POWERnews

  • NuScale, Last Energy Make Significant Insteps for SMRs in Poland

    NuScale has signed a first task order and a statement of commencement with Polish mining and processing firm KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., kicking off early work for a VOYGR nuclear power plant of up to 924 MWe that the partners could deploy as early as 2029 to support KGHM’s copper and silver production in Poland. […]

  • Researchers at Sandia Lab Successfully Test New Power Generation Technology

    Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico announced they completed a successful test of a new power-generating technology, delivering electricity to the local grid using an energy conversion system that they say could drive a major increase in efficiency for power plants across the U.S. and perhaps the world. The researchers, in a news […]

  • Best of POWER—September 12, 2022

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   September 12, 2022 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% […]

  • Michigan Governor Urges DOE to Support Palisades Nuclear Plant’s Reopening

    Michigan’s governor has asked the Department of Energy (DOE) to support Holtec International’s efforts to “save” the 800-MW Palisades nuclear power plant, marking a potential turnaround for the facility in Southwest Michigan, which was taken offline for the final time on May 20, 2022, after 50 years of operation. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s in a […]

  • DOE’s Latest Energy Earthshot Will Tackle Technical, Economic Challenges for Enhanced Geothermal Systems

    The Department of Energy’s (DOE)’s latest Energy Earthshot will seek to cut the cost of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) to $45/MWh by 2035, an ambitious goal that would shave current EGS costs by 90%. The DOE’s latest Energy Earthshot—part of a 2021-research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) initiative it launched to accelerate breakthroughs for emerging technologies—will […]

  • POWERnews—Sept. 8, 2022

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   September 8, 2022 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 […]

  • Germany Halts Closure of Two Nuclear Plants Until April 2023

    Germany plans to keep two of its three last nuclear power plants on standby until mid-2023—beyond their year-end closure deadline—to bolster its energy security through the winter. However, the declaration has prompted confusion within Germany’s nuclear industry, which says nuclear plants aren’t suited to perform as operating reserve. Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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. […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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. […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]

  • 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 […]