POWER Magazine

China is on an epic build-out of its nuclear generating capacity, and developing indigenous expertise and technology is central to that goal. The first completed plant leveraging the nation’s CPR-1000 designThe post TOP PLANT: Ningde Nuclear Power Plant, Fujian Province, China appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Owner/operator: Exelon Generation and PSEG Nuclear/Exelon Generation When decision-makers choose to increase the maximum output of a nuclear power plant through an uprate, it sets in motion a process that can take many years and countless man-hours to complete. The success of Peach Bottom station’s extended power uprate project shows that all the long hours […]The post TOP PLANT: Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Delta, Pennsylvania appeared first on POWER Magazine.

To power generation professionals, the word “cavitation” typically has negative connotations, but a new process offers a way to control this normally destructive effect and deploy it as a cost-effective life-extension technique. As operators of commercial nuclear energy facilities consider subsequent license renewals and life extensions, finding new ways to safely maintain reactor components remains […]The post Ultra-High-Pressure Cavitation Peening Offers New Way to Maintain Components in Operational Nuclear Reactors appeared first on POWER Magazine.

China, which continues to build more new coal plants than any other nation, is also on the forefront of deploying the most advanced coal plant technologies. However, these advanced units could faceThe post Pushing the Ultra Envelope: Advanced Power Technologies Are Mainstream in China appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Circulating fluidized bed (CFB) technology is taking a growing share of the international coal-fired power generation market, particularly in the Pacific Rim and China. Indigenous designs are also growing inThe post Advanced CFB Technology Gains Global Market Share appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The world’s first wind farms are reaching the end of their expected lifetimes. As they become outdated, or just inefficient, many developers are considering repowering. Here’s a look at where repowering activity is happening the most and why. Since the world’s first wind turbine used to convert wind energy into electricity was built by Professor […]The post Wind Turbine Repowering Is on the Horizon appeared first on POWER Magazine.

As installed capacity in the U.S. continues its breakneck growth, the solar photovoltaic sector is poised for another leap forward with a variety of new technologies—if increasingly ill-suited regulations and rate designs can be updated to keep pace. The global solar market has moved beyond its early, uncertain days. The luxury of behaving like start-ups […]The post The State of Solar: New Tech, Outdated Rate Designs appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Bark beetles have discovered the good life in California’s overgrown forests. A combination of extended drought and mild winters has led to an enormous infestation of these pests. They have killed over 66The post Meet the Beetles appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Compliance with one of the latest federal environmental regulations, the Effluent Limitations Guidelines (ELG), can be both costly and complicated. A newly available option offers features and capabilities that may make it a more attractive alternative than conventional approaches. In September 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a new rule affecting flue gas […]The post Next-Generation FGD Wastewater Bioreactor Technology Introduced for ELG Compliance appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a request for information to assess the future role of private consolidated interim storage facilities in the agency’s plans for an integrated nuclear waste management system. The DOE noted in an October 27 notice published in the Federal Register that since it unveiled a strategy for the […]The post DOE Seeks More Information on Private Interim Nuclear Waste Storage Facilities appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In yet another sign of China’s overcapacity problem, especially in its coal sector, the central government has reportedly ordered a halt to construction on at least 30 coal-fired plants totaling 17 GW of capacity. A continuing slowdown in China’s economy has thrown its power-sector planning into chaos, as estimates of future demand growth made in […]The post China Stops Construction on 17 GW of Coal Capacity appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Idaho Power—co-owner with NV Energy of the two-unit 522-MW North Valmy Generating Station near Battle Mountain, Nevada—filed a request with the Idaho Public Utilities Commission (IPUC) last week seeking to accelerate the depreciable life of the power plant from 2031 for Unit 1 and 2035 for Unit 2 to 2025 for both units. In Idaho […]The post Idaho Power Pursues Accelerated Depreciation of North Valmy Coal Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

FuelCell Energy and ExxonMobil will test a novel fuel cell carbon capture technology at a Southern Co. 2.7-GW coal- and gas-fired power plant in Alabama, the companies said on October 27. The technology under development by the companies uses carbonate fuel cells to concentrate and capture carbon dioxide streams from power plants. A pilot plant […]The post Plant Barry to Pilot Fuel Cell Carbon Capture from Coal and Gas Generation appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it will provide $3.6 billion in loans to fund 82 projects in 31 states to finance new transmission and distribution lines, smart grid technologies, renewable projects, environmental improvements, and energy efficiency. The agency said on October 26 that the loans will be provided through the Electric Program of […]The post USDA to Provide $3.6B in Loans for Rural Electric Projects appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Nuclear power’s future—and its much-needed contribution to U.S. decarbonization efforts—may be hampered if eight pressing issues aren’t addressed within the next five years, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said at a recent event held at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The issues Moniz outlined in his keynote speech at a six-hour event titled […]The post Moniz: Eight Critical U.S. Nuclear Power Issues That Should Be Addressed Now appeared first on POWER Magazine.

After more than 43 years of service, the Fort Calhoun Station—a single-unit 478-MW nuclear power plant, which was the smallest operating reactor in the U.S. fleet—came offline for the final time at 12:55 p.m. CDT on October 24, 2016. Some said the mood at the plant was subdued, but professional. Many workers and other plant […]The post Sweet Dreams Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

American Electric Power’s (AEP’s) Tanner’s Creek Plant in Lawrenceburg, Ind., concluded six decades of operation last May as the company moved to retire a group of its oldest plants. Closure of the four-unit, 995-MW coal-fired facility (Figure), once the most efficient steam plant in the world, was a blow to the southwestern Indiana communities around […]The post Second Life for an Indiana Coal Plant—as an Inland Port appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A group of generators including Dynegy and NRG Energy filed suit in federal court on October 19 seeking to block an incentive program that would help three New York nuclear power plants remain economic over the next decade. An August decision by the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) approving New York’s Clean Energy Standard included a provision requiring […]The post Generators Sue to Block Lifeline for New York Nuclear Plants appeared first on POWER Magazine.

German utility RWE warned energy markets this week that low water levels on the Rhine River may affect the delivery of hard coal to some of its plants.The post Low River Water Could Cause Problems for German Coal Power Plants appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Although Duke Energy maintains that “only very minor erosion of material” migrated from an inactive coal ash basin on the H.F. Lee Power Plant site, several environmental advocacy groups are concerned that the spill has dirtied North Carolina’s Neuse River. “This spill is easily visible to anyone in a boat. The area looks like a […]The post H.F. Lee Coal Ash Spill Puts Duke Energy Under the Spotlight Again appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Watts Bar Unit 2 began commercial operation on October 19.The post It’s Official: Watts Bar Unit 2 Begins Commercial Operation appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In a major development for a novel carbon capture technology, developers are preparing to commission a 1-MWt oxy-fired pressurized fluidized bed combustion (oxy-PFBC) pilot test facility in Canada’s capital city, Ottawa. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its Canadian counterpart, Natural Resources Canada, commemorated the facility’s construction and commissioning in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on October 18 […]The post Pilot Test of Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustion Carbon Capture Technology Kicks Off in Canada appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A federal court has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to file a plan and schedule to evaluate the consequences of its air pollution rules on jobs, finding for a giant coal company that is suing the agency for an alleged “war on coal” waged over the past five years. In an October 17 summary […]The post Court Orders EPA to Evaluate Coal Industry Job Losses Related to Air Pollution Rules appeared first on POWER Magazine.

An explosion reported on October 13 at Luminant’s coal-fired Oak Grove Power Plant located near Franklin, Texas, was from a blown transformer, the company said. Robertson County dispatchers received a call from the power plant at 6:08 p.m., reporting that there had been an explosion at the plant “as a result of an electrical issue.” […]The post Explosion Reported at Oak Grove Power Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will award up to $80 million to a 10-MWe pilot project that seeks to advance the development and commercialization of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) Brayton power cycles. The plant will be managed by three research entities: the Gas Technology Institute (GTI), Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), and […]The post Supercritical CO2 Brayton Power Cycle Pilot Plant Bolstered with $80M in Federal Funding appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A surprising win in a Japanese prefectural gubernatorial race by the anti-nuclear, Communist Party–backed candidate Ryuichi Yoneyama—a 49-year-old doctor who has never held public office—makes the restart of the 8-GW Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant a much taller task for owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO). The election of Yoneyama (Figure 1) is also a setback for […]The post Election Result Throws Restart of World’s Largest Nuclear Plant into Question appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) voted unanimously to support Xcel Energy’s latest long-range plan, which will transform the company’s energy fleet. Xcel expects to more than double its renewable energy portfolio as a result, delivering greater than 60% carbon-free energy to its Upper Midwest (Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin) customers by […]The post MPUC Decision Spells End for Two Coal Units at Xcel’s Largest Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Six northeastern states are suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to force it to act on controlling air pollution blowing in from coal-fired power plants located in nine Midwestern and southern states. New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont on October 7 filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the […]The post Northeastern States File Suit to Force EPA Action on Ozone Transport Region Expansion appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Mississippi Power’s integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant in Kemper County, Miss., on October 12 has begun generating its first power using a combination of syngas (produced from locally mined lignite) and natural gas. The milestone is a major one, said Thomas Fanning, CEO of Mississippi Power’s parent company Southern Co. “After decades of research […]The post Kemper County IGCC Plant Generates First Syngas-Fueled Power appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Academics at the University of Sheffield—a public research university in the UK—have begun two new carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, searching for cheaper methods of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil-fueled power plants. The work is being funded by the European Commission’s (EC’s) Horizon 2020 Low Carbon Energy program. Solvents Could Be Game-Changing The […]The post New Technology Offers Hope for Cost-Effective Carbon Capture and Storage Systems appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Dreams of a future of round-the-clock dispatchable solar energy may have become reality at the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project in Nevada.The post Crescent Dunes: 24 Hours on the Sun appeared first on POWER Magazine.

GE announced on October 11 that it would purchase Denmark-based LM Wind Power—the world’s largest designer and independent supplier of wind turbine rotor blades. GE will acquire the company from Doughty Hanson (a London-based private equity firm that has owned LM Wind Power since 2001) for $1.65 billion. The deal is seen as a way […]The post GE Is Acquiring World’s Largest Wind Turbine Blade Manufacturer appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In a push to focus on regulated markets in the U.S., Duke Energy has completed its exit of international business in deals valued at $2.4 billion. The company announced on October 10 that it reached an agreement to sell all businesses in Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Argentina to investment firm I Squared […]The post Duke Exits Latin American Power Sector to Focus on U.S. Regulated Business appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Mississippi Power’s integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant under construction in Kemper County, Miss., will likely be placed in service by November 30, a month later than anticipated. The delay will be costly. Mississippi Power reached a new milestone on September 16, announcing that it had started producing syngas using the second gasifier—gasifier “A”—at […]The post Delayed Again, Kemper County IGCC Plant to Start Operations in a Month appeared first on POWER Magazine.

As of October 5, the Paris Agreement—the first global agreement on efforts to limit and mitigate the effects of climate change—had been ratified by a sufficient number of countries, representing at least 55% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, to bring the agreement into force.The post Paris Agreement Meets Final Requirement to Enter into Force appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) will close the 620-MW Hudson Generation Station in Jersey City, N.J., and the 632-MW Mercer Generation Station in Hamilton Township, N.J., on June 1, 2017. “The sustained low prices of natural gas have put economic pressure on these plants for some time. In that context, we could not justify the […]The post PSEG Will Retire Two New Jersey Coal Power Plants appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Big or small? Centralized or distributed? The answer, at least for energy storage, may be both, but what that future may be is unclear, if early discussions at the Energy Storage North America (ESNA) conference in San Diego October 4–6 are anything to go by. Speaking on the first night’s opening keynote panel, Colin Cushnie, […]The post Differing Visions for Energy Storage appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has reached another milestone in its effort to bring Watts Bar Unit 2 into commercial operation: The unit completed its final power ascension test—a 50% load rejection from full power—and safely returned to full power on September 30. The testing had been halted on August 30 due to a switchyard […]The post Watts Bar Unit 2 Nuclear Plant Completes Power Ascension Testing appeared first on POWER Magazine.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), there are 60 nuclear reactors currently under construction around the world. China leads the way with 20 units in progress, followed by Russia with seven, and India with five. Twelve other countries, including the U.S., round out the list. The IAEA predicts that nuclear power generating capacity […]The post A World View of New Nuclear Power Plant Construction [Slideshow] appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post THE BIG PICTURE: Still in the Dark appeared first on POWER Magazine.

When a gas turbine goes down, recovery can be an expensive, time-consuming process. Knowing what can go wrong and how to anticipate turbine failures can help you avoid a difficult unplanned outage. Gas-fired power is hot and getting hotter. The Energy Information Administration estimates that 2016 will be the first year ever that the U.S. […]The post A Primer on Gas Turbine Failure Modes appeared first on POWER Magazine.

South Africa’s state-owned utility faces recent generation shortages, plant construction problems, load shedding, and uncertainty at the African continent’s only nuclear power plant. And that’s just on the generation side. Moves on the business planning and regulatory side are painfully slow and could, some argue, be writing the utility’s obituary. Eskom, South Africa’s state-owned monopoly […]The post Chronic Tardiness at South Africa’s Eskom Could Be Its Downfall appeared first on POWER Magazine.

High-speed turbine rotor balancing was once rare because of the costs and logistical challenges involved in doing it during an outage. That’s begun to change as economic options emerge, and experience is showing that high-speed balancing can pay big dividends in reliability and maintenance costs. To a maintenance engineer or fleet manager, unwanted vibration in […]The post High-Speed Turbine Rotor Balancing Lowers Costs and Improves Operation appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Look to the East and you’ll see a major initiative to transform New York’s electric grid into a cleaner, more efficient system. Look to the West and you’ll find ambitious clean energy legislation in California. Yet utility executives and federal regulators recently gathered in the Midwest to highlight how this region is ground zero for […]The post The Surprising Ground Zero for Electricity Market Fights appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Like so many other power plant functions these days, regulatory and standards compliance can be automated. Know what you want an automated system to do before you make a vendor decision. As North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) enforcement deadlines and audit dates loom—notably, CIP-003-6 in April 2017, which addresses the […]The post Is an Automated Compliance Tracking Solution Right for You? appeared first on POWER Magazine.

For all its record-breaking achievements for speed, innovation, and efficiency, the 3,960-MW Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project should have been a POWER Top Plant. But the unique project has been plagued by serious setbacks—including loss of life—that show how perilous the plant construction journey can be. A decade ago, India was suffering a power crisis […]The post Sasan’s Shadow: An Ultra Mega Power Project’s Dark Side appeared first on POWER Magazine.

New York City is aiming to have 100 MWh of energy storage by 2020 under an unprecedented target set by Mayor Bill de Blasio on September 23. The city’s first-ever energy storage deployment target will help reduce reliance on the grid by making variable sources of energy production, such as solar panels, usable for more […]The post New York City Sets Ambitious Citywide Energy Storage Target appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Duke Energy agreed to pay a $6 million fine under a new settlement reached with North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for the February 2014 coal ash spill at its Dan River power plant in Eden. State regulators fined the utility $6.8 million in February, but Duke Energy challenged the decision, which was the […]The post Duke Energy Agrees to Pay $6 Million for Dan River Coal Ash Spill appeared first on POWER Magazine.