POWERnews
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Energy Storage
Energy Storage Projects in New York and Texas Get Boost
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Sept. 8 that $16.6 million had been awarded to five long-duration energy storage projects in her state. She also said an additional $17 million in competitive funding was available for projects that “advance development and demonstration of scalable innovative long-duration energy storage technologies, including hydrogen.” Meanwhile, Qcells USA […]
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Solar
Why the Solar Market Is Down and Why It’s Poised for a Comeback
The forecast for U.S. solar energy installations in 2022 have been revised downward in a report published by Wood Mackenzie and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) on Sept. 8, due in large part to supply chain constraints and an industry-wide slowdown caused by the initiation of an anticircumvention investigation earlier this year. The U.S. […]
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Gas
Two Illinois Gas Power Plants Acquired by Public Benefit Corporation Earthrise Energy
Two Eastern Generation natural gas power plants in northeastern Illinois have been acquired by Earthrise Energy, an emerging independent power producer and “public benefit corporation” that has now amassed a 1.7-GW natural gas fleet in Illinois. Earthrise on Sept. 6 said it acquired the 328-MW Crete (Figure 1) and 656-MW Lincoln Generating Facility from Eastern […]
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Power
Biden Administration Targets Industrial Decarbonization Through Electrification, Low-Carbon Fuels, CCUS
The Biden administration has laid out a comprehensive roadmap to help five energy-intensive manufacturing sectors reduce their fuel- and power-related carbon emissions and achieve net-zero by 2050. The pathways proposed for the iron and steel, cement and concrete, food and beverage, chemical manufacturing, and petroleum refining sectors may have substantial implications for future power demand. […]
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Energy Security
California Declares Stage 3 Emergency Alert, Warns Rotating Outages Possible
California’s grid operator issued a Stage 3 energy emergency alert (EEA) at 5:17 p.m. PST on Sept. 6, warning it would order rotating power outages to lower soaring power demand and stabilize its grid, if necessary. The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) cautiously raised the emergency alert from Stage 2, which it had declared earlier […]
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Interview
The POWER Interview: Developing Platforms for Renewable Energy
Billions of dollars are supporting renewable energy development in the U.S. The International Energy Agency has said record amounts of spending on clean energy will increase global energy investment by 8% in 2022. Julie McLaughlin, a managing director with Alvarez & Marsal’s U.S. Energy practice in San Francisco, California, has extensive experience in the energy space, working with […]
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Nuclear
Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant Gets Legislative Approval for Operation to 2030
California’s lawmakers have passed Senate Bill 846, effectively offering Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) a pathway to keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant open until at least 2030. The bill, authored by Assemblymember Jordan Cunningham, a Republican from San Luis Obispo, and Democratic state Sen. Bill Dodd of Napa, passed the California Assembly by 69–3 […]
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POWERnews—Sept. 1, 2022
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store September 1, 2022 Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant Gets Legislative Approval for Operation to 2030 California’s lawmakers have passed Senate Bill 846, effectively offering Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) a pathway to keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant open until at least […]
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Management
Another Major Leadership Shuffle: PSEG Gets New CEO
In another high-profile leadership shuffle at a major U.S. power generating company, PSEG’s longtime president and CEO Ralph Izzo on Sept. 1 passed leadership of the regulated infrastructure company to Ralph LaRossa, who was previously PSEG’s chief operating officer (COO). Izzo, who will continue to serve as executive chair of the PSEG board until December […]
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Gas
GE H-Class Turbine Will Power New Louisiana Gas-Fired Plant
General Electric’s (GE’s) H-Class power generation equipment technology will be used at a new natural gas-fired power plant in Louisiana. GE on Sept. 1 said it received an order from Kindle Energy for a 7HA.03 gas turbine to serve the 725-MW Magnolia Power Project that will be built in Plaquemine. The new facility is expected […]
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Nuclear
You’ve Heard of Offshore Wind; Now, Offshore Nuclear Is a Thing
CORE POWER announced that it and its partners, the MIT Energy Initiative and the Idaho National Laboratory, were granted funding by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) for a three-year study into the development of offshore floating nuclear power generation in the U.S. “It is an important step forward for […]
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Solar
Siemens Gamesa in Deal with SSE Renewables for European Assets
Siemens Gamesa said it has sold its renewable energy assets in southern Europe to SSE Renewables, a division of Scottish multinational energy company SSE. The deal announced Sept. 1 is for a 3.8-GW portfolio of projects, including onshore wind facilities in Spain, Italy, Greece, and France. The agreement also includes potential opportunities for Siemens Gamesa […]
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Gas
DOE Backs Carbon Capture Development at Two Major Gas-Fired Power Plants
Two major U.S. gas power plants will be part of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) efforts to develop carbon capture technologies capable of capturing at least 95% of carbon dioxide. The agency’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) on Aug. 26 announced $31 million in funding for 10 projects. While many of the […]
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Offshore Wind
Rapid Progress for Japan’s Offshore Wind Ambitions
Japan’s ambitions to install up to 10 GW of offshore wind power by 2030 have made rapid progress over the past month, driven partly by accelerated action to address a supply and demand mismatch. Weeks after
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Infographics
THE BIG PICTURE: Hydropower’s Climate Risks
While hydropower provides about 16% of global electricity generation today, climate change is predicted to drive various changes in hydrology that could translate into a spectrum of risks for hydropower production. A recent study published in the journal Water estimates 61% of all global hydropower dams will be in basins with very high or extreme […]
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Nuclear
IAEA Embarks on Unprecedented Mission to Inspect Nuclear Power Plant in Ukrainian ‘War Zone’
An expert team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has arrived in Kyiv and is readying to inspect Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) for damage from weeks of shelling. The development marks a significant breakthrough for the agency, which has for the past month pleaded with Russia and Ukraine to allow it to […]
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Interview
The POWER Interview: Modeling Solutions for the Future of Energy
Utilities function in the present but must always plan for the future. That’s even more true today, as the rapid pace of change with power generation technologies, and the transition to cleaner forms of energy, means utilities—whether they deal with electricity, natural gas, water, transportation, or are a municipality that pays attention to all those […]
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News
Inflation Reduction Act Programs Could Establish the U.S. as a Market Leader in Hydrogen
For the growing U.S. hydrogen industry, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is transformative. Today, nearly all hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels to be used as a chemical feedstock and for refining—emitting carbon dioxide in the process. Recently, thanks to state incentive programs, federal funds, and voluntary corporate commitments, clean hydrogen has been gaining ground […]
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Best of POWER—Aug. 29, 2022
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store August 29, 2022 Biden Signs Bill to Transform U.S. Energy, Combat Climate Change President Biden’s signing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) should provide further impetus for growth of U.S. renewable energy, coming on the heels of a report from the Federal […]
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Nuclear
Hungary Adding New VVER-1200 Nuclear Reactors in First for EU
Hungary’s nuclear energy agency has issued a license for construction of two reactors for Paks II, a power generation project first launched in early 2014 as part of an inter-governmental agreement between Hungary and Russia. Officials said Paks II would be the first nuclear plant in the European Union to use Rosatom’s Generation III+ VVER-1200 […]
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POWERnews—Aug. 25, 2022
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store August 25, 2022 U.S.’s Natural Gas-Fired Power Plants Set Daily Production Records in July Despite High Fuel Prices The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that electricity generated by natural gas–fired power plants in the lower 48 states reached 6.37 TWh on […]
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Geothermal
CAISO’s First Geothermal Plant in 30 Years Comes Online
The first geothermal power plant built in more than three decades within the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) balancing authority has come online. Mammoth Pacific Geothermal, an Ormat Co. subsidiary, declared the 30-MW Casa Diablo IV (CD4) commercially operational on July 20. CD4 is located on public land two miles east of the Town of […]
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Nuclear
Pilot Advanced Nuclear Fuel Manufacturing Facility Opens
Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. has opened a pilot fuel manufacturing facility that will produce TRi-structural ISOtropic (TRISO) coated fuel particles and the company’s proprietary fuel for use in its high-temperature gas reactor (HTGR). The Pilot Fuel Manufacturing (PFM) facility, located at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is one of the […]
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Gas
U.S.’s Natural Gas-Fired Power Plants Set Daily Production Records in July Despite High Fuel Prices
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that electricity generated by natural gas–fired power plants in the lower 48 states reached 6.37 TWh on July 21, setting a new record high for a day. In fact, the previous high, set on July 27, 2020, was broken three times during that week in July, first on […]
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Nuclear
Japan Looks at Ramping Up Nuclear Power to Ensure Energy Supply
Japan’s prime minister said the country is prepared to restart more of its idled nuclear reactors, and look at building more power generation facilities with next-generation nuclear technology. The comments from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during an Aug. 24 news conference in Tokyo signal a shift in Japan’s thinking about nuclear power after the country […]
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Distributed Generation
How to Prevent Downtime as the Temperature Heats Up
Climate change is continuing to drive temperatures to unprecedented levels. In just a single day in late June, the United States set or broke at least 21 high-temperature records. So, what do we do to cool down? We crank up the air conditioner. But with each surge in energy demand, our aging grid is being […]
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T&D
Operating Energy Systems in a War-Torn Country: DTEK Prepares for Winter
While much of the world lives life as usual, DTEK—the largest private investor in Ukraine’s energy sector—is focused on providing reliable service amidst war and uncertainty. “Today, the major topic for us is to provide stability in durations of electricity sector in Ukraine and also do everything possible to prepare for winter season,” DTEK CEO […]
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T&D
Preparing the Grid for an Above-Average Hurricane Season
Hurricanes are one of the most destructive forces in nature. Hurricane season in North America runs from June 1 to November 30, peaking between August and September, and 2022 would be the seventh straight year of above-average hurricane activity, if predictions are correct. A typical Atlantic hurricane season has 14 named storms, seven hurricanes, and […]
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Interview
The POWER Interview: Fluence Exec Offers Insight on Energy Storage
There’s global growth in energy storage. The latest evidence is a report that BlackRock, the New York-based asset manager and a major player in energy sector, is ready to buy Akyasha Energy, an Australian company that specializes in battery storage and renewable energy projects. BlackRock in an Aug. 16 news release said it would commit […]
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POWERnews—Aug. 18, 2022
POWER Magazine Jobs White Papers Webinars Events Store August 18, 2022 Biden Signs Bill to Transform U.S. Energy, Combat Climate Change President Biden’s signing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) should provide further impetus for growth of U.S. renewable energy, coming on the heels of a report from the Federal […]