POWER Magazine

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH), the manufacturer of more than 60 of the world’s 81 existing boiling water reactors (BWRs), is making a foray into the pressurized water reactor (PWR) services field. The Wilmington, N.C.–based company announced on May 12 that it has begun offering refueling services to PWR operators. Under a recent agreement, its [...]The post GE Hitachi Enters Pressurized Water Reactor Services Market appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Michigan utility Consumers Energy formally announced on May 11 that it was closing seven of its oldest coal-fired units, which together represent 32% of its coal capacity. The units, representing about 950 MW of total generation, will be shut down by April 2016. Consumers—the state’s largest utility—blamed impending federal air quality regulations in its 2015 [...]The post Consumers Energy Shuttering a Third of Its Coal Fleet appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Siemens AG has completed a company reorganization to respond to the “persistently difficult environment” in the global power generation market. The global technology company, which had around 357,000 employees in 2014, said it would cut 4,500 jobs worldwide as part of efforts to streamline administrative functions. Siemens announced 7,800 jobs cuts earlier this year. Along with [...]The post Siemens Restructures to Bolster Troubled Power and Gas Division appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Biomass combustion should not be an approved compliance method under the Clean Power Plant because burning trees is not carbon neutral, both senators from Massachusetts told the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday. In a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) said that treating bioenergy as having [...]The post U.S. Senators: Biomass Should Not Be Compliance Method for Clean Power Plan appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A fire in one of the Indian Point nuclear plant main electrical transformers resulted in the forced shutdown of Unit 3 at the facility on May 9. The fire started at 5:50 p.m. local time on Saturday and it was quickly extinguished by an automated sprinkler system, along with the action of trained onsite personnel. [...]The post Fire in Main Transformer Forces Shutdown of Indian Point 3 Nuclear Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A Canadian joint review panel issued an environmental assessment report on May 6 for a deep geologic repository (DGR) for long-term management of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (L&ILW), concluding that the project is “not likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.” Ontario Power Generation (OPG) proposed the DGR, intending to locate the facility at [...]The post DGR Is Preferred Nuclear Waste Solution for Canada, Scary for U.S. appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In the opening move of what is certain to be a long and contentious process, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) Committee, introduced a suite of bills covering a broad range of energy issues, from infrastructure to regulatory reform to civil enforcement. Along with several others introduced by [...]The post Murkowski Introduces Array of Energy Bills appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In his May 6 appearance on Comedy Central’s Daily Show, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz addressed both the military and civilian energy issues that the Department of Energy is responsible for. His discussion with host Jon Stewart ranged from the recent negotiations with Iran over that nation’s capability to enrich fissile material to domestic energy [...]The post Sec. Moniz Covers Full Range of Energy Department Work in Daily Show Appearance appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In his May 6 appearance on Comedy Central’s Daily Show, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz addressed both the military and civilian energy issues that the Department of Energy is responsible for. His discussion with host Jon Stewart ranged from the recent negotiations with Iran over that nation’s capability to enrich fissile material to domestic energy [...]The post Sec. Moniz Covers Full Range of Energy Dept. Work in Daily Show Appearance appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Attorneys general from three states—Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia—stepped forward on May 5 to present their objections to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed Clean Power Plan. During testimony before the Senate Environmental and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey presented three specific problems he sees [...]The post Legal Challenges to Clean Power Plan Begin to Take Shape appeared first on POWER Magazine.

California will seek to reduce its greenhouse gases (GHG) by 40% below 1990 levels by 2030, a new executive action by Gov. Edmund Brown Jr. orders. Executive order B-30-15 issued on April 29 comes ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris later this year. California is one of 20 U.S. states (plus the District of [...]The post California Adopts Ambitious 40% by 2030 GHG Reduction Target appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A new bill unveiled on May 6 by Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) champions a general right to neutrality of the interconnection of distributed energy resources (DER) and seeks to establish a set of national parameters for how DERs are governed. The Free Market Energy Act of 2015 would amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act [...]The post Sen. King Introduces Bill to Promote Distributed Energy Interconnection Neutrality appeared first on POWER Magazine.

An interdisciplinary study led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Energy Initiative concludes, among other things, that “state renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requirements should be replaced by a uniform nationwide program.” The report—released on May 5—focuses on the future of solar energy, suggesting that a massive expansion in solar capacity to “multi-terawatt scale” is [...]The post MIT Report: Uniform Nationwide RPS Program Needed appeared first on POWER Magazine.

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Ending several months of speculation, electric vehicle firm Tesla Motors officially moved into the energy storage market on April 30 with the announcement that it would begin marketing two new battery products, the home-based Powerwall and the larger, utility-scale Powerpack. Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the two batteries at a flashy ceremony at the Tesla [...]The post Tesla Takes Aim at the Grid appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Sometimes overlooked and underappreciated, a power plant condenser can make or break your efficiency and power delivery goals. Understanding how important a role your condenser plays is a good step toward greater heat rate awareness. As part of a university class on power generation systems that I teach, I show my students a Sankey diagram [...]The post Best Practices for Maximizing Condenser Efficiency appeared first on POWER Magazine.

When many older plants were built, steel and cast iron piping were common materials used underground. Although these materials have proven to have long, useful lives, improvements in plastics offer additional alternatives today. An understanding of best practices for inspecting and servicing buried piping will help you keep systems operating as designed. Most, if not [...]The post Underground Piping: Out of Sight, Out of Mind, Until It Leaks appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Advocates for the continued reliance on coal for baseload electricity cheered late last year when North America’s largest power-related carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) facility was commissioned. Since then, that pool of advocates is evaporating as prominent electricity industry decision-makers publicly distance themselves from coal and champion alternatives for a low- or no-carbon future. If [...]The post CCS Development, the Key to Coal Power’s Future, Is Slow appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Given the costs and other concerns about currently available technologies for capturing and storing carbon dioxide from fossil-fueled power plants, interest in new technologies remains high. Here’s a look at some potentially promising approaches that are advancing the technology frontier. Frontiers represent the boundary between the known and the unknown. As researchers attempt to push [...]The post The Carbon Capture and Storage R&D Frontier appeared first on POWER Magazine.

How to give electricity customers who can’t take advantage of rooftop solar access to the sun? Community solar—a shared resource—is a fast-growing segment of the renewable energy market, making solar photovoltaic power more accessible while offering another approach to distributed generation. Mention “solar energy” and the image that probably comes to mind is an array [...]The post Solar Gardens: A Fast-Growing Approach to Photovoltaic Power appeared first on POWER Magazine.

ALLETE Inc., a Minnesota holding company known mostly for its Minnesota Power subsidiary, is making a major strategic transition into the broader world of energy services, exemplified by its recent purchase of U.S. Water Services. At the same time, Minnesota Power, which previously transitioned from hydro to coal, now is shifting to a portfolio of [...]The post ALLETE’s Latest Transition Acknowledges the Water-Energy Nexus appeared first on POWER Magazine.

With plans for a “permanent” solution for storing waste from nuclear power generating plants permanently stalled, some are hoping that an “interim” site can be developed that would enable the removal of spent nuclear fuel from plant sites. Today, Holtec International and two New Mexico counties announced a memorandum of agreement to build such a [...]The post Plan to Store Spent Nuclear Fuel in New Mexico Takes Major Step appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Progress has been slow on finding a permanent disposal solution for spent nuclear fuel in the U.S., but an interim solution seems more palatable to developers in a couple of southwestern states. New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R) wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of Energy Dr. Ernest Moniz on April 11, informing him of [...]The post New Mexico and Texas Locations Interested in Receiving Spent Nuclear Fuel appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Multinational energy giant GDF Suez will henceforth be called “Engie,” a name that reflects the global transition to a decarbonized, renewables-rich, energy-efficient, and digital economy, the company said on April 24. “As the world changes, all energies change with it,” the largest independent power producer in the world said in a statement announcing the rebranding [...]The post GDF Suez Changes Name to Engie appeared first on POWER Magazine.

For Samy Faried, an ABB expert who has spent 15 years analyzing arc flash hazards, a new rule recently finalized by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will save lives. In April 2014, OSHA published its Final Rule for Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Standards (29 CFR 1910.269 and 1926 Subpart V), which [...]The post Expert: OSHA’s Arc Flash Final Rule Will Save Lives appeared first on POWER Magazine.

If there was one thing that the panelists at Wednesday’s Executive Roundtable at the ELECTRIC POWER 2015 Convention and Exhibition in Rosemont, Ill., agreed on, it was that change—spurred by new regulations, cheap gas, and the spread of distributed generation—is coming to the power sector. Beyond that, the executives of five highly influential power companies—Dynegy, [...]The post Executive Roundtable Discusses Looming Power Sector Changes appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A Japanese court has rejected a petition to halt the restart of two reactors at the Sendai nuclear power plant, putting the country on course again to revive its long-stalled nuclear power sector. The Kagoshima district court in southwest Japan rejected claims by residents that nearby volcanoes pose risks to the Sendai plant, and that [...]The post Japanese Court Clears Sendai Nuclear Reactors for Restart appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects backed by the Department of Energy (DOE) have captured 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, the agency said in an announcement highlighting the milestone. The projects contributing to the 10 million tons captured milestone are part of DOE’s Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (RCSP) Initiative and the Industrial Carbon [...]The post DOE Highlights Carbon Capture Milestone appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved a final rule to improve coordination of wholesale natural gas and electricity market scheduling in light of the nation’s increased reliance on natural gas generation. FERC’s March 2014 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Order No. 809 proposed changes to nationwide gas scheduling practices, but it gave the [...]The post FERC Issues Final Gas-Electric Coordination Rule appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed Clean Power Plan (CPP) could change the use of the U.S. coal-fired generating fleet from baseload to seasonal peaking—and pose grave implications for plant economics and operating feasibility, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) suggests in new special assessment. The new report is the second [...]The post NERC: EPA’s Clean Power Rule Could Transform Coal Power Use appeared first on POWER Magazine.

California’s burgeoning renewable generation sector, given renewed vigor with a proposed increase in its renewables mandate, means it will need robust energy storage capacity going forward, said speakers at a session at the Electric Power Conference and Exhibition April 22 in Rosemont, Ill. Much of that storage capacity may be provided by a mammoth combined [...]The post CAES a Potential Solution to California’s “Duck Curve,” Say Experts appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Investor-owned electric utilities in the U.S. spent $16.9 billion in 2013 to build transmission infrastructure, a report recently released by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) shows. The ninth annual publication of the EEI’s Transmission Projects: At a Glance highlights a cross-section of more than 170 major transmission projects completed in 2014 or planned over the [...]The post Report: Utilities Are Making Significant Investments in Transmission Infrastructure appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In what could be an industry first, Nebraska’s largest electric utility plans to replace an existing coal-fired boiler with one that uses hydrogen fuel. The Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) said on April 17 that it plans to fuel its Sheldon Station plant in Hallam, Neb., with hydrogen produced by Monolith Materials as a co-product [...]The post NPPD to Convert Coal Boiler to Use Hydrogen Fuel appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Dominion Virginia Power will close all its coal ash ponds at power plants in Virginia to comply with standards established by state and federal regulations. The company announced on April 17 that it would close ponds at four locations: Bremo Power Station in Fluvanna County, Chesapeake Energy Center in Chesapeake, Chesterfield Power Station in Chesterfield [...]The post Dominion to Close Virginia Coal Ash Ponds appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Bills to eliminate incentives that have accelerated the expansion of wind power found momentum in Texas and Oklahoma last week. Texas Moves to Nix RPS, CREZ The Texas Senate on April 14 approved, by a 21–10 vote, legislation that would end the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) and its Competitive Renewable Energy Zone (CREZ) program. [...]The post Texas, Okla. Consider Eliminating Wind Incentives appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan is feasible in its ultimate goals, but getting there will take a lot of work and some rethinking of how the targets are achieved, according to speakers at the Environmental Mega Session, Rebalancing the Electric System for Environmental Consideration, at the Electric Power Conference and Exhibition on [...]The post Clean Power Plan Achievable but Challenges Large, Say Experts appeared first on POWER Magazine.

An emergency action proposed by Maryland regulators on Friday will require 14 coal-fired units in the state to minimize nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions every day during the 2015 summer ozone season, starting as soon as May 1. The rule submitted on April 17 by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to the Joint Committee [...]The post Maryland to Mandate Emergency NOx Reductions at Coal Plants appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The chairman and ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) presented conflicting progress reports on the status of Fukushima task force recommendations during a committee oversight hearing held on April 15. “You haven’t done really anything since Fukushima, as far as I can tell,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), [...]The post Fukushima Mitigation Strategies: Is Progress Being Made at U.S. Nuclear Plants? appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A Japanese court has blocked plans to reopen two reactors that had been previously cleared to resume operations by the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA). Local residents in western Japan’s Fukui Prefecture, where Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Takahama nuclear plant is located, successfully petitioned a court to issue an injunction halting plans to restart Units 3 [...]The post Japanese Court Blocks Nuclear Plant Restarts appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) and Portland, Ore.­–based utility PacifiCorp announced on April 14 that they had signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the possibility of PacifiCorp joining the ISO as a participating transmission owner. The move would be a big one for both entities. PacifiCorp, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy (BHE), [...]The post CAISO and PacifiCorp to Explore Adding Firm as Transmission Owner appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Electricity generation from existing coal-fired power plants will increase from 2012 levels through 2025, according to the Reference case presented in the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Annual Energy Outlook 2015, released on April 14. In addition to the Reference case, five alternative cases—Low and High Economic Growth cases, Low and High Oil Price cases, and [...]The post EIA: Reports of Coal’s Death May Have Been Greatly Exaggerated appeared first on POWER Magazine.

General Electric’s (GE’s) new flagship HA turbines, which will be the largest and most efficient in their class when deployed, will see their first delivery at EDF’s Bouchain combined cycle plant in France this summer. The first U.S. order, from Exelon for four 7HA turbines intended for expansions at the Wolf Hollow and Colorado Bend [...]The post GE’s New HA Turbines Nearing Delivery appeared first on POWER Magazine.

While fuel switching may be the easiest option for hitting the 2020 and 2030 goals set by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed Clean Power Plan, it may impede reaching longer-term climate targets said experts at an April 8 symposium hosted by the Central Texas Association for Energy Economics and the Energy Institute at the [...]The post Short- and Long-Term Economic Impact of the Clean Power Plan on Texas Debated appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Workers at San Diego’s General Atomics (GA) on April 10 began the years-long process of winding the 1000-ton superconducting electromagnet that will power the ITER fusion reactor under construction in Southern France. The $16 billion ITER project, a consortium of the U.S., the European Union, Russia, China, Japan, and other nations, aims to test reactor-scale [...]The post Fabrication Begins for ITER Fusion Reactor Central Solenoid appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Danish firm DONG Energy will take over RES Americas’ rights to develop more than 1 GW of new offshore wind capacity off the coast of Massachusetts. RES secured the rights to develop one of two leases that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) awarded at its Jan. 29 offshore wind auction. Following approval from [...]The post DONG Energy to Develop 1 GW of Offshore Wind Power in Massachusetts appeared first on POWER Magazine.