POWER

The U.S. power sector has seen a number of developments on the regulatory front in recent months. Here’s where major federal rules stand today. (For a more dynamic and graphic version of this article, see http://powermag.com/long-form-stories/bw-power/ .) GHG Rules New Power Plants. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in September 2013 revised a 2012 proposal to […]

Can hydropower get some love? Even fans of renewable energy can be forgiven for having forgotten about a resource that—up to now—has produced more electricity than wind, solar, biomass, and all other

A recent encounter with a newspaper from 1901 got me thinking about the price of electricity over time and how it compares with price changes for other goods and services. Price Changes Over a Century The

Gazprom on Sept. 1 made the first weld of a 4,000-km natural gas pipeline that will run from gas production centers in Russia’s Yakutia and Irkutsk gas production fields to Russia’s Far Eastern regions

Unbundled Renewable Energy Credits and the Benefits of Standardization Unbundled renewable energy credits and certificates (RECs) separate the renewable, or green, component of energy from the actual

A 7,100-MW±600-kV high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) line that runs 2,375 kilometers (km) from new hydropower plants on the Madeira River in the Amazon Basin to major load centers in southeastern Brazil

Kelly Speakes-Backman Every day there is increasing evidence that we need to accelerate our nation’s transition to a cleaner energy infrastructure. The American Climate Prospectus released by the Risky

Resource-rich Poland’s push to prioritize coal as its main energy source and to cultivate a nuclear power program to boost energy security at the expense of climate objectives has provoked its portrayal

Eskom, South Africa’s largest utility, was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission and was converted into a public company, wholly owned by the government, in July 2002. Eskom produces about

Arizona-based solar photovoltaic (PV) system provider First Solar in August said it had achieved a cadmium-telluride (CdTe) PV research cell conversion efficiency of 21%—a world record. The thin-film PV

Bad weather, unforeseen setbacks, and even natural disasters are far from unheard of during power plant construction. But there may be no plant that experienced the sort of construction hardships that Tokyo

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) in August revealed that it had developed a 2-MW 16-cylinder high-speed gas engine that potentially offers a power generation efficiency (lower heating value) of more than

In the October 2013 issue of POWER, Tata Power’s 4-GW Mundra ultra-mega power plant was recognized with a Top Plant award in the coal category. This year POWER recognizes another behemoth in the region—and

Although industrial lubricants typically account for only 1% of plant operational costs (Figure 1), the lack of proper lubrication products, techniques, or applications can have a much more severe effect on

This is a tough time to be running a business as power-intensive as aluminum smelting in India. The economic boom that has lifted many of the nation’s 1.2 billion citizens out of persistent poverty has

Germany’s energy transition— Energiewende —has made a lot of headlines. Whether you agree with the country’s energy policy or not, there is no denying that it has spurred the growth of renewables. Even

Cold temperatures are nothing new, but extreme winter weather has been in the headlines more and more in recent years. Many of us had never heard the term “polar vortex” before last winter, but earlier

A sustained Arctic blast composed of freezing rain, record snowfalls, and high winds hit 22 states, from Mexico to New England in early February 2011. The extreme weather severely affected the power generation

During the Jan. 3–12, 2014, polar vortex that brought record-setting cold temperatures and severe winter weather to much of the U.S., nuclear plants not only survived, but thrived. According to the Nuclear

Last winter’s polar vortex was a reminder that, despite several years of mild winters, colder months can still pack a wallop. Decades of coal, gas, and nuclear plant operations have taught plant operators

Twice this year, PJM flirted with blackouts when brutal winter storms (dubbed a polar vortex) struck the Eastern U.S. in January. The cold weather set a new winter peak demand record of 141,500 MW on Jan. 7

The upcoming implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) is putting pressure on coal-fired power plants to develop and implement compliance

Five coal ash ponds at a Dominion power plant in Virginia have discharged coal ash pollutants into waterways for decades, environmental groups allege in a notice.  The Southern Environmental Law Center, representing the Potomac Riverkeeper and the Sierra Club, on Sept. 17 told Dominion and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) that it will sue […]

Cybersecurity threats facing the power industry have escalated dramatically in the past few years, as state-sponsored, organized crime, and hacktivist groups all seek to infiltrate U.S. energy infrastructure for cyber-espionage and sabotage purposes. A recent example of the severity of this threat can be seen in operation “Energetic Bear”—a Russian campaign to infect U.S. and […]

The Aug. 4–6 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit shed light on the power plights faced by sub-Saharan African countries, but it also highlighted their massive power potential and the array of solutions under consideration to resolve Africa’s energy crisis. Here are a number of key insights gleaned from discussions at the summit—the first a U.S. president has […]

Commissioning of all 18 generating units at China’s 13.9-GW Xiluodu Hydropower Station has been completed, making it the world’s third-largest hydroelectric project (Figure 5), China Three Gorges Corp. announced in early July. 5. Hydropower giant. Commissioning of all 18 generating units at China’s 13.9-GW Xiluodu Hydropower Station has been completed, making it the world’s third-largest […]

For a country focused on wooing big businesses, constructing large industrial complexes, and building new administration offices, having a reliable electricity supply is vital. But with few natural resources, flexible and efficient generation is imperative. Korea Southern Power Co. (KOSPO) CEO Lee Sang Ho has a vision of making KOSPO into a “global top 10 […]

Awash in a sea of wind turbines, California’s Coachella Valley needed reliable peaking generation to back up its intermittent wind power. Competitive Power Ventures answered the call with the eight-unit, 800-MW Sentinel plant. Driving west on Interstate 10 through the Mojave Desert in California is a mostly monotonous experience of sand, scrub brush, and rolling, […]

The Municipal Government of Beijing through its operating companies is making enormous investment into its power and energy infrastructure, particularly combined heat and power facilities and renewable energy projects. The latest addition to its fleet of plants is the Jingqiao Power Plant, which supplies electricity to the Beijing grid and steam heat to nearby commercial […]