POWERnews

Texas-based CPS Energy, the largest municipally owned electric and natural gas company in the U.S., has entered into a 15-year commercial agreement to explore installing up to 15 MW of geomechanical pumped storage (GPS). The agreement will kick off with a pioneering 1-MW project that will pump water into drilled wells and store it under […]

The war in Ukraine is having a global impact on energy prices, not only driving the cost of oil higher, but also sending coal prices to record levels as demand for the fuel grows during a period of diminished supply. The Newcastle (Australia) futures price of thermal coal for power generation hit $435/ton on March […]

I’ve come to depend on the navigation system in my car. It predicts traffic jams, gives me the fastest route, informs me of store hours, and even tells me where to get a burger. To give me this experience, the navigation system draws on multiple data sources, puts it into context, and presents it through […]

A new 2-GW natural gas-fired power plant in China, being built to support the coming retirement of a large regional coal-fired complex, will feature three GE 9HA.01 gas turbines. GE Gas Power and Harbin Electric on March 7 announced that Chinese state-owned power utility Shenzhen Energy Group Corporation Co. has ordered the equipment for its Guangming […]

CEOs of energy companies with projects in Russia are facing career-defining leadership moments. What do you do when your corporate investments nearly overnight become politically, economically and socially untenable to your key stakeholders? Within days of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, BP’s Chief Executive Bernard Looney was quick out of the gate to tell the world […]

Eighteen bipartisan U.S. Senators are backing a bill that would direct the president to declare a national emergency and prohibit imports of Russian energy commodities, including crude oil, petroleum products, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and coal. While the measure does not include Russian uranium, a senior Department of Energy official said addressing U.S. reliance on […]

The venerable business of commodity trading, already in the news for the supply chain impacts of COVID, has moved to center stage with the war in Ukraine. Impacts of Russia’s invasion could ripple to manufacturing of all kinds, especially the clean energy transition we need to meet climate goals. COMMENTARY Within the first week of […]

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on March 4 that Russian forces had taken control of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) site, but that the reactors continued to be operated by the plant’s regular staff and there had been no release of radioactive material. “What we are telling you is confirmed information that […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   March 3, 2022 Conflict in Ukraine Threatens Nuclear Power Plants and Radioactive Waste Disposal Facilities; Operations Continue In its most recent update on the status of Ukrainian nuclear power plants (NPPs), issued to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on March 2, […]

In its most recent update on the status of Ukrainian nuclear power plants (NPPs), issued to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on March 2, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU) said it maintained communications with the country’s NPPs and that all units “continued to operate as before.” Of Ukraine’s 15 reactors, more […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission  (NRC) in a dramatic reversal on Feb. 24 threw out a key environmental review that staff applied to subsequent license renewal (SLR) approvals for units at Turkey Point and Peach Bottom nuclear plants in 2019 and 2020, deeming their applications “incomplete.” In a series of orders, the federal regulatory agency’s three […]

Equipment suppliers and construction partners have been chosen for the $1.2 billion Gemini solar-plus-storage installation in Nevada, which when complete will be among the largest solar projects in the U.S. Oakland, California-based Primergy Solar, part of Australia-based Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners and Gemini’s developer, owner, and operator, on March 3 said it has chosen Kiewit Power […]

Xcel Energy is exploring a role as operator of the 462-MWe Carbon-Free Power Project (CFPP), potentially becoming a key member of the first-of-its-kind small modular reactor (SMR) power plant that is under development at an Idaho National Laboratory (INL) site in Idaho Falls. The development is another sizable step for the six-module NuScale Power VOYGR project. […]

Sweden’s government in late January gave radioactive waste management company Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB (SKB) the green light to proceed with a deep geological repository (DGR) for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) at a site near Vattenfall’s 3.2-GW Forsmark nuclear power plant. The milestone, which wraps up a planning process that has taken more than 40 years, makes Sweden only the second country, after Finland, to take active steps on building a permanent SNF repository.

The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments on a landmark case that could determine whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to broadly interpret the Clean Air Act (CAA) to establish carbon emission standards for coal, oil, and gas-fired power plants. Arguments in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (No. 20-1530) presented to […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   February 28, 2022 Ethiopia Produces First Power at GERD Mega-Dam Ethiopia began delivering power from a 375-MW turbine at its flagship 5.15-GW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on Feb. 20, marking a significant milestone for the project that could become… Solar Developer […]

The mining of cryptocurrency, or bitcoin, is an energy-intensive process, and entrepreneurs are looking at several technologies—including innovative geothermal energy techniques—to power their operations. Among the latest is a service from a California-based renewable energy group, RenewaBit, which has joined with CeraPhi Energy, a Houston, Texas-based company, to produce geothermal energy with integrated crypto mining […]

A wind farm comprised of four projects in central New Mexico, serving areas of that state and California, is now online and takes the title of the largest wind power installation in the U.S. Pattern Energy Group, among the world’s largest privately-owned developers and operators of wind, solar, transmission, and energy storage projects, on Feb. […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   February 24, 2022 Ethiopia Produces First Power at GERD Mega-Dam Ethiopia began delivering power from a 375-MW turbine at its flagship 5.15-GW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on Feb. 20, marking a significant milestone for the project that could become… Solar Developer […]

A California developer of concentrated solar power (CSP) systems has announced an innovation that it says combines the company’s technologies to turn existing oil wells into energy storage sites that can provide clean energy. Hyperlight Energy on Feb. 24 said it was launching Tectonic Sun, an electricity generation technology that when paired with the company’s […]

The U.S. power network received attention for tragic reasons in 2021. From February 10 through 20, Texas suffered a severe power crisis due to a confluence of catastrophic winter storms. Failures occurred across all types of electricity generation facilities—natural gas, coal, and nuclear plants shut down, and wind turbines froze. Problems cascaded, as the compressors […]

Many experts believe hydrogen holds great promise as a clean energy resource that can help nations achieve carbon-free goals. Green hydrogen, which is made from water through electrolysis powered by renewable energy, could be used to decarbonize a wide range of hard-to-abate industries, including petrochemical, cement, and steel, which often require high temperatures and combustion […]

Poland’s pursuit of offshore wind took a step forward with the announcement that Siemens Gamesa will supply turbines for two new installations in the Baltic Sea. The MFW Baltyk II and MFW Baltyk III projects, being developed by Equinor and Polenergia, will use SG 14-236 DD offshore wind turbines, as part of two “Preferred Supplier […]

The energy transition will bring with it a new generation of cybersecurity challenges for the power sector. While information-sharing has been valuable, strategies to address issues related to vendor security, cyber talent, and lagging investment will also be critical, a former utility supply chain executive who led the development of an industry-wide cybersecurity risk exchange […]

A Colorado company that serves rural communities with solar power-based microgrids announced an investment that would provide more than 100 installations across two states in India. Husk Power Systems on Feb. 17 said it had closed $4.2 million in debt financing from the India Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) to build as many as 140 […]

Ethiopia began delivering power from a 375-MW turbine at its flagship 5.15-GW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on Feb. 20, marking a significant milestone for the project that could become Africa’s largest hydropower producer. Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed inaugurated the project in a celebration broadcast widely in the East African nation on Sunday. Officials […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   February 17, 2022 GE-Led Carbon Capture Project at Southern Company Site Gets DOE Funding A GE Gas Power front-end engineering design (FEED) study will receive $5,771,670 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon […]

SoCalGas, North America’s largest gas distribution utility, has unveiled the Angeles Link, a proposed green hydrogen energy infrastructure system for Southern California that it says could be the largest of its kind in the nation. The Angeles Link proposes to utilize between 25 GW and 35 GW of curtailed or new solar, wind, or battery […]

Duke Energy, the nation’s largest power producer, will dramatically slash coal generation’s share from the current 22% of total generation to 5% by 2030 and achieve a full phaseout of unabated coal by 2035. The company instead expects to deploy more than $130 billion over the next decade—$63 billion of which it will spend over […]

Smart grids have been with us for over a decade. But for many power industry stakeholders, they’re associated almost exclusively with smart meters. Remote meter reading is certainly a compelling use case, and one which justified many initial deployments, especially in the U.S. where end-customer sites are spread out over large distances. But there’s much […]