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For decades, gas-insulated substations (GIS) have been used primarily in densely populated metropolitan areas. They take up only 10% of the footprint of outdoor or air-insulated substations and provide reliable medium- and low-voltage service where space needed to service areas for industrial locations, hospitals, and housing may be limited. However, as rural environments become desirable […]

California officials have taken a major step toward establishing the state’s offshore wind energy industry, setting a goal of installing as much as 5 GW of generation capacity this decade, and 25 GW by 2045. The California Energy Commission (CEC) on Aug. 10 put out a report detailing the state’s plan for offshore wind, which […]

Chicago’s public buildings could all be powered by renewable energy under a plan announced by Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Aug. 8. The mayor, along with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, on Monday said the city has an agreement with Chicago utility Constellation Energy, along with Massachusetts-based Swift Current Energy, a renewable energy developer. The two spoke […]

Environmental officials in Illinois have signed off on construction of a 1,100-MW natural gas-fired power plant sited near Springfield, the state capital. EmberClear, an energy company with offices in Houston, Texas, and Moosic, Pennsylvania, is behind the $1 billion project, which will be located near Pawnee in Sangamon County. The Lincoln Land Energy Center will […]

Norway-based energy major Equinor could continue to operate its natural gas-fired Mongstad power plant to support the country’s electricity supply. The company recently said it may reconsider its decision to close the plant by the end of August. Norway, which like many other countries has suffered drought conditions over the past several months, is experiencing […]

(Updated): The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is growing increasingly alarmed by military action at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, warning that artillery shelling at the plant site on Aug. 5 underlines a “very real risk of a nuclear disaster.” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi in a statement on Aug. 6 said new information about […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   August 4, 2022 Vogtle 3 Gets NRC’s Approval to Begin Operation in Significant Regulatory Milestone for U.S. Nuclear Industry The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has given Southern Nuclear Operating Company (SNC) the green light to load fuel and begin the operation of […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is readying a regulatory sweep targeting more stringent limits on traditional pollutants that could accelerate coal power plant closures. A coal trade group estimates that even without new rules, 86 GW of coal generation is slated to retire by 2030. While the U.S. Supreme Court in June curtailed the EPA’s […]

High temperatures in river water are reportedly forcing Electricite de France SA (EDF) to cut power generation at some of its nuclear plants. The news is particularly troubling as several European nations struggle to cope with an energy crisis caused by gas cuts made by Russia in retaliation against sanctions placed on it due to […]

AVANGRID announced it has finalized a deal to operate and manage the Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind project, an 800-MW installation being built off the coast of Massachusetts. Vineyard Wind 1 is owned in a joint venture between AVANGRID, part of the Iberdrola Group, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Construction of what would be the first […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has given Southern Nuclear Operating Company (SNC) the green light to load fuel and begin the operation of an AP1000 nuclear reactor at Vogtle Unit 3. The authorization moves Vogtle 3 out of the NRC’s construction reactor oversight program and into the operating reactor oversight process—effectively making Vogtle 3 the first […]

While only one commercial power plant equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS) remains in operation today, the momentum for CCS appears to have picked up dramatically over the past year. According to a database curated by the Global CCS Institute, more than 30 power generation CCS projects are under construction or in various stages […]

A new contractor has been named to finish construction of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant. Russia’s state-owned energy giant Rosatom on July 30 said it had chosen TSM Enerji, a company owned by three Russian groups and incorporated in Turkey, as the project’s new engineering, procurement, and construction lead. The Turkish government has said it […]

Longtime Southern Co. CEO Tom Fanning plans to announce his retirement, perhaps by the end of this year, stepping down after leading the company since 2010. A Bloomberg report on July 29, citing “people familiar with the matter,” said the U.S. utility giant already has launched a search to find Fanning’s replacement. Bloomberg reported that […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has indicated it will certify NuScale’s 50-MWe (160 MWth) small modular reactor (SMR) design, marking another definitive milestone for the reactor vendor and its technology prospects. The NRC on July 29 said it directed staff to issue a final rule that certifies the standard SMR design, for which NuScale submitted […]

Vietnamese officials said a U.S. utility company plans to develop a $13 billion, 4-GW offshore wind farm that would be sited off that country’s central province of Binh Thuan. Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade in a statement issued July 29 said AES Corp., a Virginia-based utility that operates in 15 countries, is behind the […]

Solar technology is advancing at a rapid rate, making solar easier to adopt. However, there is still a large potential of growth when it comes to the solar market. Looking at global data, solar photovoltaic (PV) generation has steadily increased for the past several years, and showed the second-largest absolute generation growth of all renewable technologies […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   July 28, 2022 Nuclear Power Plants Report Stellar Performance, but Retirements Could Limit Climate Benefits The world’s nuclear power plants generated a total of 2,653 TWh of energy in 2021, up 100 TWh from 2020. It was the third-highest total ever for […]

Southern Co. on July 28 increased its cost estimate for Georgia Power’s share of the two-unit expansion of the Vogtle nuclear plant. Southern, during an investor presentation of the company’s second-quarter financial results, said Georgia Power’s share of capital costs for the project has risen by $52 million, to about $10.5 billion in total. Georgia […]

The inclusion of an estimated $369 billion in energy security and climate change investments in a July 27–unveiled U.S. Senate budget reconciliation proposal has prompted optimism from a range of energy sectors. Less than two weeks after negotiations on clean energy and climate provisions within the reconciliation package hit an impasse and suggested their demise, […]

Global installed hydropower capacity rose by 26 GW in 2021 to 1,360 GW, but that’s far short of the progress needed to achieve the world’s climate change mitigation goals. “We know that to keep climate change below 2°C, or the more challenging 1.5°C net zero target, we will need to see a huge increase in […]

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) and ARC Clean Energy Canada have agreed to collaborate on a two-year joint project to “deliver a technology demonstration for the fuel fabrication process” customized for ARC Canada’s ARC-100, a 100-MWe/286-MWth, sodium-cooled “advanced small modular reactor” (aSMR), the parties announced on July 26. The development marks a pivotal boost for ARC […]

The world’s nuclear power plants generated a total of 2,653 TWh of energy in 2021, up 100 TWh from 2020. It was the third-highest total ever for global generation from nuclear, just 4 TWh short of the output in 2019 and 7 TWh less than the record set in 2006. The results were reported by […]

A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, based on research from Stanford University and the University of British Columbia, addressed the problem of nuclear waste from small modular reactors (SMRs). The study said that many designs for SMRs would increase the amount of nuclear waste in need of disposal, […]

Environment, social, and governance (ESG) reporting has never been easy—and with pressures rising from investors, corporate leaders, and the government, organizations are struggling to meet the needs of all stakeholders. Facility managers must grapple with reaching and documenting progress toward ESG goals that align with the desires of sustainability-minded investors while boards and corporate leaders […]

The U.S. will rely on utility leaders to scale smart grid infrastructure and reduce carbon emissions. Climate change has captured the world’s attention for decades. We’ve seen countless intergovernmental summits, worldwide protests, and documentaries on global warming over the years. Although momentum has been building across the public and private sectors, leaders are preparing for […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   July 25, 2022 GE's Energy Business Will Have a New Name—Vernova General Electric (GE) is again announcing changes to its corporate structure, with the company on July 18 saying its energy and other businesses will operate under new brand names. H.… Sponsored […]

The Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) trades make up a significant portion of a construction project’s budget, and MEP scope continues to grow in complexity and size as we get further into the 21st century. Depending on the type of project, the MEP scope can account for upwards of a third of an overall project’s […]

The UK government has given the go-ahead for construction of the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in southeast England, which officials have called an important project for the country to meet its net-zero climate goals. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng on July 20 confirmed the government’s support, saying UK officials consider it a major infrastructure project […]

Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) programs have become quite prominent in communities across California, and have begun to spring up in other states including Illinois, Massachusetts, and Ohio. Through CCA, communities can purchase electricity on behalf of residents and businesses, in place of investor-owned utilities such as Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), San Diego Gas & […]