POWERnews

The electrification of the transportation sector has received a boost as General Motors (GM) said it “aspires” to exclusively offer electric vehicles (EVs) by 2035, ending production of its cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) with diesel- and gasoline-powered engines. The company has said it wants to be carbon neutral by 2040 across its […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 28, 2021 Biden's Orders Focus on Climate, Emissions President Biden has signed executive orders designed to move the U.S. to carbon neutrality by midcentury, part of a $2 trillion plan that would overhaul the nation’s electricity and transportation…   John Kerry, […]

In a milestone settlement that could resolve Duke Energy’s “last remaining major issues” on coal ash management in North Carolina, the utility has agreed to absorb $1.1 billion in cleanup costs anticipated between 2015 and 2030.  The proposed settlement, which Duke Energy filed with the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) on Jan. 25, is a […]

The impact of COVID-19 has placed a sharp focus on the importance of not only keeping key personnel safe but also how to better manage risk with fewer resources on site. One unexpected result is the acceleration of interest in digitisation initiatives. Ten years of digital innovation has brought new ways of modelling and managing […]

National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry during a wide-ranging press briefing on Jan. 27 detailed the Biden administration’s next steps to embed climate policy into foreign policy and national security initiatives. Climate action, envisioned for a quick rollout, may entail new clean energy targets at home and abroad.  […]

Sustainability is a buzzword that’s being bantered about up and down Wall Street, and corporate leaders have taken notice. Many companies have adopted environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives, which are often tied to sustainability goals. In some cases, the pressure to do so has come from customers and/or investors, but in others, CEOs and […]

The developer of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant project said impacts from the coronavirus pandemic may delay construction of the new reactors by six months, and raise the project’s costs by nearly £500 million ($700 million). EDF Energy in a Jan. 27 update on the plant’s progress said the total cost for the […]

President Biden has signed executive orders designed to move the U.S. to carbon neutrality by midcentury, part of a $2 trillion plan that would overhaul the nation’s electricity and transportation sectors. The president’s plan, outlined Jan. 27, focuses on climate change and includes a White House task force that would direct policies on greenhouse gas […]

The coronavirus pandemic and resulting global economic slowdown curtailed some energy projects in 2020, but corporations worldwide still bought a record 23.7 GW of clean power through long-term purchase agreements. That’s according to research published Jan. 26 by BloombergNEF (BNEF). The group in its “1H 2021 Corporate Energy Market Outlook” said more than 130 companies, […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 25, 2021 Biden Effects Regulatory Freeze, Revokes Trump Actions, Rejoins Paris Agreement President Joe Biden just hours after his inauguration effected an immediate freeze on several Trump-era deregulatory actions that directly affect the power sector, and revoked a long list of […]

A report from a major environmental group said that coal-fired power generation will continue to play a large role in U.S. electricity production for at least another 10 years. The Sierra Club report published Jan. 25, based on a review of integrated resource plans (IRPs) from the 50 U.S. utilities most invested in coal-fired and […]

Christopher Hanson, a nuclear energy government and industry veteran, has taken the helm of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The designation by President Joe Biden on Jan. 23 may provide a boost to the administration’s climate initiatives, experts told POWER.  Hanson, a Democrat, is expected to fill the role for remainder of his five-year term […]

Over the last several years, cyber actors and online criminal gangs have used cyber warfare to disrupt business and infrastructure across the globe. Today, they are becoming even more aggressive and are using their resources to target Operations Technology (OT) and Industrial Control System (ICS) networks. According to the Canadian government’s Canadian Centre for Cyber […]

Mining is an energy-intensive industry; digging, crushing, and processing minerals takes a lot of power, and mines often operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Like other industries, mining companies are seeking solutions to reduce their emissions; both for the sake of the planet and in response to increasing pressure from customers to […]

The case for advanced analytics and remote diagnostics During the last 25 years significant advancements have been made in remote monitoring capabilities for power plants. A number of operations and maintenance (O&M) functions can routinely be managed remotely, and it is also becoming more common for peaking and renewable energy plants to be remotely operated […]

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) new leadership team is a diverse group of individuals with a wide range of experience across the power sector and academia. The names announced Jan. 21 include Kelly Speakes-Backman, who has served as the first CEO of the Energy Storage Association (ESA) and was a keynote speaker at POWER’s […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 21, 2021 Biden Effects Regulatory Freeze, Revokes Trump Actions, Rejoins Paris Agreement President Joe Biden just hours after his inauguration effected an immediate freeze on several Trump-era deregulatory actions that directly affect the power sector, and revoked a long list of […]

Danish renewable energy giant Ørsted issued a final investment decision on the H2RES renewable hydrogen demonstration project, a pivotal power-to-mobility project that will use 2 MW of offshore wind–fed electrolyzing capacity to produce around 1,000 kilograms (kg) of green hydrogen daily.  The decision on Jan. 20 is a major boost for the H2RES project, which […]

A microgrid is a discrete energy system consisting of distributed energy resources, such as solar panels, wind turbines, backup generators, and battery storage systems, and loads capable of operating in parallel with, or independently from, the main power grid. A microgrid generally operates while connected to the grid, but importantly, it can break off and […]

President Joe Biden just hours after his inauguration effected an immediate freeze on several Trump-era deregulatory actions that directly affect the power sector, and revoked a long list of rules and executive actions affecting the bulk power system. The president on Jan. 20 also kickstarted America’s return to the Paris Agreement, sending a brief letter […]

A federal appeals court has vacated the Trump administration’s rollback of Obama-era greenhouse gas emission standards for power plants. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Jan. 19 said the measure intended to replace those standards, the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, “rested critically on a mistaken […]

The goal of economic power generation from fusion has been elusive, but that hasn’t deterred researchers from exploring ways to develop the technology in a way that would support commercial electricity production. POWER magazine has covered the evolution of fusion research and development for many years, and nuclear experts now think we could be just […]

A British company announced it is joining with U.S.-based NuScale Power to develop a hybrid project using wind energy and small modular reactor (SMR) technology to produce power and green hydrogen. Shearwater Energy, a global energy services company, on Jan. 15 said it and NuScale have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on […]

General Electric (GE) has filed a lawsuit accusing “willful and malicious misappropriation of GE’s trade secrets” by Siemens Energy, charging that a current Siemens employee “knowingly and surreptitiously” received GE intellectual property, which led to Siemens using the information to improve its own bids for lucrative contracts supplying gas turbines to utilities. GE in the […]

A natural gas exploration company working in the Bakken Shale has announced plans to build a $400 million power plant in North Dakota that would run on ethane. Bakken Midstream Natural Gas (BMNG) on Jan. 12 said it hopes to begin construction of the Williston Basin Energy Center in 2022. The company in a news […]

POWER Magazine   Jobs   White Papers  Webinars   Events   Store   January 14, 2021 Increase in COVID Cases Brings More Vogtle Delays Georgia Power is adjusting the work schedule for the expansion of the Vogtle nuclear plant, with the company saying hot functional testing and fuel loading of the new Unit 3… DOE […]

French energy major Total has signed an agreement to develop 12 utility-scale solar and energy storage projects in the U.S., announcing the deal Jan. 14, the same day the company said it has joined with Spain’s Iberdrola in a bid for one of the world’s largest offshore wind projects. The moves continue Total’s diversification from […]

Vistra Energy, the nation’s largest competitive generator, has begun operating a 300-MW/1,200-MWh lithium-ion battery storage system on its 1,020-MW combined cycle gas turbine Moss Landing power plant site in Monterey County, California. The battery storage system is the largest of its type in the world in terms of size and scale, and it towers over […]

The Montgomery County Power Station, a two-unit 993-MW natural gas-fired combined cycle plant, achieved commercial operation on Jan. 1, Entergy Texas Inc. and McDermott International Ltd. reported on Jan. 13. The plant—located at Entergy’s existing Lewis Creek site near Willis, Texas, about 50 miles north of Houston—was reportedly brought online “well ahead of schedule,” according […]

Georgia Power is adjusting the work schedule for the expansion of the Vogtle nuclear plant, with the company saying hot functional testing and fuel loading of the new Unit 3 will be delayed due to “a significant increase in COVID-19 cases” at the worksite near Waynesboro, Georgia. The utility, part of Southern Company, on Jan. […]