regulation to hit the power industry in this century was released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on June 2. The most immediate consequence was an increase in the volume of email. The Big One As I write this column a week after the […]

China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases (GHGs) could limit its total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions for the first time, possibly starting in 2016. He Jiankun, chairman of China’s Advisory Committee on Climate Change, reportedly told conference attendees in Beijing in June—one day after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed rules to slash carbon […]