POWERnews

Vietnam’s first privately-owned power plant has moved a step closer to fruition, as Delta Offshore Energy chose Bechtel to provide front-end engineering design (FEED) services for a proposed 3,200-MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) facility. The power station, sited in Bac Lieu province in the Mekong Delta about 155 miles south of Ho Chi Minh […]

A Michigan-based energy company that planned to build a 1.1-GW gas-fired power plant in Virginia has pulled the plug on the project. NOVI Energy on July 9 said it would abandon development of the C4GT plant in Charles City County, which is southeast of Richmond. The project, one of two gas-fired plants planned for the […]

The rapidly spreading Bootleg Fire tripped off transmission lines that transport power from the Pacific Northwest to California and other states over the weekend, prompting the California Independent System Operator (ISO) to issue another Flex Alert—the sixth such conservation notification this summer. According to the state’s Incident Information System, the intense fire in Southern-Central Oregon […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   July 12, 2021 Technology Triumph: Track 4A Is POWER's Plant of the Year Winning POWER's highest honor is Track 4A, Southern Power Generation's 1.4-GW natural gas–fired power plant in southern Malaysia that is equipped with the first commercial GE 9HA.02 gas turbines—one […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   July 8, 2021 Reliability-Wary California Will Procure More Energy Resources to Get It Through Summer Stricken by repeated extreme heat events, the prospect of a worsening drought, incremental resource delays, and the “unforeseen” loss of 300 MW in thermal resources, California has […]

Stricken by repeated extreme heat events, the prospect of a worsening drought, incremental resource delays, and the “unforeseen” loss of 300 MW in thermal resources, California has set out to secure additional energy resources to ensure reliability this summer. Responding to a June 29 letter from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California […]

Declarations of climate emergencies in many countries around the world have created awareness for the need to switch to clean energy sources, which in turn has prompted the power industry and governments to take action or set definite goals. Many governments around the world now provide incentives to individuals, industries, and communities who are interested […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced it will provide as much as $27 million in federal funding for research and development projects designed to advance the efficient conversion of wave-based energy into electricity, with a goal to make the technology commercially viable. The DOE on July 7 said the money supports the Biden […]

AES Corp. will retire four coal-fired power plants—a total 1,097 MW—in Chile “as soon as” January 2025 if supported by grid requirements under an agreement the Virginia-headquartered company signed with the Chilean government on July 6. The coal closures, which are outlined in what AES described as a “voluntary” retirement plan, represent the “single largest […]

Taiwan’s move to end the country’s use of nuclear power continues, with Unit 1 of the Kuosheng Nuclear Power Plant being shut down. The reactor was taken offline July 1, six months ahead of its scheduled Dec. 27 retirement, with officials saying spent fuel-storage capacity constraints meant the unit could not be refueled. The closure, […]

Shell Energy has started up a 10-MW polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer facility—one of the largest of its kind in the world—to produce green hydrogen at its Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland refinery in Wesseling, Germany, and it says plans are underway to expand the plant’s capacity to 100 MW.  The startup of the electrolyzer […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   July 1, 2021 New Jersey Awards 2.7 GW of Offshore Wind Projects New Jersey utility regulators have issued what officials are calling the largest combined award of offshore U.S. wind generation capacity to date. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU)… […]

Many areas across the globe are looking at providing non-traditional power to residential neighborhoods, part of a push to make a community’s electricity supply more reliable and resilient. A development in Canada is one model of what is known as a “smart microgrid community.” Elexicon Energy, the fourth largest municipally-owned electricity distributor in Ontario, along […]

Hitachi ABB Power Grids, the behemoth joint venture firm officially launched last year when Japanese technology conglomerate Hitachi acquired a majority share in Swiss conglomerate ABB’s Power Grids business, will be known as “Hitachi Energy” starting in October 2021. The name change reflects the firm’s business evolution amid a rapidly evolving energy landscape, the company […]

Brazil is blessed with a wealth of natural resources. It gets almost two-thirds of its electricity from hydropower facilities, and it also has enormous potential for wind, solar, and natural gas-fired power. Yet, the country is saddled with higher than average electricity prices compared to most developed nations. A study conducted by McKinsey & Company […]

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has formally kicked off a pioneering project to partly re-power its 85-MW Abbott cogeneration plant with an Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC) Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) Energy System. UIUC on June 28 said it submitted a letter of intent to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build […]

New Jersey utility regulators have issued what officials are calling the largest combined award of offshore U.S. wind generation capacity to date. The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) on June 30 awarded a total of 2.658 GW of offshore wind capacity to two groups, bringing New Jersey’s total planned capacity to more than […]

Utilities across the Pacific Northwest are bracing for exceptional stress on the grid as record-breaking temperatures continue to fester across the region, and at least one utility—Avista Corp.—this week began rolling outages as a measure to alleviate strain on the electric system. Despite pleas to customers to reduce their power consumption, Avista, which supplies power […]

As the U.S. moves toward cleaner energy sources, and utilities work toward carbon reduction mandates, coal plants are closing at rapid rates across the country. Approximately 79,000 Americans were employed in coal-fired electricity generation in 2019, 13,000 fewer than in 2016; and in the last year alone, 7,700 coal-fired generation jobs were lost nationwide. The […]

In early May 2021, a Russian cyber-criminal group hit Colonial Pipeline, the largest U.S. oil and natural gas pipeline system, with a devastating ransomware attack. The exploit maliciously encrypts computer files, making them inaccessible unless the victim pays a ransom. To contain the threat, Colonial was forced to temporarily shut down portions of its operations […]

Unlike backwash systems, scraper strainers reliably resist clogging and fouling when faced with micron-sized particles, oversized solids, and high solids concentration. The power generation industry often prefilters raw water from rivers, lakes, gulfs, and coastlines to remove organic, aquatic, and other solids for use as cooling water. Typically, with once-through systems, water circulates through pipes, […]

CenterPoint Energy could begin construction of two new natural gas-fired units to serve electricity customers in Indiana as soon as next year, if state regulators approve the utility’s plan that includes the closure of two units of a coal-fired power plant at a site along the Ohio River. CenterPoint’s $323-million proposal to the Indiana Utility […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   June 28, 2021 GE Hitachi: Nuclear Costs, Innovation Must Be a Pivotal Focus for Carbon-Free Future Nuclear energy’s future as a critical pillar in a decarbonized world will depend on its adaptability to rapid change, but the sector must focus on costs, […]

Xcel Energy is pivoting from its plan to build a new 800-MW natural gas-fired power plant at the site of its Sherco coal-fired facility in Becker, Minnesota. Instead, Xcel plans to build two smaller gas-fired “peaker” plants, one in Minnesota and one in North Dakota, as part of a new initiative for the utility’s power […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   June 24, 2021 GE Hitachi: Nuclear Costs, Innovation Must Be a Pivotal Focus for Carbon-Free Future Nuclear energy’s future as a critical pillar in a decarbonized world will depend on its adaptability to rapid change, but the sector must focus on costs, […]

Michigan’s largest energy provider Consumers Energy will stop using coal as a fuel source for power generation within the next four years—15 years earlier than previously planned. In an updated integrated resource plan (IRP) filed with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) on June 23, the CMS Energy subsidiary said the effort would lead Michigan’s […]

According to a report released in 2019 by the U.S. Department of Energy, geothermal electricity generation could increase more than 26-fold by 2050—reaching 60 GW of installed capacity. That may seem like a pipe dream to some power observers, but if new well-drilling techniques allow enhanced geothermal systems to become economical, the reality could be […]

Nuclear energy’s future as a critical pillar in a decarbonized world will depend on its adaptability to rapid change, but the sector must focus on costs, certainty of outcome, reliability, and experience to cement its role beyond the transition, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) President and CEO Jay Wileman told POWER in an exclusive interview. […]

For the world to avoid a climate catastrophe, carbon capture is likely a necessity, not an option. To meet the Paris Agreement’s objectives—keep warming below 2C and preferably near 1.5C—net zero carbon emissions must be achieved circa 2050, and some carbon dioxide will have to be extracted from the atmosphere. Deployment of carbon capture, utilization, […]

Accumulation of debris in water systems can cause dangerous bacterial growth and performance loss—this is how to reduce the risk. In cooling systems, airborne debris, such as dust and leaves, or water depositions, such as scales or inorganic/organic particles, can accumulate on the surfaces of cooling tower fills or the fin coils of air blast […]