POWERnews

  • GE Gas Turbines Installed to Support California Power Supply

    Four General Electric (GE) gas turbines have been deployed in California as part of the follow-up to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s emergency order to safeguard the state’s power grid. GE recently announced two of the company’s 30-MW TM2500 aeroderivative turbines have been installed at the Roseville Energy Park in Roseville, with another two installed adjacent to […]

  • Enel CEO: ‘Please Put Price on Carbon’

    The head of Europe’s largest utility said countries need to put a price on carbon in order to cut emissions of greenhouse gases and meet climate targets. Francesco Starace, CEO of Italy-based Enel, speaking Oct. 5 at the Reuters Impact virtual summit, said the world’s larger economies need to lead on developing strategies and taking […]

  • Monitor, Teach, Protect: Three Priorities for Insider Threat Prevention in the Energy Sector

    In December 2020, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a new subcommittee focused on the nation’s electric grid. The Grid Resilience for National Security subcommittee was a response to increasing threats to the country’s expansive electric grid that reliably delivers electricity to power the digital age. Today, those threats are even more relevant than ever […]

  • Distributed Intelligence: Empower Consumer Control and Uncover New Possibilities

    Consumers today want their utilities to provide an experience like any other service provider, offering the same control and transparency. User-friendly smart meter technology has allowed consumers to play a bigger role in managing their energy usage and cost. But to give customers true command of their energy consumption, the industry needs distributed intelligence technology. […]

  • The New Wave of the Decentralized Energy Market

    Ten years ago, the energy market was based around the conventional, centralized generation of oil and coal plants. It was predictable and formulaic. These staples of yesterday’s energy market are no longer the future of energy generation. Instead, we see a global push toward clean energy with wind and solar power, and companies are accelerating […]

  • Energy Transition Outlook

    As the energy sector transforms and innovates into a decarbonized, digitalized industry, it is crucial that talent pools are available with the right balance of skills and experience to deliver the projects and operations needed for a brighter tomorrow. NES Fircroft, a staffing company dedicated to providing the skilled engineers and technical workforce needed to […]

  • POWERnews—Sept. 30, 2021

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   September 30, 2021 Three Coal-Heavy Utilities Team Up on New Gas-Fired Power Plant Bismarck, North Dakota-based Basin Electric Power Cooperative will join Dairyland Power Cooperative and ALLETE Inc. as co-owners of the planned Nemadji Trail Energy Center (NTEC), a combined cycle natural […]

  • China Grappling with Another Crippling Power Crunch 

    China’s tightening coal supplies, more stringent energy intensity and environmental restrictions, and soaring industrial power demand have triggered another widespread power crisis. Blackouts and brownouts have reportedly afflicted numerous provincial jurisdictions across the economic powerhouse this week, most prominently in Guangdong in the south, and Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning in the northeast, according to state-run […]

  • Terrestrial Energy Launches 390-MW Molten Salt Nuclear Reactor Design

    Terrestrial Energy has unveiled an upgraded 390-MWe design of its Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) power plant to meet utility requirements and boost its cost-competitiveness as part of an effort to ramp up its candidacy for deployment at Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG’s) Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. This week, the Canadian firm also announced a series […]

  • Distributed Energy Platforms a Key for Sustainable Power

    The energy industry has been going through a revolution, and more and more businesses are looking to transition from non-renewable fossil fuel energy sources such as coal and oil to renewable energy sources like solar, wind and hydroelectric energy. There are a plethora of reasons for this shift, but there are three issues that are […]

  • Three Coal-Heavy Utilities Team Up on New Gas-Fired Power Plant

    Bismarck, North Dakota-based Basin Electric Power Cooperative will join Dairyland Power Cooperative and ALLETE Inc. as co-owners of the planned Nemadji Trail Energy Center (NTEC), a combined cycle natural gas power plant proposed for construction in Superior, Wisconsin. The deal between Basin Electric and ALLETE was announced on Sept. 28. Basin Electric will become a […]

  • Experimental Advanced Fuel Rods Loaded in Russian Nuclear Reactor

    The first Russian-made nuclear reactor fuel bundles with experimental ATF (Advanced Technology Fuel) rods have been loaded into Unit 2 at the Rostov nuclear power plant (NPP) in southwest Russia. The reactor resumed operations earlier this month after a scheduled maintenance and refueling outage. The Rostov site is home to four VVER-1000 reactor units (Figure […]

  • Former SpaceX Engineer Driving New Battery Technology

    An executive and entrepreneur who designed battery packs for SpaceX has partnered with a leader of India’s transportation industry in a venture designed to improve the lifecycle of lithium-ion batteries, and help that country’s transition toward electric passenger vehicles. Porter Harris, a battery engineer known for his work in thermal cooling and heating methodology, and […]

  • Improving Power Plant Efficiency with Nanocomposite Surface Treatments

    There is no doubt that the energy industry is moving toward decarbonization and renewable sources. But, despite the $2.7 trillion spent on renewables over the past decade, that future is still a long way off. It all comes down to the economics. It’s cheaper to operate an existing fossil fuel plant than build new renewable […]

  • Best of POWER—September 27, 2021

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   September 27, 2021 Ethiopia Outlines $40 Billion Plan as GERD Hydro Startup Nears Ethiopian officials have said they are moving closer to commissioning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) hydropower installation, part of 71 power projects included in a $40 billion investment […]

  • POWERnews—Sept. 23, 2021

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   September 23, 2021 Nuclear Is the Bastion of Pennsylvania’s Newest Climate Action Plan Pennsylvania, a major power producer that relied on fossil fuels for 66% of its net power generation in June, plans to maintain its nuclear generation at current levels until […]

  • Nuclear Is the Bastion of Pennsylvania’s Newest Climate Action Plan

    Pennsylvania, a major power producer that relied on fossil fuels for 66% of its net power generation in June, plans to maintain its nuclear generation at current levels until it can ramp up other carbon-free supplies to 100% by 2050, the state’s Sept. 22–released 2021 Climate Action Plan suggests.  The measures are part of a […]

  • SMRs May Replace Polish Coal; GE Hitachi in Fuel Supply Pact

    Poland’s push for nuclear power could include repurposing of coal-fired power plants with small modular reactor (SMR) technology from NuScale Power. NuScale on Sept. 23 announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with two Polish companies, KGHM Polska Miedź S.A. (KGHM), and Piela Business Engineering (PBE), to explore how NuScale’s technology could be […]

  • On Heels of $2.3B Financial Close, Vineyard Wind Joint Venture Partners Announce Restructuring

    Partners developing the 800-MW Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind farm have announced they will swap assets jointly owned by their 50/50 Vineyard Wind joint venture to allow each party to focus on its separate expansion within the burgeoning U.S. offshore wind industry once the 800-MW Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind farm is operational. The Vineyard […]

  • Is America Ready to Take a ‘Baby Step’ Toward Carbon Pricing?

    Most people recognize that carbon dioxide (CO2) is a greenhouse gas (GHG), and while not everyone agrees, a majority of climate scientists believe increasing concentrations of GHGs in the atmosphere are causing climate change on Earth. Carbon pricing is a market-based strategy for reducing CO2 emissions. The goal of carbon pricing schemes is to place […]

  • SSE Backs Top Power Execs With New UK Renewable Energy Group

    A group of energy sector entrepreneurs, supported by a Scottish multi-national energy company, has announced the launch of a business venture focused on rolling out large-scale wind and solar farms across the UK and Europe. Renewco Power on Sept. 22 said it wants to develop more than 4 GW of renewable energy projects in the […]

  • POWERnews—Sept. 16, 2021

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   September 16, 2021 ‘What’s Next’ for Siemens Energy? Everyone in the power industry is familiar with Siemens Energy. Its technology is behind about one-sixth of the world’s power generation, and even a larger portion than that in the… Sponsored Content Combined Cycle […]

  • ‘What’s Next’ for Siemens Energy?

    Everyone in the power industry is familiar with Siemens Energy. Its technology is behind about one-sixth of the world’s power generation, and even a larger portion than that in the U.S.—roughly a third. Yet, Siemens Energy as currently organized is a fairly new entity. The company was spun off from Siemens AG and began trading […]

  • Nuclear Advisory Council Deems Commissioning of Holtec SMR-160 by 2030 a ‘Credible Target’

    Holtec International’s ambitions to install its first set of SMR-160 small modular reactor nuclear plants in the U.S. by 2030 may be a “credible target,” the company’s advisory council comprising 20 utility and nuclear industry leaders has reportedly determined.  The Holtec Advisory Council, a body that provides Holtec with “input on the technical and commercial merits […]

  • In First for the U.S., Vineyard Wind Achieves $2.3B Financial Close for Offshore Wind Farm

    Vineyard Wind 1, an 800-MW phase of an offshore wind project offshore Massachusetts, has achieved financial close. The milestone, a first for a U.S. commercial-scale offshore wind farm, now allows Vineyard Wind to provide its contractors with a notice to proceed with construction.  Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between AVANGRID subsidiary Avangrid Renewables and Copenhagen […]

  • Ethiopia Outlines $40 Billion Plan as GERD Hydro Startup Nears

    Ethiopian officials have said they are moving closer to commissioning the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) hydropower installation, part of 71 power projects included in a $40 billion investment package to increase the country’s electricity generation over the next decade. The 5.2-GW GERD project, being built on the Blue Nile River and set to more […]

  • SRP Approves Arizona Expansion with 16 Gas-Fired Turbines

    The board of directors of Arizona’s second-largest public utility has approved a nearly $1 billion plan to expand the natural gas-fired Coolidge Generating Station, adding 820 MW of generation capacity. The Coolidge station at present is a 575-MW power plant with 12 single-cycle gas turbines; the plant began operating in 2011. The expansion plan approved […]

  • NRC Backs Storing Nuclear Waste in Texas

    Federal regulators have approved a private company’s plan to store nuclear waste in the oil fields of West Texas, the latest move in the continuing saga of where to store spent fuel from U.S. nuclear power plants. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Sept. 13 issued a license to Interim Storage Partners LLC (ISP), […]

  • Illinois Nuclear Plants Saved by Last-Minute Vote

    The Illinois Senate has approved an overhaul of the state’s energy policy with an eye toward a carbon-free future, with a key part of the package keeping the Byron nuclear power plant operating just hours before Exelon, the parent of Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), said it would begin shutting down the facility. Senators voted 37-17 on […]

  • Best of POWER—September 13, 2021

    POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   September 13, 2021 Drought-Crippled Hoover Dam, Glen Canyon Hydropower Plants Operating at Substantially Decreased Capacity The iconic 2-GW Hoover Dam and 1.3-GW Glen Canyon Dam hydropower plants are operating at substantially reduced capacity, paralyzed by enduring drought conditions across the West, the […]