POWERnews

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said the agency has selected the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Holtec Government Services to support early deployments of advanced light-water small modular reactors (SMRs) in the U.S. The DOE on December 2 said project teams with the two groups will receive up to $800 million in “federal cost-shared funding” targeted for projects in Tennessee and Michigan.

The dawn of electric semitrucks and other medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles has arrived, and if the technology is going to be widely adopted, we have to come to grips with what this means for our electrical infrastructure.

POWER breaks down the top insights from Data Center POWER eXchange, its unique one-day summit curated by POWER’s editorial team and convened to examine the collision between accelerating data center load and tightening grid constraints.  The rise of artificial intelligence is poised to create the fastest, largest, and most concentrated surge of electricity demand in […]

The power industry is experiencing unprecedented demand growth, driven largely by data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. This surge is creating both opportunities and challenges for utilities, equipment manufacturers, and the broader power generation ecosystem. As a guest on The POWER Podcast, Seth Harris, growth director for Emerson’s Power business in North America, discussed […]

China’s Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP) in November reported it had achieved thorium-to-uranium fuel conversion inside an operating molten salt reactor (MSR). The milestone provides the first

Flamanville 3 synchronized to the French grid in December 2024 after a prolonged, hard-fought build—an achievement that reflects years of technical recovery, regulatory rigor, and lessons now shaping

The Unit 2 reactor at the Shimane nuclear power station resumed operation in January 2025, more than a decade after it, and all other reactors in Japan, were taken offline. Japanese officials want restarted nuclear units to help supply needed power and lower the cost of energy across the country.

In the race to decarbonize and secure America’s energy future, nuclear power is once again in the spotlight. From advanced reactors to fusion breakthroughs, the promise of nuclear energy is clear.

Negotiating contracts is a process that requires preparation and communication, as all parties work toward a mutually beneficial relationship. It’s particularly true for electric utilities, groups with multiple stakeholders in their projects. That includes the utilities themselves, their shareholders or other investors, and of course their customers.

The Department of Energy (DOE) extended its run of federal grid interventions into winter over the past week, issuing a Section 202(c) emergency order on Nov. 18 for Consumers Energy’s 1,420-MW J.H. Campbell coal plant in Michigan and another on Nov. 25 for Constellation’s 760-MW Eddystone Units 3 and 4 in southeastern Pennsylvania in a […]

In its recently released Winter Reliability Assessment, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) found that while resources are adequate for normal winter peak demand, large swaths of North America face an elevated risk of electricity shortfalls during prolonged, wide-area cold snaps. Noting that four severe Arctic storms have swept across much of the continent since […]

The UK has confirmed that Wylfa on the island of Anglesey, North Wales, will host three Rolls-Royce small modular reactors (SMRs) that could deliver first power in the mid-2030s—launching a state-backed, fleet-based nuclear deployment through publicly owned entity Great British Energy–Nuclear (GBE-N). The UK government has framed the SMR project, which is underpinned by more […]

The demand for distributed generation (DG) solar has never been higher, yet many projects are getting stuck before they even break ground. The problem is utility interconnection. For community or net metered solar systems in the 1 MW to 5 MW range, in particular, the utility’s review of whether the grid can handle new power […]

NRG Energy is the latest Texas-based utility to receive a loan agreement from the Texas Energy Fund (TxEF). The company plans to use the funding to support construction of a 455-MW natural gas-fired station at the site of the group’s current Greens Bayou Generating Station in Harris County, near Houston.

Keith Kotimko is the U.S. Decommissioning and Demolition Leader for WSP, a full-service solution provider that offers comprehensive facility decommissioning and demolition services. Kotimko provided POWER with insight into the process of permanently shutting down a power generation facility. He emphasized that decommissioning is a separate activity from demolition.

Energy developer, owner and operator Arevon Energy has started construction of a $200-million solar farm in Illinois. The 124-MW Big Muddy Solar installation in Jackson County is the company’s first utility-scale solar project in that state.

Lenders and investors are scrutinizing data center projects closely. Identifying and mitigating risks early helps attract investors and reduce financing costs. Clear documentation and realistic timelines are essential to securing financing. Land Control—The Foundation of Success: Land remains the cornerstone of any data center development. Verifying land control ensures the project’s legal and physical foundation […]

Westinghouse has partnered with Google Cloud to develop a custom AI-powered platform using specialized models from both Google and Westinghouse—itself a leader in AI for energy production—that helps optimize and accelerate reactor construction.

Vertiv, a global critical digital infrastructure group, and power systems leader Caterpillar announced the signing of a strategic undertaking to collaborate on advanced energy optimization solutions for data centers. The initiative unveiled November 18 will integrate Vertiv’s power distribution and cooling portfolio with Caterpillar’s, and its subsidiary Solar Turbines’, product and expertise in power generation and CCHP (combined cooling, heat, and power) to deliver pre-designed architectures that simplify deployment, accelerate time-to-power and optimize performance for data center operations.

An energy research group said U.S. power generation capacity will be led by solar power in the short term, natural gas in the mid term, and nuclear power in the long term as coal-fired units continue to be retired.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has signed off on NRG Energy’s plan to acquire nearly 13 GW of natural gas-fired power generation. The agency on November 13 said it supports Houston, Texas-based NRG’s $12-billion deal with New York-based LS Power for capacity in the PJM market territory.

Global investment group and asset manager Blackstone said it will support construction of a 600-MW combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plant in West Virginia. The Wolf Summit Energy facility, which will feature GE Vernova equipment, is affiliated with Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, which serves about 1.5 million customers across three states.

The U.S. residential solar industry has entered a new era. With the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) phasing out at the end of 2025, the market faces a moment of recalibration. This will likely mean a short-term decline, but it’s far from a death knell for the industry. After all, while incentives may fade, energy […]

Air Liquide announced the successful start-up of the world’s first industrial-scale ammonia cracking pilot unit with a 30-tons-per-day ammonia-to-hydrogen conversion capacity at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges, Belgium. This groundbreaking innovation, announced November 13, demonstrates a key missing technology brick to a viable pathway for converting ammonia into hydrogen, and unlocks challenges of transportation of hydrogen. […]

Opponents of a planned methane gas power plant on a floating barge off the coast of Louisiana were successful in moving Entergy Louisiana to cancel the project. Earthjustice in a news release sent to POWER said the group represented the Alliance for Affordable Energy in opposition to the proposed 112-MW Bayou Power Station.

The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) has executed its first agreement under the Texas Energy Fund (TxEF) Completion Bonus Grant (CBG) Program, awarding the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) up to $22.56 million for its 188-MW Timmerman Power Plant Unit 1, a new natural gas–fired plant in Caldwell County, Texas. The agreement marks the operational launch of Texas’s performance-contingent funding mechanism, which is designed to accelerate […]

Ammonia-to-power solutions provider Amogy will join with South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries in a multi-year strategic contract manufacturing partnership. The companies on November 12 said SHI plans to establish a dedicated facility in South Korea to produce and test Amogy’s ammonia-to-power systems.

Securing a reliable supply of electricity requires plenty of research to balance the risks and rewards of striking a deal.

The retirement of older thermal power generation facilities, driven by a transition to cleaner forms of energy, has increased in recent years as utilities and other power generators mothball plants that are uneconomic or simply no longer needed.

California-based Nextracker has announced its corporate rebranding to Nextpower. The company on November 12 said the new name reflects the group’s transformation into a global supplier of fully integrated energy technology solutions.