POWER

One of the keys to boiler efficiency in thermal power plants is ensuring fouling and clinkers formed on superheater bundles are routinely removed. A mobile shockwave cleaning method offers one innovative

Flame-resistant (FR) garments are an important safety item for workers in the power industry. However, protection varies based on the arc rating of the clothing. Wearers must understand how the FR clothing

Internet of Things (IoT)-based energy management systems centered around edge controllers provide the functionality required to match renewable energy output with power requirements. Traditional baseload power

An Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) revolution is happening across essential power systems, and it’s helping make the challenges of maintenance walk-throughs a problem of the past. With more data and

Power generation news briefs from around the world.

Wind and solar power capacity and generation have been growing steadily for years, as efforts to halt climate change and a desire for clean energy have gained public support around the world. As renewable

Roiled over 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic, two much-watched international power market outlooks surveying short-term and long-term implications caution the road ahead will be ridden by complexity. The

Electricity transmission network operators are being tasked with adding more renewable energy resources to the power grid. The use of static VAR compensators (SVCs) is growing as a means to control voltage

Larger changes in the power industry are shaking up the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) business in the U.S. and abroad. Experts explain how the industry is fielding business impacts

Advancements in small modular reactor (SMR) technology are being supported by government investment within several countries, including the U.S. and the UK, as SMRs are increasingly seen as a way to take

Welding Method 7 (WM7), which was supported by an extensive set of research experiments led by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), was approved in March 2020 by the National Board Inspection Code

One of the National Energy Technology Laboratory’s (NETL’s) key initiatives aims to bridge the gap in research infrastructure and accelerate advanced alloy development and manufacturing. Materials are

When the World Health Organization published news on Jan. 5, 2020, about cases of “pneumonia of unknown etiology” detected in Wuhan City, China, few people began stocking up on toilet paper or canceled

It is well-known that a conventional boiler or heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) and related steam turbine have innumerable pieces all working in conjunction to produce the end product of electric power. In

In “Principles-Based Operations: A Military-Proven Method Part I,” I alluded to the institutionalization of the military service. Specifically, I wrote about the U.S. Navy’s nuclear power program and some of the principles that make it successful. These high-level values are instilled in recruits through the training process and during day-to-day interactions. In Part I, I […]

Many power plant operators began their careers in the armed forces. Why is the military such a good training ground? Perhaps the answer lies in the principles instilled in recruits from day one of boot camp

Lithium-ion batteries are the most popular battery storage option today, controlling more than 90% of the global grid battery storage market, according to some estimates. However, the lithium-ion supply chain

The power purchase agreement, commonly called a PPA, is a fundamental element to the development, construction, and financing of power generation projects. Like many things in the power industry, the PPA is

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in September issued Order 2222, a final rule to remove barriers for distributed energy resource (DER) aggregators to participate in the wholesale capacity

The last few months have seen the power sector plagued with enduring lower power prices, exacerbating the continued negative impact on power generation companies and electric utilities. There are a number of

As countries around the world set more stringent emissions standards, stationary gas engine operators are often required to incorporate new technology into their equipment. The changes can affect lubricants

Feasibility Study Set for Netherlands’ CCS Plan. Neptune Energy in mid-December announced a feasibility study to develop a carbon capture and storage (CCS) plan for the Netherlands. The study will look at

As long as products have had ethernet ports, people have been asking for remote access to them. They believed they could just plug the devices into the internet, and it would all work. At first, there wasn’t necessarily a clear path to making this dream a reality without assistance from the user’s IT department. IT […]

Over its 50-year history, several rules issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have reshaped the power sector. But for at least a few modern rules, the road has been full of turns. Notes: CAA = Clean Air Act; BSER = best system of emission reduction; CO2 = carbon dioxide; GHG = greenhouse gases; […]

A quest for reliability and flexibility is driving significant interest in hybrid and co-located resources, but their widespread integration could hinge on how they are defined and valued in wholesale

Researchers continue to work on improvements in solar power, developing better cells, using new materials in panels, and focusing on improving efficiency while lowering cost. The solar power industry hit

In the late 1960s, the U.S. was facing an environmental crisis. Air pollution was a serious problem in cities across the country, industrial activities and the widespread use of hazardous pesticides were

At the virtual 2nd Global Ministerial Conference on System Integration of Renewables on Oct. 27, several high-ranking policymakers pointed to a number of localized challenges affecting their countries’

Global energy demand has waned in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The lingering impacts of COVID-19 are expected to continue into 2021, but energy industry experts predict the world’s need for

South Korea, Japan, and China, countries that rely heavily on coal power generation to fuel their economies, separately announced ambitious goals to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within the