POWERnews

The U.S. Senate has passed the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act, sweeping legislation that seeks to promote U.S. nuclear leadership, accelerate advanced nuclear technology development while preserving existing nuclear generation, bolster national security measures, and enhance regulatory efficiency to support new nuclear deployment. The Senate passed the bill on […]

Masdar, the Abu Dhabi-based renewable energy major, said it has agreed to buy Greece’s Terna Energy in a €3.2 billion ($3.4 billion) deal. The agreement signed June 20 is one of the largest renewable energy transactions in the history of the European Union. Masdar—also known as Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co.—said Thursday it had a […]

Dynamic line rating (DLR) enables utilities to unlock up to 40% additional capacity from existing infrastructure, allowing grid operators to rapidly increase energy throughput. This capability is crucial in today’s energy landscape, where the proportion of renewable energy sources is quickly expanding, and the existing aging infrastructure cannot support this growing demand. Operating power lines […]

A leading solar energy equipment provider announced construction of a new factory that will expand its U.S. operations. California-based Nextracker on June 18 held a ceremony to mark the second Nextracker-dedicated manufacturing line that Unimacts, a Las Vegas-based group, has opened in the past year. The new 160,000-square-foot facility in Sloan, Nevada, south of Las […]

As the solar industry matures, pressure for asset owners to deliver higher returns continues to mount.  Not surprisingly, so has the demand to improve operations and maintenance (O&M) efficiency – the single largest component of a utility-scale solar asset’s post-construction budget. Whether an asset owner performs O&M in-house, outsources to a third-party, or utilizes a […]

The future of energy may depend on technology with roots in the video game industry, by a company founded more than 30 years ago that wanted to use accelerated computing to improve the look and feel of the gaming experience. Jensen Huang, NVIDIA’s CEO and president since co-founding the Santa Clara, California-based company in 1993, […]

The second stage of one of the world’s largest wind farms is moving forward after developer TagEnergy announced it had closed financing for the project. The $2.6 billion Golden Plains Wind Farm in Australia, which when complete will have about 1.3 GW of generation capacity, will be the largest wind farm in Australia once fully […]

A leading renewable energy power transmission infrastructure company said it signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with a Canadian group for electricity from a wind farm project in Québec. Pattern Energy Group LP on June 18 announced a 30-year PPA with Hydro-Québec for the latter’s 150-MW Broughton Wind project, located in the municipalities of Saint-Pierre-de-Broughton, […]

Nevada-based utility NV Energy said it plans to add more than 1 GW of capacity from both solar power and battery energy storage to its generation portfolio by the end of 2027. The company, which includes Las Vegas in its service territory and is part of billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, unveiled the additional […]

Bill Gates’ nuclear innovation firm TerraPower has broken ground on the non-nuclear portion of Kemmerer Unit 1, a 345-MW Natrium sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) power plant. The groundbreaking on June 10 makes the federal demonstration project the first advanced nuclear reactor project to move from design into construction in the Western Hemisphere, the company noted. […]

SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index) and SAIFI (System Average Interruption Frequency Index) are widely used reliability indices that measure the performance of power distribution systems. SAIDI represents the total duration of interruptions for an average customer over a given time period, typically a year. It is calculated by taking the sum of all customer […]

Michigan’s major electric utility said it plans to build one of the nation’s largest standalone battery energy storage projects at the site of a retired coal-fired power plant. Detroit-based DTE Energy on June 10 said it would convert part of the closed Trenton Channel power plant into a 220-MW energy storage facility. DTE retired Trenton […]

Deloitte, a group providing a variety of services for business and industry, in a new report published June 12 notes the importance of distributed energy resources (DERs) to the future of power generation and consumption. The report, titled “DERstribution Transformation: Harnessing the power of the household to meet utility decarbonization and affordability goals,” says that […]

The global race to build ever-larger offshore wind turbines may have another entrant, as Siemens Gamesa has reportedly told customers the company plans to produce a 21-MW model in the next few years. The Bloomberg news service on June 10, citing anonymous sources, said Siemens is involved in researching what would be the world’s largest […]

Decarbonization goals call for advancing high-impact energy technologies. The U.S. has pledged to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, a goal that presents both challenges and opportunities in the field of advanced materials. This ambitious goal requires a wide range of technological advancements to enable the shift from fossil fuel-based systems to more sustainable and low-carbon […]

Global energy company GE Vernova and Seatrium Limited, a Singaporean state-owned group, said their consortium has been awarded a third contract by Dutch transmission system operator TenneT for construction of a 2-GW high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric offshore transmission system in the Netherlands. The groups on June 10 said construction is set to begin this […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   June 10, 2024 Siemens Gamesa Cutting 4,100 Jobs in Wind Turbine Unit Siemens Gamesa plans to cut about 4,100 jobs from its wind turbine division as the company continues to restructure its business. The downsizing, reported May 28 by Reuters, impacts about… […]

An Oregon-based sustainable energy innovation group said it has successfully produced green hydrogen through the use of vertical wind turbines on an oceangoing vessel. ONESTONE HOLDINGS on June 3 said the project “represents a major leap forward in harnessing renewable energy sources at sea to create clean fuel.” The company in a news release said […]

The incoming new government of the Netherlands reportedly will support construction of at least four new utility-scale nuclear power reactors, as part of a program to more than triple the amount of government money to fund nuclear projects. Dutch media reported that Silvio Erkens, a member of the center-right VVD (People’s Party for Freedom and […]

Forty-three Republican senators (along with one Independent) introduced a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval on June 5 to overturn emissions rules issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which they say target existing coal-fired power plants and new gas-fired plants. The action was led by U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member […]

A new report from two leading energy industry groups said a record 11 GW of new solar power module manufacturing capacity entered service during the first three months of this year, representing the largest quarter of solar manufacturing growth in U.S. history. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie in their U.S. Solar […]

The state-owned Power Construction Corp. of China has brought a 5-GW solar power plant into commercial operation, with the project taking over as the world’s largest operating photovoltaic (PV) facility. The solar park, which entered service on June 3, is located in a desert area of the northwestern China province of Xinjiang, near the provincial […]

CMS Energy’s subsidiary NorthStar Clean Energy has given Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) the green light to start initial work on converting a 73-MW coal-fired power plant in Michigan into a bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) facility that could send “carbon-negative” power to the grid. B&W on June 3 said the limited notice to […]

FBI Director Christopher Wray, while speaking at the Vanderbilt Summit on Modern Conflict and Emerging Threats in Nashville, Tennessee, in April, warned that U.S. critical infrastructure is a prime target of the Chinese government. “The fact is, the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China’s] targeting of our critical infrastructure is both broad and unrelenting,” he said. […]

Entergy Texas filed an application with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) for approval to build two natural gas power plants—one in Jefferson County and the other in Liberty County. “The Legend and Lone Star Power Stations will address the critical need for increased power generation capacity, support increased economic activity throughout the region, […]

Colorado-based electric cooperative Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association for the first time has purchased renewable energy projects that will provide power for its members. The co-op, a not-for-profit wholesale power supplier, on June 4 announced it was buying Axial Basin Solar, a 145-MW solar project in Moffat County in northwest Colorado near the Colowyo Mine, […]

Equinor on June 4 announced its has finalized an agreement with New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for the renewable power generated by the 810-MW Empire Wind 1 offshore wind project. The deal comes after NYSERDA in February announced that Equinor had been selected as a conditional winner in New York’s fourth […]

Engineering firms are increasingly recognizing the importance of digital construction and its transformative impact on electrical engineering and MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) design. Leveraging digital construction tools enables firms to optimize design processes, enhance collaboration, and deliver more efficient and sustainable solutions for their clients. Rahul Mittal, senior electrical engineer at Arup, has been […]

Texas’ plan to add more natural gas-fired power generation capacity, supported by money from a newly created energy fund, received a boost when several companies announced their intention to file applications to build new facilities under the program. Vistra on May 30 said it plans to add as much as 2 GW of gas-fired generation […]

Mitsubishi Power will supply its gas turbine technology to a new power plant in Brazil, a 1.6-GW facility considered among the largest electricity generation projects in Latin America. The company on May 31 said a consortium including Mitsubishi Power and CONSAG Engenharia signed an agreement with Portocem Geração de Energia S.A. and New Fortress Energy […]