power sector
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Legal & Regulatory
What Comes Next for Carbon Capture in the Power Industry?
Policy upheavals have cast uncertainty over the future of carbon capture and storage in the power sector, though its momentum is widely expected to continue. In November 2024, the Global CCS Institute, an
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O&M
O&M Innovation in the Power Sector: The Latest Tools Redefining Asset Optimization
As the power sector grapples with aging infrastructure, stricter sustainability mandates, and the rapid integration of renewables, innovation in operations and maintenance (O&M) has become critical to
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Legal & Regulatory
EU Mandates Biodiversity Restoration, Setting Up New ‘Green’ Requirements Alongside ‘Clean’ Ones for Power Sector
This June, the European Council formally adopted a first-of-its-kind regulation that sets out to restore at least 20% of the European Union’s (EU’s) land and sea areas by 2030 and all ecosystems in need of
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Cybersecurity
McCrary Institute, ORNL Launch First U.S. Regional Cybersecurity Center to Protect Grid
A $12.5 million project to establish the first U.S. regional cybersecurity research and operations center focused on grid protection has garnered a $10 million Department of Energy (DOE) grant. Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security is partnering with Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to create the Southeast Region Cybersecurity Collaboration […]
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Trends
Digitalization Is Now a Power Sector Imperative: Takeaways from Connected Plant Conference 2023
Digitalization is now so firmly embedded in the power sector that if participants haven’t yet begun their digital journey, they’ve inherently fallen behind. That was a message repeated at the three-day 7th annual Connected Plant Conference (CPC), which took place this week in New Orleans, Louisiana. POWER magazine and Chemical Engineering magazine’s conference this year […]
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News
Risks and Opportunities: It’s an Interesting Time to Be in the Power Industry
War rages in Europe. Natural gas prices are through the roof. Drought threatens hydro production. Weather extremes are becoming commonplace. Supply chains are strained. Demand for electricity is headed
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Cybersecurity
Power Sector, Federal Entities Scramble to Close Supply Chain Security Gaps
Marking another major federal effort to address potential supply chain risks to the bulk power system (BPS), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Sept. 17 sought industry’s perspective on a number of important considerations, including possible actions the regulatory body could take to address security gaps. The U.S.-based power sector, meanwhile, has moved quickly […]
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Fuel
NERC: Power Industry ‘Well-Prepared’ for COVID-19, Aggressively Confronting Pandemic Threats
Industry responses to a Level 2 alert on contingency planning issued by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) early last month suggest the “vast majority” of registered participants in the North American bulk power system are well prepared for the COVID-19 crisis. NERC, the interconnected bulk power system’s Electric Reliability Organization (ERO), has underscored […]
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IIOT
Hype and Hope: Artificial Intelligence’s Role in the Power Sector
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a term power professionals are seeing increasingly to describe sophisticated digital technologies. Could it be the breakthrough that is so highly hyped? There is no argument
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News
EMP Threat Real but Limited, EPRI Says in Much-Anticipated Report
Depending on the hazard field, electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) resulting from detonation of a nuclear weapon at high altitude or in space could cause significant damage to electronics on the bulk power system and even prompt a regional voltage collapse, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) says in much-anticipated findings from its three-year study on high-altitude […]
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News
For First Time, IEA Quantifies Coal’s Dominant Role in Global Temperature Increase
Coal combustion was responsible for more than 0.3 degrees C of the 1-degree C surge in global average annual surface temperatures above pre-industrial levels—and that makes coal the single largest source of the global temperature increase, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says in a new report. The finding, outlined in the IEA’s Global Energy & […]
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Commentary
The Power Industry’s Moving Pieces in 2017
As our January 2017 cover image of a dynamic Rubik’s Cube suggests, the power industry, especially in the U.S., is dealing with something akin to solving a 3-D puzzle whose pieces are being added and subtracted as the game is being played. Although shares of traditional, regulated electric utilities remain some of the most predictable […]
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Legal & Regulatory
U.S. Power Sector Carbon Emissions See Fractional Increase
Power generators consumed 34% of total U.S. energy uses from fossil fuels and accounted for 39% of the nation’s carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion in 2014—a fraction of a percent more than in 2013—the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in its newly released Greenhouse Gas Inventory report. In 2014, 2,054.8 million metric tons […]
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Renewables
How the Power Sector Has Changed Since 2001
A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reveals surprising aspects about how federal subsidies for electricity have been distributed, how the power generation mix has shifted, and how consumption has transformed since 2001. The June 29–released report, “Generation Mix has Shifted, and Growth in Consumption has Slowed, Affecting System Operations and Prices,” responds […]