outages

Vegetation is a much-needed part of the natural world and is essential for life to thrive on Earth. Yet, when unmanaged, it’s also one of the greatest threats to the grid and a leading culprit for causing outages. Fallen branches topple powerlines, roots damage underground cables, and overgrown trees close to energized wires are known […]

South African officials, faced with continued power outages that are hurting the country’s economy, are turning to nuclear power in an effort to support a more reliable supply of electricity. The country has experienced intermittent blackouts, part of a process known as load shedding, since 2008. The outages, imposed by state-owned utility Eskom, have escalated […]

An official with South Africa’s government said the country will accelerate its development of natural gas-fired power generation as energy shortages continue to be a challenge for the nation’s economy. Kgosientshjo Ramakgopa, the country’s electricity minister, on Nov. 5 detailed plans for at least 3 GW of new gas-fired capacity. South Africa has endured rolling […]

Climate change is a threat multiplier. Clean-up costs are ballooning and natural disasters are growing more expensive. In 2022 alone there were 18 natural disasters that caused more than $1 billion in damage, up from only three events in 1980. These are taking a bigger bite out of the energy sector’s operating costs and profits, […]

Electrical substations utilize direct lightning stroke shielding to help ensure proper operation, and to prevent costly damages and extended outages. While modern substation designs and equipment make them

The energy crisis in South Africa has prompted continued calls for government action, and officials in January said an energy action plan announced last year is starting to be implemented. The plan was laid

Major French utility Electricite de France SA (EDF) said it will again extend maintenance outages at some of its nuclear reactors by several months, meaning France will continue to import power and putting more strain on the country’s supply of electricity. EDF has returned some nuclear units to service in the past several weeks, but […]

More than 2.5 million electricity customers in Florida were without power early Sept. 29 as Hurricane Ian wreaked havoc on the state’s power grid and continued to cause damage with high winds and heavy rain, even after being downgraded to a tropical storm early Thursday. The storm, which made landfall in southwest Florida on Wednesday […]

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) on June 22 initiated the first step to lift a suspension of its National Electricity Market (NEM), citing a “clear improvement in market conditions.” The measure comes more than a week since it indefinitely suspended spot markets in all regions of its NEM, given critical power generation supply shortfalls […]

In February 2021, a severe cold weather event, known as Winter Storm Uri, caused numerous power outages, derates, or failures to start at electric generating plants scattered across Texas and the south-central U.S. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which manages the power supply for about 90% of the load in Texas, ordered a […]

ERCOT market participants are grappling with the resulting financial fallout from winter storm Uri, which devastated Texas in February. Many are now familiar with actions the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUCT) took during the weather event, moves made with the intent to bring and maintain as much generation online as possible. Most notable, the commission […]

The natural gas sector is well aware of the challenges facing the fossil fuel industry, but analysts say gas has attributes that will keep it a big part of the U.S. and global energy mix. Natural gas has moved

The chairwoman of the Public Utility Commission (PUC) of Texas has resigned, stepping down after the state’s lieutenant governor earlier on March 1 called for her resignation, along with that of the CEO of the state’s power grid operator. DeAnn Walker, the PUC chair, in her resignation letter Monday to Gov. Greg Abbott, defended her […]

The group considered Texas’ oldest and largest electricity cooperative has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, saying it can’t pay money wanted by the state’s grid operator in connection with power outages during a major winter storm that hit in February. Brazos Electric Power Cooperative filed its bankruptcy petition March 1 in the U.S. Bankruptcy […]

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has said reforming the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is an emergency item for state legislators in the current session, as power outages continue across the state for another day due to record cold temperatures as part of a massive winter storm. The governor on Feb. 16 said he wants […]

Utilities along the U.S. Gulf Coast are preparing their response to Hurricane Laura as the massive storm bears down on the Texas and Louisiana coastlines. Entergy Corp., whose territory includes those two states along with Arkansas and Mississippi, on August 26 said it had about 7,400 workers ready to respond to the storm, including 5,300 […]

A federal bankruptcy judge on Oct. 9 ruled that Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), California’s largest utility, does not have the sole right to determine the terms of its reorganization. Judge Dennis Montali said those who support a rival proposal, which was devised by a group of the utility’s creditors, can have their plan considered. […]

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (Feb. 5, 2019) — Hexagon’s Safety & Infrastructure division has released a new software application that aids electric utilities in determining the location of faults more quickly and accurately. Launched at DistribuTECH 2019 in New Orleans, Hexagon’s Intergraph InService Fault Location helps utilities improve outage restoration by cutting fault location time from hours […]

(MAY 17, 2018) —Framatome signed a multimillion-dollar contract with Dominion Energy to provide steam generator services to the company’s entire nuclear reactor fleet. Scheduled to take place during eight outages from 2018 to 2020, the inspection and maintenance work will support the continued generation of low-carbon electricity from the Dominion fleet. At nuclear energy facilities, […]

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on April 30 updated its summer 2018 planning reserve margin to 11% based on resource updates, but it warned that the regional grid serving most of Texas could still suffer rotating outages under extreme conditions. In its final Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy (SARA) report for the upcoming […]