renewables
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Energy Security
California Declares Stage 3 Emergency Alert, Warns Rotating Outages Possible
California’s grid operator issued a Stage 3 energy emergency alert (EEA) at 5:17 p.m. PST on Sept. 6, warning it would order rotating power outages to lower soaring power demand and stabilize its grid, if necessary. The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) cautiously raised the emergency alert from Stage 2, which it had declared earlier […]
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Interview
The POWER Interview: Developing Platforms for Renewable Energy
Billions of dollars are supporting renewable energy development in the U.S. The International Energy Agency has said record amounts of spending on clean energy will increase global energy investment by 8% in 2022. Julie McLaughlin, a managing director with Alvarez & Marsal’s U.S. Energy practice in San Francisco, California, has extensive experience in the energy space, working with […]
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Solar
A Fine Balance: Building One of Europe’s Largest Hybrid Facilities
When Swedish company Vattenfall in 2018 set out to combine wind, solar, and battery storage resources at this pioneering energy park in the Netherlands, its foremost focus was to demonstrate a clean energy
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Legal & Regulatory
Avoiding Costly Litigation—How Utilities Should Approach Property Owners When Seeking to Acquire Land
Like it or not, property acquisition for utilities, especially through eminent domain, is changing. What once was an easy, efficient process is now being met with more frequent resistance from property owners
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Interview
The POWER Interview: Modeling Solutions for the Future of Energy
Utilities function in the present but must always plan for the future. That’s even more true today, as the rapid pace of change with power generation technologies, and the transition to cleaner forms of energy, means utilities—whether they deal with electricity, natural gas, water, transportation, or are a municipality that pays attention to all those […]
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Commentary
Taking Advantage of the Climate Bill Through Holistic Home Energy
It’s an enthusing time in the energy world. The signing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has brought terms like “heat pumps” and “photovoltaics” into the national spotlight and homeowners’ vocabularies. One thing that’s flying under-the-radar: how both clean energy generation and efficient energy usage can come together for homeowners, landlords, and renters to save […]
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History
Southern Company: A History of a Prolific Power Technology Pioneer
Atlanta-based energy giant Southern Co. has rapidly evolved to keep in step with the evolution of power. As part of its corporate growth, the company has notably pioneered technologies that have reshaped
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Offshore Wind
Group Says U.S. Utility Will Build $13 Billion Offshore Wind Project in Vietnam
Vietnamese officials said a U.S. utility company plans to develop a $13 billion, 4-GW offshore wind farm that would be sited off that country’s central province of Binh Thuan. Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade in a statement issued July 29 said AES Corp., a Virginia-based utility that operates in 15 countries, is behind the […]
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Solar
Floating Solar Project Supports Portugal’s Decarbonization Strategy
The largest floating solar farm in Europe, located on the reservoir for a hydroelectric dam in Portugal, is expected to begin producing power this month. The July startup of the Alqueva installation (Figure
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Offshore Wind
Swedish Group Moves Ahead With World’s Largest Single Offshore Wind Project
Swedish-based renewable energy developer OX2 has taken another step toward construction of its Aurora offshore wind farm, a 5.5-GW project sited between the islands of Gotland and Oland in the Baltic Sea. OX2 on June 27 announced it had submitted a permit application to build the wind farm under the auspices of Sweden’s Exclusive Economic […]
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Webinar
AI for Renewables: 3 Proven Ways to Maximize Production & Profitability
Sponsored by:
Renewable energy operators face enormous challenges to remain profitable in an increasingly competitive market. Facing tightening margins, operators are looking to extract maximum value by leveraging the flood of data collected from their renewable assets. As grid changes lead to increasing curtailment, forecasting becomes more challenging. And as the global supply chain is constrained, unforeseen […]
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Trends
Rhode Island Targets 100% Renewables Procurement by 2033
Legislation passed in Rhode Island will commit the state to procure 100% of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2033. If Gov. Daniel McKee, as expected, signs the bill into law, the Ocean State could have the nation’s fastest timeline for a 100% renewables procurement. The New England state’s legislature on June 17 approved […]
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Hydrogen
Massive Utah Hydrogen Storage Project Garners Finalized $504M DOE Loan Guarantee
The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) first official loan guarantee for a new clean energy technology project since 2014 will go to the Advanced Clean Energy Storage 1 project in Utah—one of the world’s largest renewable hydrogen energy projects. The DOE on June 8 announced it closed on the $504.4 million loan guarantee for the first […]
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Gas
GE Debuts First 7HA.03 Gas Turbines at 1.3-GW Plant in Florida
The first two GE 7HA.03 machines—the largest 60-Hz heavy-duty gas turbines in the world and the most efficient in GE’s fleet—are now operational at Florida Power & Light’s (FPL’s) newly inaugurated 1,260-MW Dania Beach Clean Energy Center (DBEC) in Broward County. FPL officially declared the Dania Beach Clean Energy Center near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, commercially […]
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Solar
Vermont and ISO-New England Provide an Interesting Renewable Energy Transition Case Study
Vermont doesn’t get a lot of attention outside of Bernie Sanders, but the state’s power system is worth taking a look at as it has undergone a notable shift toward renewable energy. About 80% of
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Legal & Regulatory
Maximizing Surety to Power Up New Renewable Energy Projects
Renewable energy is not the future; it is the present. Nearly half the new electricity generation in the U.S. this year will come from renewable sources. And after last year’s signing of the Infrastructure
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International
POWER Digest [June 2022]
Twenty20 Energy Will Build Gas-Fired Plant in Papua New Guinea. Singapore-based Twenty20 Energy Systems in April announced it would design and build a new gas-fired power plant in Hela province, Papua New
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Trends
ERCOT, MISO Warn of Potential Power Supply Shortfalls
(Updated—May 6, 2022) The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) over the past week separately expressed concerns about power supply uncertainties in the face of upcoming warmer-than-normal temperatures. MISO raised an alarm on April 28 when it said that it projects “insufficient firm resources” to cover the summer […]
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Renewables
BlackRock-led Group Invests $525M Toward India Renewable Energy
A group considered the world’s largest asset manager has joined with a United Arab Emirates (UAE) wealth management fund to support an investment in renewable energy development in India. A consortium led by New York-based BlackRock, along with UAE sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co., on April 14 said it would pay $525 million for […]
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Connected Plant
Distributed Renewables’ Cyber Resilience
The benefits of renewable energy continue to grow, with wind generation supplying 9.2% of generation in the U.S. and up to 22.6% in other western countries like Germany. Solar is at 2.8% in the U.S. (for utility-scale installations) and near 10% in Germany. Through diversification and greater distribution system integration, the application of renewable energy […]
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Microgrid
Microgrids with Propane-Fueled Backup Systems Deliver Reliable, Resilient Power
With the increased value of distributed capacity in various energy markets, there is a growing demand for generators in microgrids, which are local energy systems that can be disconnected from the electric
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Commentary
Minerals Crucial to Clean Energy Transition Among Ripple Effects of War in Ukraine
The venerable business of commodity trading, already in the news for the supply chain impacts of COVID, has moved to center stage with the war in Ukraine. Impacts of Russia’s invasion could ripple to manufacturing of all kinds, especially the clean energy transition we need to meet climate goals. COMMENTARY Within the first week of […]
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Energy Storage
Harnessing the Benefits of Energy Storage to Reshape Sustainable Operations
In today’s challenging business environment, it is paramount for organizations of all disciplines to reduce operating expenses while creating processes to meet strict greenhouse gas emissions standards. There is a worldwide focus on utilizing the full power of renewable energy and distributed assets to help organizations become more sustainable and decarbonized. Energy consumers, producers, utilities, […]
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Coal
POWER Digest [March 2022]
Oman Adds Major Solar Project. A consortium consisting of Saudi Arabia-based ACWA Power, Kuwait-based Gulf Investment Corp., and Kuwait’s Alternative Energy Projects Co. in January inaugurated Ibri 2, the
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Geothermal
Well-Constructed Solution: Geothermal to Power Bitcoin Mining
The mining of cryptocurrency, or bitcoin, is an energy-intensive process, and entrepreneurs are looking at several technologies—including innovative geothermal energy techniques—to power their operations. Among the latest is a service from a California-based renewable energy group, RenewaBit, which has joined with CeraPhi Energy, a Houston, Texas-based company, to produce geothermal energy with integrated crypto mining […]
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Coal
Duke Energy Eyeing Coal Phaseout by 2035
Duke Energy, the nation’s largest power producer, will dramatically slash coal generation’s share from the current 22% of total generation to 5% by 2030 and achieve a full phaseout of unabated coal by 2035. The company instead expects to deploy more than $130 billion over the next decade—$63 billion of which it will spend over […]
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Commentary
Green Hydrogen Economy: Magic Bullet or Mirage for Africa?
Africa has approximately 600 million people without access to clean, reliable, and affordable electric power (80% of the global total). On the flip side, the continent has some of the fastest growing economies in the world. Countries like Egypt and Ethiopia have recorded more than 6% annual growth in gross domestic product (GDP) with the […]
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News
U.S. Tops 200 GW of Renewables, but Deployment Slows
A report from a trade group representing the U.S. renewable energy industry says the nation now has more than 200 GW of operating utility-scale generation capacity, but the pace of growth has slowed as projects have been delayed due to regulatory and equipment supply issues, among other factors. The “Clean Power Quarterly 2021 Q4 Market […]
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Commentary
Renewable Energy Future Includes DERs to Support Decarbonization
All market indicators show that distributed energy resources (DERs) boom will continue into this year and beyond. In fact, a recent Frost & Sullivan report states the global annual investments in DERs will increase by 75% by 2030. We’ve seen many advancements contributing to the growth of the renewable energy market, due to the convergence […]
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Press Releases
New Site Renewables Right Map Helps Companies and Communities Identify Areas for Renewable Energy
FEB. 8, 2022 — The Nature Conservancy today publicly released a map to help companies and communities identify the most promising places in the central U.S. to quickly develop renewable energy while avoiding impacts to important wildlife and habitats, called Site Renewables Right (nature.org/SiteRenewablesRight). The new analysis combines more than 100 GIS layers of wildlife […]