POWERnews

Renewable energy’s share of U.S. power generation continues to rise, and the percentage of electricity produced by burning natural gas and coal continues to fall, according to the latest “Short-Term Energy Outlook,” or STEO, from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA on Jan. 18 said it expects U.S. power generation from renewables—mostly solar […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 18, 2022 Ethiopian GERD Mega-Dam Readying to Test Power Production Ethiopia is reportedly gearing up to begin testing hydropower generation at its flagship 5.2-GW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), despite a continued diplomatic row about its potential implications on water…   […]

The world is changing rapidly as technology advances at breakneck speed. From the fourth industrial revolution and virtual reality to 5G and artificial intelligence (AI), our society is on the brink of tremendous technological upheaval. Although many industries evolve alongside innovations, some, such as utilities, have not moved at the same pace. This is in […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 13, 2022 20 ‘Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters’ Hit U.S. in 2021 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), which calls itself “the Nation's Scorekeeper in terms of addressing severe weather and climate events," reported […]

Japan is furnishing $500 million (59.8 billion yen) to much-watched projects that will develop and demonstrate 100% fuel ammonia combustion technology for gas turbines and 50% co-firing at coal boilers, as part of an effort to build out the nation’s supply chain for fuel ammonia. The country’s national research agency New Energy and Industrial Technology […]

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is pushing forward with offshore wind energy environmental assessments (EA) for coastal areas in California and the Gulf of Mexico. This week, it also set a wind auction date for the New York Bight, an area comprising more than 480,000 acres offshore New York and New Jersey. The Department […]

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), which calls itself “the Nation’s Scorekeeper in terms of addressing severe weather and climate events,” reported that there were 20 “weather/climate disaster events” with losses exceeding $1 billion each that affected the U.S. in 2021. These events included one drought event, two […]

A Texas-based renewable energy company has completed a $180 million solar power project that it said is the largest array by generation capacity in the state of Indiana. EDP Renewables North America on Jan. 13 said the 200-MW Riverstart Solar Park in Randolph County, about 80 miles northeast of Indianapolis, is now fully operational, with […]

New distributed energy resources (DERs) are being added to the power grid every day. However, DERs don’t automatically provide owners with the greatest value possible. In many cases, that requires the help of an aggregator, that is, a company that specializes in managing DERs owned by a pool of clients and optimizing performance of the […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said it has dismissed a license application for one of the first advanced nuclear reactor designs to be considered by the agency. The NRC on Jan. 6 said it could not make a judgment on the merits of the design of Oklo Inc.’s 1.5-MW advanced fission power system, known […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 6, 2022 Disorderly Transitions: Eight Enduring Global Power Sector Trends While 2021 unfolded with some relief from the chaotic global pandemic that jolted the world in 2020, the year may be remembered for its extraordinary series of energy crises. After a […]

Evergy, a Kansas City, Missouri–headquartered energy provider serving about 1.6 million customers in Kansas and Missouri, announced plans on Jan. 5 to build a 10-MW solar array at the company’s Hawthorn power plant. “Our Hawthorn power plant is a prime location to showcase Kansas City’s commitment to renewable energy and our city’s forward-thinking progress,” said […]

As New York this year readies to build the 132-MW South Fork Wind Farm—its first offshore wind project—the state will dedicate $500 million in funding to enable offshore wind manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure. The investment announced by Gov. Kathy Hochul as part of  New York’s 2022 State of the State plan is just one […]

Ethiopia is reportedly gearing up to begin testing hydropower generation at its flagship 5.2-GW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), despite a continued diplomatic row about its potential implications on water consumption on the Blue Nile. Citing unnamed project sources, Capital, a weekly Ethiopian business newspaper, reported this week that work to begin test power generation […]

Engineering designs for functional safety systems used in the process industry sector are typically thorough, detailed, and follow a stringent safety life-cycle process. In a non-digitized execution model, the valuable information needed to enable an efficient safety process is not always readily available. Consider the following example: A refining plant has had an unplanned trip […]

A company active in the hydropower sector is working on a new project to build a pumped-hydro storage facility at the site of a former coal mine in Kentucky. Boston, Massachusetts-based Rye Development, which has a current in-design or operational portfolio of 25 projects in 10 states, on Jan. 4 announced it was developing the […]

A leaked draft of the European Commission’s proposal to label some natural gas and nuclear power plants as “transitional” or “green” investments has prompted pushback from some European Union (EU) members. Criticism is also mounting in South Korea, where liquefied natural gas (LNG) was included in its new green taxonomy guidelines—but nuclear was left out. […]

Behind the digital tools that make the industrial internet of things (IIOT) in the power generation and chemical process industries are people. The 2021 Connected Plant Conference in Austin, Texas recognized the achievements of several individuals and companies who are fast risers in the field. Through insight and experience, these “Game Changer” champions have contributed […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   December 30, 2021 First 1-GW Unit of Major China Coal-Fired Plant Comes Online A Chinese power company said the first of four 1,000-MW units at a new coal-fired power plant in a northwestern region of Inner Mongolia has entered operation. The Guodian […]

The end of the year will bring the end of power production for three of Germany’s final six operating nuclear power plants. The 1,410-MW Brokdorf unit in Schleswig-Holstein, the 1,360-MW Grohnde unit in Lower Saxony, and the 1,288-MW Gundremmingen C unit in Bavaria will all be permanently taken off the gird on Dec. 31. That […]

While 2021 kicked off short on optimism given chaos from the COVID-19 pandemic, the year was characterized by an extraordinary series of critical energy crises. Power blackouts, brownouts, interconnection mismatches, severe fuel shortages, and near-misses affected nearly every region in the world. Here’s a brief look back at some of the events that characterized 2021. […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) first conditional loan guarantee offered to a non-nuclear project since 2016 will finance the expansion of a pioneering commercial-scale “turquoise hydrogen” and carbon black production facility in Nebraska. The agency’s Loan Programs Office (LPO) on Dec. 23 offered a commitment to guarantee a loan of up to $1.04 billion under […]

It’s been another news-filled year in the power industry. The following stories were the top 10 traffic-getters posted in 2021 on POWER’s website. Did you see them all as they were released? 10. Mitsubishi Power Developing 100% Ammonia-Capable Gas Turbine Mitsubishi Power is developing a 40-MW class gas turbine that can directly combust 100% ammonia […]

A Chinese power company said the first of four 1,000-MW units at a new coal-fired power plant in a northwestern region of Inner Mongolia has entered operation. The Guodian Power Shanghaimiao Corp., part of the state-owned China Energy Investment Corp., on Dec. 28 said Unit 1 of the Shanghaimiao plant is online after a 168-hour […]

Solar power paired with energy storage is expected to lead capacity additions in the U.S. power generation sector over the next two years, according to the latest Electric Monthly Update from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA in its December report, which includes data through October 2021, said it projects the U.S. will […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   December 27, 2021 More than 32 GW of New Gas-Fired Power Plants in U.S. Pipeline Recent reports from groups analyzing U.S. power generation note how states near the nation’s largest shale plays are expected to bring significant new natural gas-fired generation online […]

The power and energy sector is one of the most critical areas of our country’s infrastructure, making it a prime target for cybercriminals increasingly looking for ways to infiltrate and disrupt the sector and ultimately the national grid. In fact, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report in early 2021 that found the […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   December 23, 2021 How Microreactors Could Change the Nuclear Power Industry (and the World) What is a microreactor and why would you want one? The definition could be debated, but nuclear reactors in the 1 MW to 20 MW range generally fit […]

As required by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Dec. 21 launched a new office—the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations—to “supercharge” its work to demonstrate hydrogen, carbon capture, energy storage, and advanced nuclear technologies. The new office will leverage $21.5 billion of the combined $62 billion allocated to the DOE […]

About six years ago, I was excited and eager to have regular opportunities to get out from behind my computer-aided design (CAD) workstation and visit our utility’s substations, transmission line right of ways (ROWs), and telecom sites throughout our service area in Texas. Most of us engineers and technicians looked forward to these inspections as […]