Speaking of Power

February 1885 The cover story examined the latest in reciprocating engine technology: the Greene automatic cut-off engine (Figure 1). Here is how the editors described it: "The engine has a girder frame; guides case separate and dowelled and bolted to the bed plate; four-part main boxes; Porter governor. There are two steam and two exhaust […]

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order No. 689, issued on Nov. 16, 2006, established requirements and procedures for granting permits to build transmission facilities within "national interest electric transmission corridors" designated by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). After summarizing the statutory and regulatory background, this opinion piece addresses jurisdictional conflict between FERC and states, […]

TIME magazine’s selection of a Person of the Year often is unusual enough to be covered in other publications. In most years, the pick has been fairly predictable: a high-profile foreign or domestic politico playing high-stakes poker with our collective futures. In others, TIME has stretched the definition of "person"—such as in 1982 (the computer), […]

January 1885 The cover story of this issue reviewed the latest power generation technology then entering the market. "The Fishkill vertical direct acting condensing engine . . . has a heavy bed-plate of box form, with pillow-block for main journal cast on. The upright frames are A-shaped, with hollow cylindrical legs, which rest on the […]

Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen coined the term "disruptive technology" in his best-selling 1997 book, The Innovator’s Dilemma. According to Christensen, a disruptive technology unseats a dominant technology by creating products that are so much cheaper or better in one or more ways that they quickly become the new mainstream standard, transforming an entire […]

More top utilities are making plans to add one or more integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) plants to their generation portfolios over the next decade. Some 25 separate projects are on the drawing board, virtually all planning to use Eastern coal. Western coals pose tougher challenges for gasifiers, and their lower heat content disadvantages project economics. […]

—Dr. Robert Peltier, PE Editor-in-Chief During every summer hot enough to break peak demand records, the rhetoric heats up as well, with calls to rid the U.S. bulk-power system of bottlenecks. As the eternal optimist, I see large transmission projects showing signs of life and grid reliability improving. But not everyone is happy about that. […]

  Learning theorists tell us that one of the key reasons we don’t learn from our mistakes is that we don’t or won’t recognize them as such. We attribute good outcomes to our skill and intelligence and blame bad ones on others or on just plain bad luck. This unhealthy mind-set can be tolerated for […]

On the following pages, we introduce the magazine’s 12 Top Plants of 2006. Among this year’s winners are two solar energy plants and another that marries fuel cells with heat and waste gas recovery. As those projects make clear, a plant doesn’t have to be big to earn kudos from us. What we typically like […]

Richard Nixon was the master of the “big lie” in politics. Once, when his cronies expressed concern about some “liberal” statements he had made, he told them to “ignore what I say and watch what I do.” That insight into an elected representative’s true state of mind is as useful today as it was a […]

U.S. wind power is on a roll, with wind farms sprouting like weeds. But in the near future, utilities may end up paying higher prices for wind capacity because state regulators are, in effect, imposing an artificial floor on national demand for generation fueled by renewable resources. At last count, at least 20 states had […]

  —Dr. Robert Peltier, PE Editor-in-Chief The hot hand in coal-fired power plant development is undoubtedly held by Nevada. In a departure from Sin City’s latest marketing slogan, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," most of the 5,500 MW to be generated by plants proposed for the state is destined for use elsewhere, principally […]

During the 17 years I’ve lived in Texas, I don’t know that I’ve actually heard anyone say, "Howdy!" but it seemed like the most appropriate word to associate POWER with its new headquarters in Houston. As you may have heard, POWER magazine and related properties were purchased by The TradeFair Group from McGraw-Hill on March […]

The U.S. needs new generating capacity in coming decades to meet growing electricity demand. The increasing scarcity of land within utility load centers, combined with environmental opposition to the siting of plants, often limits siting options to remote locations. Restricting power plants to distant sites necessitates additional transmission facilities, increases delivery costs and electric bills, […]

I couldn’t help but marvel at the synchronicity of two unrelated events over the past few weeks. The first, on January 12, was the rare cancellation of a major military acquisition program with problems called "too expensive to fix." It takes an Act of Congress to kill most military contracts due to the pork flowing […]

I couldn’t help but marvel at the synchronicity of two unrelated events over the past few weeks. The first, on January 12, was the rare cancellation of a major military acquisition program with problems called "too expensive to fix." It takes an Act of Congress to kill most military contracts due to the pork flowing […]

The 35th birthday of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) passed last December 2 with little fanfare. EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson noted at the time that, "Over the last three and a half decades, through the use of innovative and collaborative approaches to environmental protection and a commitment to responsible stewardship, we have made remarkable […]

Enforcement and (re)interpretation of the Clean Air Act’s new source review (NSR) rules will likely come into focus later this year as many of the key lawsuits against electric utilities are resolved. "It’s going to be a big year for NSR whether you’re a litigator, regulator, lawmaker, or member of the industry," says Tom Sansonetti, […]

My New Year’s resolution was to try to be optimistic about 2005—and why not? The past few years have been a roller-coaster ride for the generation industry, with a quick turn here and a negative-G drop there. Although the ride was a bit gut-wrenching the first few times, the ups and downs are now expected […]