POWERnews

  • POWERnews—March 3, 2022

    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, […]

  • 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, 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 […]

  • NRC Dramatically Reconsiders SLR Approvals, Sets New Conditions for Nuclear Life Extensions

    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 […]

  • Kiewit Chosen as EPC Lead on Massive Nevada Solar Project

    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 Considering Nuclear Operator Role at Idaho NuScale SMR Plant

    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 Approves Construction of Spent Nuclear Fuel Repository 

    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.

  • SCOTUS Hears Arguments on EPA’s Purview Over Power Plant GHG Emissions

    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 […]

  • Best of POWER—February 28, 2022

    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 […]

  • Well-Constructed Solution: Geothermal to Power Bitcoin Mining

    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 […]

  • Largest U.S. Wind Project Online in New Mexico

    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. […]

  • POWERnews—Feb. 24, 2022

    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 […]

  • Solar Developer Has Plan to Turn Oil Wells Into Energy Storage

    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 Economics of Reliability: U.S. Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution

    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 […]

  • Decarbonizing the World: Hydrogen Technology Is the Next Big Thing

    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 […]

  • Siemens Gamesa Will Supply Turbines for Polish Offshore Wind Farms

    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 ‘Weakest Link’ in Supply Chain Security

    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 […]

  • India Investing Millions for Microgrids

    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 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 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 […]

  • POWERnews—Feb. 17, 2022

    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 […]

  • Large-Scale Green Hydrogen Infrastructure System Unveiled for California

    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 Eyeing Coal Phaseout by 2035

    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 […]

  • Why Smarter Grids Start with Mesh Networks and Open Standards

    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 […]

  • White House Releases Guidance on Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Sequestration

    In conjunction with the Biden-Harris administration’s recent announcement of new agency actions to promote clean manufacturing, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) on Feb. 16 published its Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Sequestration Guidance (“Guidance”) in the Federal Register. Unlike traditional legal guidance documents, the Guidance addresses multiple federal agencies and provides numerous recommendations for efficiently […]

  • Poland Secures NuScale SMR as Urgency for Nuclear Energy Ramps Up Across Central, Eastern Europe

    NuScale Power has signed a definitive commercial agreement with mining and processing firm KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. to deploy a VOYGR power plant of up to 924 MWe as early as 2029 to support KGHM’s copper and silver production in Poland. Under an “early works agreement” signed in a ceremony on Feb. 14 in the […]

  • 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 Management following successful completion of the award negotiation phase. The funding is focused on carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) for power generation applications with a goal […]

  • U.S. Tops 200 GW of Renewables, but Deployment Slows

    A report from a trade group representing the U.S. renewable energy industry says the nation now has more than 200 GW of operating utility-scale generation capacity, but the pace of growth has slowed as projects have been delayed due to regulatory and equipment supply issues, among other factors. The “Clean Power Quarterly 2021 Q4 Market […]

  • Current Generation Capacity, Future Investment Plans, and Photovoltaic Projects of the Cuban Energy Industry

    The state-owned Unión Eléctrica (UNE) is responsible for supplying electricity to the Cuban population and the national economy. This is a complex process in which more than 50,000 workers intervene, highlighted Jorge Armando Cepero Hernández, UNE’s general director during a recent press conference. The executive explained that electrical energy is produced with a generation fleet […]

  • Best of POWER—February 14, 2022

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   February 14, 2022 China Starts Up First Fourth-Generation Nuclear Reactor The first of two units at China’s much-watched high-temperature gas-cooled modular pebble bed (HTR-PM) demonstration project was successfully connected to the grid on Dec. 20. The achievement marks a major TVA Unveils […]

  • French President Calls for Major Increase in Nuclear Power, Offshore Wind

    France, already a world leader in nuclear power generation, plans to build at least six new reactors, with President Emmanuel Macron on Feb. 10 saying the country will consider building an additional eight on top of that as it also moves forward with developing small modular reactors (SMR). Macron, who is up for re-election in […]

  • Siemens’ Renewable Arm Cutting 200 U.S. Jobs

    Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) plans to lay off 200 workers at two U.S. wind power equipment manufacturing facilities. The company on Feb. 9 said the job cuts are due to a reduction in orders for commercial wind turbines. An SGRE spokesperson said more jobs cuts at the plants—one in Hutchinson, Kansas, and the other […]