POWER
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Distributed Energy
Distributed Energy Award Goes to Unique Hog Farm Microgrid
Power from pig manure is not a public relations stunt, but rather, it’s an innovative solution to several farm challenges. Installing lagoon covers not only reduces odors and eliminates rainwater ingress
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Nuclear
Bringing the APR1400 Reactor to Market
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission conducts an extensive evaluation of reactor technology before approving and ultimately licensing nuclear power plants. Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. Ltd. began the
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Nuclear
The Clean Energy Conundrum
The worldwide movement toward a clean energy future is barreling ahead. Most clean energy advocates seem to focus on wind and solar power as their resources of choice, and it shows, as the installed capacity
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News
Hydropower Is Vital to Africa’s Future
Africa has a number of power supply challenges, many of which can be overcome with renewable energy. Foremost among the options is hydropower. While large projects can meet stiff resistance in the development
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News
Iraq Developing Solar to Complement GE, Siemens Projects
Iraq’s $14 billion deal with Siemens to develop power generation projects in the country has grabbed most of the headlines this year, but the country continues to develop power projects with GE, and also in
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T&D
Drivers for Advanced Distribution Management Systems
There are many reasons for utilities to invest in Advanced Distribution Management Systems, particularly as more renewable resources are utilized and integrated, and the need for reliability and resilience of
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Safety
The Future Direction of Respiratory Protection
An estimated 5 million U.S. workers wear respirators. Employers are required to provide National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)-certified respirators using a written respiratory protection program enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Design and manufacturing focus on fit, comfort, and ease of use across product lines incorporating advanced technologies, such […]
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History
THE BIG PICTURE: Siemens’ Corporate History
Siemens AG, the global technology conglomerate that today has headquarters in both Berlin and Munich, in May 2019 announced it will spin off its energy units to focus on its digital “core.” The news has stunned many in the power sector, where Siemens has clenched a formidable presence since 1866. But restructuring at Siemens is […]
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Energy Storage
How Residential Energy Storage Could Help Support the Power Grid
Household batteries could contribute to making the grid more cost effective, reliable, resilient, and safe—if retail battery providers, utilities, and regulators can resolve delicate commercial, operational, and policy issues. The growth of battery storage in the power sector has attracted a great deal of attention in the industry and media. Much of that attention focuses […]
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Smart Grid
Where Is the Microgrid Market Headed?
Increasingly, today’s electric power grids are interacting with microgrids and in more complex ways. Yet, much work needs to be done to integrate microgrids and flexible demand into the wide-area synchronous
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O&M
Piloting Boiler Startup at Lightspeed
Many combined cycle power plants are being operated as peaker plants, rather than as baseload units. That can pose a problem for economizer safety valves. Pilot-operated safety valves offer several advantages
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News
Waste-to-Energy: A Niche Market in Decline?
Burning garbage to make electricity, or waste-to-energy, faces headwinds in the U.S., with low electricity prices, slowing demand for power, and local opponents that want to close or have closed plants. But a
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News
Coal Power Plant Improves Pump Seal Performance
A German power plant experienced premature wear and excessive seal corrosion in its boiler feed circuit and flue gas desulfurization slurry pumps. By upgrading the performance of the pump seals and
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Connected Plant
Temperature Monitoring Protects Low-Voltage Assets
Early detection of increased temperatures helps avoid power distribution asset-related failures and unplanned shutdowns. Wireless technologies make implementing this predictive maintenance solution practical
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Connected Plant
IIoT and the Future of Hydropower
Hydropower has evolved through multiple industrial revolutions. Today, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 offer solutions to take the industry to a whole new level. Rules-based analysis
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Connected Plant
Wireless Monitoring Improves Power Plant Operations
Wireless pressure gauges keep nine continuous emissions monitoring systems operating reliably, and wireless position monitoring helps close the loop on 90 control valves. Existing operations in power plants
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Plant Design
Innovative Fabric Structures Offer Power Plants Options
The design of a power plant often revolves around efficiency and mapping out operations in a manner that decreases unnecessary expenditures, while increasing productivity. This challenge produces the need for
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IIOT
Transformer Reliability: An Overview of Data-Driven Decision-Making
Are you properly quantifying and assessing the health of your plant’s transformers? Oil testing, infrared scanning, electrical testing, and inspection provide a much deeper understanding of what is happening
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Workforce
How to Hire the Best Talent
It’s no secret that the power industry workforce is aging and managers are struggling to find qualified candidates interested in filling open positions. In my April column, I referenced a
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News
Equipment Showcase: Valves, Pipes, and Fittings
Proper valves, pipes, and fittings are important for the successful operation of power generation facilities. This equipment includes products with versatile designs to establish effective joining and sealing
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News
POWER Digest [June 2019]
Ansaldo Leads Research Initiative for Low-NOx High-Hydrogen Retrofit Solution. The Dutch government has awarded six partners—Ansaldo Thomassen, Delft University of Technology, OPRA Turbines, Vattenfall
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Commentary
Moonshots and Megaprojects
Fifty years ago this July, NASA successfully landed men on the moon and safely returned them to Earth. In this year’s documentary about the mission, Apollo 11 , director Todd Douglas Miller draws on a
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News
Storing Energy in Salt—Vattenfall Testing Technology at Berlin Plant
Swedish power company Vattenfall is testing a technology that stores energy in salt, with a goal of proving whether the process would be useful for storage of renewable energy such as from wind and solar
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News
Blockchain Pilot Shows Promise for Grid Balancing
A blockchain pilot wrapped up by European transmission operator TenneT and storage solutions provider sonnen Group this May showed “tremendous potential” when used to network decentralized home storage
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News
Vietnam Supports Solar and More Coal Generation
The first solar power plant licensed to operate in Vietnam came online in late April, another signal of the country’s increasing reliance on renewable energy. But analysts forecast that coal-fired power
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Connected Plant
Strengthening the Energy Sector’s Cyber Preparedness
The Department of Energy (DOE) in March 2018 released a 52-page report outlining its multi-year strategy to improve cybersecurity. In the report’s introduction, Assistant Secretary Bruce J. Walker noted that
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Commentary
PG&E Bankruptcy Truly One-of-a-Kind
Numerous articles have boldly declared Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) to be the first of many climate change-related bankruptcies to come. The authors wag their fingers in caution at corporations across
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News
Q&A With Geothermal Experts
Geothermal energy has been around forever, used as a heating source across the world. Today it has surfaced as another renewable resource, with advancements in drilling technology bringing down costs and opening new areas to development. In conjunction with the feature article on geothermal in the May 2019 issue of POWER, we sought opinions from […]
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IIOT Power
THE BIG PICTURE: 30 Innovations Revolutionizing the Power Industry
Between 2005 and 2016, the global installed capacity of solar PV increased more than seven-fold, and the capacity of onshore wind increased nearly three-fold, and owing to plunging costs, variable renewable energy (VRE) capacity is set to expand dramatically, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). To accommodate soaring shares of VRE generation, innovations […]
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Wind
Clump Weights in Offshore Mooring Systems
Offshore moorings have a long tradition in the oil and gas industry. Even though most offshore mooring systems feature similar components, they differ a lot in design, depending on the bathymetries, the metocean data, and the design of the platform they support. But despite the wide range available in the market, the fast development of […]