innovation

Throughout the first nine months of the Trump Administration, “energy dominance” has been the agenda. To win the artificial intelligence (AI) race, ensure energy reliability for Americans, and beat China on the world stage, we need more energy – period. But we can’t do it without America’s young people. Fortunately, it’s a dynamic time to get […]

Energy experts think solar power still has a bright future, even as challenges impact the industry. Power generation from solar photovoltaic (PV) technology has increased dramatically over the past few years thanks to the need for less-costly power, and for cleaner forms of energy.

Data centers serve as the silent backbone of our daily lives, the epicenter of digital communication, corporate data, and countless innovations including artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and the Internet of Things. To ensure maximum uptime, data centers rely on robust security and consistent utility infrastructure—critical considerations in the design and development of data center […]

Brazilian independent power generator Epasa faced significant environmental and operational challenges with heavy fuel oil sludge. Through innovative engineering and problem-solving, the company developed a

The U.S. Senate has passed the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act, sweeping legislation that seeks to promote U.S. nuclear leadership, accelerate advanced nuclear technology development while preserving existing nuclear generation, bolster national security measures, and enhance regulatory efficiency to support new nuclear deployment. The Senate passed the bill on […]

Japanese firms JERA and IHI Corp. have launched the world’s first large-volume fuel ammonia demonstration testing at JERA’s 1-GW Unit 4 of its 4.1-GW Hekinan Thermal Power Station in Aichi Prefecture

Westinghouse has revealed it is designing a transportable nuclear power plant (TNPP) featuring an eVinci microreactor with Canadian firm Prodigy Clean Energy, aiming to deliver a first project in Canada by 2030. The project will potentially integrate a single or multiple 5-MWe eVinci microreactors within a Prodigy Microreactor Power Station—a purpose-designed floating facility that will […]

Despite a dismal outlook for coal, countries with substantial coal fleets are intensifying efforts to develop new technologies and operational capabilities to improve coal power’s environmental impact

Pingshan Phase II, a cutting-edge 1.4-GW ultrasupercritical coal-fired unit, achieves a remarkable net efficiency of 49.37%—making it the world’s most efficient coal-fired power plant. The state-of-the-art

Voith Hydro in 2022 replaced four vertical Pelton turbines at Verbund’s 75-year-old 326-GWh Gerlos 1 pumped storage facility in Austria with a first-of-its-kind horizontal six-nozzle Pelton turbine

Winning POWER’s highest honor is Estrella del Mar III, a first-of-its-kind floating combined cycle gas turbine power barge that fulfills a remarkable assortment of modern power system demands. Nearly fully

The power industry’s rapid adoption of digitalization is a striking example of its dynamic innovation—the continuous development and introduction of new ideas, products, or processes to meet shifting

Driven by ripe market conditions, technology startups are injecting investment and innovation into geothermal power to unlock novel applications that could substantially scale up the niche renewable power

A pioneering horizontal, six-nozzle Pelton turbine developed by Voith Hydro at the 326-GWh Gerlos 1 pumped storage facility in the Ziller Valley, Austria, is setting new benchmarks for the 140-year-old

Energy powers everything we do. Where and how we create it—and how we store and distribute it—is constantly evolving. One of the most likely evolutions is electrification, which promises to have a huge

Wind turbine technology continues to evolve under new market demands—as well as an urgency to expand to further decarbonization.

As multiple advanced reactor vendors enter the licensing process to build first-of-a-kind demonstration projects, the Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA)—a nonprofit “think-and-do tank” that supports the nuclear power industry—has said issues with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) current user fee cost-recovery model could slow innovation. In a report released on May 19, the NIA identified how […]

Incorporating new technology and solutions being used by others could help nuclear power plant staff improve operations and maintenance practices. Nuclear power plants face many challenges. Monitoring heat

Japan, an island nation that is currently heavily reliant on coal and gas power, will be carbon neutral in 2050, the country’s newly appointed prime minister Yoshihide Suga pledged in an Oct. 26 speech.   The announcement by Suga in his first major policy speech to the national Diet was not unexpected for the nation […]

A team of innovators from Consolidated Edison (ConEd) took home the Real-World Safety Solutions award during the Experience POWER event on Sept. 28. The invention the group created is called a Cubical Inspection and Repair Safety (CIRS) device. The team that designed and developed the solution includes Eric Fell, senior safety specialist with ConEd; Joe […]

The POWERGEN International exhibition and summit—one of the world’s largest power-industry events with more than 750 exhibitors—was held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, Nov. 19–21, 2019. POWER was there (Figure 1) to connect with leaders from the industry and report on the latest news from the show. Hot topics […]

The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) is meeting this week in Salt Lake City, Utah, joining with the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) to present North America Smart Energy Week, which this year includes both the long-running Solar Power International gathering along with Energy Storage International. A big theme this week is the integration of […]

The power industry is changing and leading companies are turning to digital technologies to revolutionize their operations. Monitoring and diagnostics centers are leveraging vast amounts of data from around

Meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco, during the most recent United Nations climate change conference (COP22), Mission Innovation countries—a group of nations whose stated mission is to accelerate the pace of clean energy innovation—launched seven innovation challenges, designed as a global call to action for the research community, industry, and investors. The challenges are: Smart Grids Off-Grid […]

The sixth annual ARPA-E Summit wrapped up on Wednesday, and though there were too many sessions to cover in depth, here is a mini-summary by way of selected interesting comments. Speaker photos (where available) follow the comment. “Any disruptive technology will not fit an existing market.” —Brian Janous, Director of Energy Strategy, Microsoft “[The energy […]

“The coolest thing on Earth” is, according to its new director, a young federal agency that has a unique focus on pushing technology frontiers and an “unblinking attention” to market realities. One thing you can say for sure about the energy world, said Dr. Ellen Williams (Figure 1), incoming director of ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects […]