POWER Magazine

The post California Blackouts Bring Calls for Investigation appeared first on POWER Magazine. California’s governor demanded an investigation into the cause of a series of power outages—the first since since an energy crisis in 2001—that blacked out parts of the state in recent days. California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has struggled to ensure reliability since Friday, Aug. 14, when, amid triple-digit temperatures, it declared a statewide Stage 2 […]The post California Blackouts Bring Calls for Investigation appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Additional Solutions Needed for California Power Market appeared first on POWER Magazine. Late last week, to manage a potential large-scale power outage driven by triple-digit temperatures, the California Independent Service Operator (CAISO) called on utilities to implement rolling outages across the California grid. The shutdown of three natural gas power plants and a significant decline in available wind power were cited as the primary reasons behind the […]The post Additional Solutions Needed for California Power Market appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Coal Plants May Get Scrubber Reprieve from Proposed EPA NAAQS Redesignations appeared first on POWER Magazine. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has moved to redesignate four new areas of Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, and Texas as being in attainment of air quality standards for sulfur dioxide (SO2). The proposed actions issued over the past week provide a potential reprieve for several coal power plants, which would have needed costly pollution controls to […]The post Coal Plants May Get Scrubber Reprieve from Proposed EPA NAAQS Redesignations appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post China Will Get ‘Green’ Hydrogen from Siemens-Sourced System appeared first on POWER Magazine. Siemens Energy will provide a hydrogen production system for a fueling station in Beijing, China. The company said it will be the “first megawatt green hydrogen production project in China.” “The decarbonization of the energy systems is a challenge that every country must face. Siemens Energy is the company that can provide its customers with […]The post China Will Get ‘Green’ Hydrogen from Siemens-Sourced System appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Barakah Nuclear Plant Now Sending Power to Grid appeared first on POWER Magazine. Unit 1 of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) sent its first electricity to the UAE grid on August 19, according to a statement from the country’s ambassador to the U.S. The Barakah facility is the first nuclear power plant in the Arab world. The plant became operational about three […]The post Barakah Nuclear Plant Now Sending Power to Grid appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Solar, Storage Among New Projects in Texas appeared first on POWER Magazine. Several companies have announced new energy projects in Texas, including three utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS), and a solar farm that will benefit customers in the western part of the state. The projects were announced August 19. In addition, officials in Houston on Wednesday said they have awarded a contract for a microgrid that […]The post Solar, Storage Among New Projects in Texas appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post BESS System on Hybrid Microgrid Powers Remote Alaskan Community appeared first on POWER Magazine. The small town of Cordova, Alaska, is located 150 miles southeast of Anchorage, near the picturesque head of the Orca Inlet on the Prince William Sound, at the mouth of the Copper River. It is renowned for its Copper River king and red salmon. Every year, the town transforms into a seafood and fishing powerhouse […]The post BESS System on Hybrid Microgrid Powers Remote Alaskan Community appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Coal-Fired Generation Down 30% in U.S., 8% Worldwide appeared first on POWER Magazine. Analysis from a global energy organization said power generation from coal-fired units fell 8.3% in the first half of 2020, with the world’s coal fleet running at less than half its capacity. The drop for U.S. coal generation was more steep, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reporting the output from the nation’s coal […]The post Coal-Fired Generation Down 30% in U.S., 8% Worldwide appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Clean Energy Adds Jobs, but Pace Is Slow appeared first on POWER Magazine. An analysis of federal labor data for the clean energy sector shows renewable energy and other industries are adding jobs after months of declines brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. But the gains in July were lower than those in June, signaling sectors such as solar, wind, energy storage, energy efficiency, and electric vehicles continue […]The post Clean Energy Adds Jobs, but Pace Is Slow appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Innovative Byproduct-Hydrogen Fuel Cell Power Plant Completed appeared first on POWER Magazine. The largest industrial hydrogen fuel cell power plant in the world and the first to use only hydrogen recycled from petrochemical manufacturing has been placed in service by Hanwha Energy at its Daesan Industrial Complex in Seosan, South Korea. The innovative plant uses “recycled hydrogen from petrochemical manufacturing” supplied by the Hanwha Total Petrochemical plant […]The post Innovative Byproduct-Hydrogen Fuel Cell Power Plant Completed appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post DOE Rolls Out Platform to Assess Integration of Energy Systems at Scale appeared first on POWER Magazine. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched the Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) platform to substantially boost national energy research experimental capability and allow the scientific community to explore fundamental challenges related to integrated energy systems at scale. ARIES, which the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, developed over this […]The post DOE Rolls Out Platform to Assess Integration of Energy Systems at Scale appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Six Investing Trends Reshaping Power and Utilities Sector Despite COVID appeared first on POWER Magazine. Investors in the global power and utilities sector embraced agendas that created long-term value during the first half of this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic roiled the world. Recent activity points to several interesting trends that will likely persist in a post-crisis world and may even accelerate change in the sector, new analyses from global […]The post Six Investing Trends Reshaping Power and Utilities Sector Despite COVID appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Power and Gas Research Giants EPRI and GTI Join Forces to Explore Hydrogen Pathways appeared first on POWER Magazine. The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) are teaming on a notable five-year-long initiative to accelerate development and demonstrate low-carbon technologies that they say are needed to help private companies and governments achieve increasingly ambitious decarbonization goals by 2050. The Low-Carbon Resources Initiative (LCRI), officially launched on Aug. 10, is […]The post Power and Gas Research Giants EPRI and GTI Join Forces to Explore Hydrogen Pathways appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Subsidy-Free Wind Farm Planned in North Sea appeared first on POWER Magazine. Dutch utility company Eneco and Shell have been chosen by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy to develop a radical new offshore wind farm incorporating technologies such as floating solar, short-duration battery storage, and green hydrogen production. The Hollandse Kust (Noord) facility will be developed by Eneco and Shell by their CrossWind […]The post Subsidy-Free Wind Farm Planned in North Sea appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post The POWER Interview: A Breakthrough in Circuit Breakers appeared first on POWER Magazine. The transformation of the power landscape involves more than just generation. The distribution of electricity is being changed as well, with technology designed to make electrical systems safer, more reliable, and more efficient. Atom Power, which last year introduced the first digital circuit breaker, is among the companies engineering change in the power sector. Atom, […]The post The POWER Interview: A Breakthrough in Circuit Breakers appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Belarus Plant Loads Fuel; Second Reactor Set for 2022 appeared first on POWER Magazine. Russian energy officials said they have begun loading fuel into the first reactor at the new Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), while at the same time confirming plans for the start-up of a second reactor at the site in Astravets. The plant is the first nuclear power facility to be built in Belarus. The project […]The post Belarus Plant Loads Fuel; Second Reactor Set for 2022 appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post [VIDEO] POWER Insights: Developing Reliable, and Efficient, Energy Solutions appeared first on POWER Magazine. Ameresco has a 20-year history of providing energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions for its customers across North America and the UK. The company works on upgrades of facility infrastructure, and develops, builds, and operates renewable energy plants. The company also works with customers on tailored financial solutions to bring projects to fruition. Ameresco’s business […]The post [VIDEO] POWER Insights: Developing Reliable, and Efficient, Energy Solutions appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post The POWER Interview: Managing Operations in a Pandemic World appeared first on POWER Magazine. Power generation companies, like other businesses, have altered operations due to COVID-19. And it’s more than just having employees work remotely, wear masks, and social distance. Managing data and documents with new protocols in place is critical to any asset-intensive industry, and electricity providers are no different. The Kinsmen Group, an engineering and information management […]The post The POWER Interview: Managing Operations in a Pandemic World appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post PSEG to Return to Regulation, Will Divest 6.7-GW Fossil, Solar Fleet appeared first on POWER Magazine. Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), New Jersey’s giant utility, has become the latest major U.S. power company to seek an exit from the competitive generation business. In a statement attached to the company’s second-quarter 2020 earnings results released on July 31, Ralph Izzo, PSEG chairman, president, and CEO, said the company is “exploring strategic alternatives” […]The post PSEG to Return to Regulation, Will Divest 6.7-GW Fossil, Solar Fleet appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post How to Find the Lowest-Cost Option for Electricity in Competitive Markets [PODCAST] appeared first on POWER Magazine. How electricity is delivered to customers in the U.S. is complicated. Consumers in some states have no choice who supplies their power; state commissions regulate utilities as vertically integrated electricity providers. Other states utilize a competitive model in which power producers can openly access transmission infrastructure and participate in wholesale electricity markets. Yet, there isn’t […]The post How to Find the Lowest-Cost Option for Electricity in Competitive Markets [PODCAST] appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post First Criticality for First Chinese ACPR-1000 Nuclear Reactor at Tianwan appeared first on POWER Magazine. Unit 5 at the Tianwan nuclear power plant, an ACPR-1000 under construction in China’s Jiangsu province, achieved first criticality on July 27, said Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corp., the plant’s owner and operator. According to China National Nuclear Power Corporation (CNNC), China’s giant state-owned nuclear generator and fuel manufacturer which is building the reactor, first fuel […]The post First Criticality for First Chinese ACPR-1000 Nuclear Reactor at Tianwan appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post EIA Details Impact of Coal-to-Gas Switching appeared first on POWER Magazine. U.S. utilities have made a significant move away from coal-fired power generation in the past decade, evidenced by a continuing stream of announced coal plant retirements. That transition has been partly driven by new generation from renewable resources, such as wind and solar power. New data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released August 5, […]The post EIA Details Impact of Coal-to-Gas Switching appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Group to Cities: Get Out of Nuclear Project While You Can appeared first on POWER Magazine. The Utah Taxpayers Association has urged cities and towns that have subscribed to the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) small modular reactor (SMR) project to withdraw from the venture before a Sept. 14 deadline that would lock them into a share of billions of dollars in costs associated with the undertaking. Rusty Cannon, vice […]The post Group to Cities: Get Out of Nuclear Project While You Can appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post 4 Ways Southeast Power’s Fleet Team Has Leveled-Up Since COVID-19 appeared first on POWER Magazine. “Things keep going,” Brent Tomamichel, fleet manager of Southeast Power (Figure 1), said when asked to describe the current state of the power industry. “Our industry is unique in that way; no matter what is happening in the world, everyone needs and wants their power on.” If you’re one of the more than 1.9 million people […]The post 4 Ways Southeast Power’s Fleet Team Has Leveled-Up Since COVID-19 appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Mobile Devices to Support the Utility Industry appeared first on POWER Magazine. Field service workers often log long hours at remote job sites where no two days are the same. To support daily tasks, whether they be at a power plant, oil rig, or other hard to access environments, advanced technologies have become more commonplace to get the job done. With the rapidly evolving nature of technology […]The post Mobile Devices to Support the Utility Industry appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Xuzhou 3 Shows the Future of Subcritical Coal Power Is Sublime appeared first on POWER Magazine. A remarkable retrofit at Xuzhou Unit 3 boosted the 320-MW subcritical coal unit’s efficiency to beyond 43.56%—higher than all existing Chinese supercritical units, and even many ultrasupercritical unitsThe post Xuzhou 3 Shows the Future of Subcritical Coal Power Is Sublime appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Efficiency a Priority at Caofeidian Coal Power Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine. Coal power may be struggling in some parts of the world, but it’s doing just fine in China. New plants are coming online featuring state-of-the-art technology. Two ultrasupercritical units added at theThe post Efficiency a Priority at Caofeidian Coal Power Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Digitization Drives Efficiency at Turkish Coal Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine. The CENAL TES, or Karabiga, power plant in Turkey is a model for the use of high-performance technology and digital software to power an ultrasupercritical coal-fired facility. Coal continues to be the primaryThe post Digitization Drives Efficiency at Turkish Coal Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Khargone: India’s High Efficiency Leap appeared first on POWER Magazine. Indian power giant NTPC commissioned the second unit of the vast 1,320-MW Khargone Super Thermal Power Project in Madhya Pradesh this March, completing its first ultrasupercritical power plant. The project’sThe post Khargone: India’s High Efficiency Leap appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Success Through Engineered Upgrades and a Focus on Behavior appeared first on POWER Magazine. It sounds kind of strange, but you don’t always know, what you don’t know. That was the case at a Thai coal plant. When it started burning Indonesian subbituminous coal, operators didn’t know how dustyThe post Success Through Engineered Upgrades and a Focus on Behavior appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Electric Transmission Grid Problems and Solutions appeared first on POWER Magazine. Many of the electric transmission grids in service around the world were designed and built more than a half century ago. While changes and upgrades have obviously been made over the years, the systems wereThe post Electric Transmission Grid Problems and Solutions appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Pandemic Brings Pause, but Future Looks Bright appeared first on POWER Magazine. The solar power industry has been hammered by the global lockdowns due to the coronavirus, but technology advancements that continue to lower costs point to a rapid recovery. The COVID-19 pandemic has not beenThe post Pandemic Brings Pause, but Future Looks Bright appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post How to Build an On-Time, On-Budget Nuclear Power Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine. Building a new nuclear power plant is challenging. Nuclear construction projects always seem to be behind schedule and over budget. Even in the late 1960s and early 1970s—arguably nuclear power’sThe post How to Build an On-Time, On-Budget Nuclear Power Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Arab World’s First Nuclear Plant Starts Up appeared first on POWER Magazine. Unit 1 of the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, the first nuclear power facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), achieved successful startup August 1. It’s another milestone in the process to deliver power from the project to the UAE grid, with commercial operation of Barakah expected later this year. The startup of Unit 1 marks […]The post Arab World’s First Nuclear Plant Starts Up appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Southern: Vogtle On Track for November 2021 Startup appeared first on POWER Magazine. Southern Co. says it remains on schedule to complete Units 3 and 4 of the Vogtle nuclear expansion project by November 2021 and November 2022, respectively, despite the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company in its 2020 second-quarter earnings report on July 30 said issues associated with the coronavirus have increased subsidiary Georgia Power’s […]The post Southern: Vogtle On Track for November 2021 Startup appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post U.S. Begins Quest for a Lunar Nuclear Reactor appeared first on POWER Magazine. What will it realistically take to ready a fission surface power system (FSP)—a small (maybe modular) nuclear reactor—for deployment on the moon by 2027? That’s essentially what Battelle Energy Alliance LLC (BEA), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are asking the private sector in an interesting request for […]The post U.S. Begins Quest for a Lunar Nuclear Reactor appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Siemens Gamesa Slashes Forecast as COVID Crushes Earnings appeared first on POWER Magazine. Wind turbine maker Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) has lowered its sales forecast for 2020, and the company said it expects the economic impact of COVID-19 will cut €1 billion ($1.2 billion) from its sales revenue in the full year. The company in its latest earnings report, released July 30, said the impact of the […]The post Siemens Gamesa Slashes Forecast as COVID Crushes Earnings appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post GE Will Decarbonize Uniper’s Gas Power Fleet appeared first on POWER Magazine. GE Gas Power and Uniper have agreed to roll out a detailed decarbonization roadmap that may entail hydrogen-friendly upgrades to all GE gas turbines and compressors at the German generation giant’s gas power plants and gas storage facilities across Europe. Under the agreement, GE Gas Power and Uniper will form a joint working group to […]The post GE Will Decarbonize Uniper’s Gas Power Fleet appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post EPA Changes Closure Requirements in Coal Ash Rule appeared first on POWER Magazine. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on July 29 finalized several changes to the regulations for disposal of coal combustion residuals (CCRs), or coal ash, from electric utilities. The changes include giving utilities more time to design clean-up and closure plans for their coal ash storage sites. The changes stem from an opinion issued Aug. […]The post EPA Changes Closure Requirements in Coal Ash Rule appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Amicarella ‘Demystifies’ the Role of CEO for Women [PODCAST] appeared first on POWER Magazine. The power generation industry has historically been a male-dominated industry, but today there are a number of women who have risen through the ranks to positions of leadership. Ana Amicarella, CEO of EthosEnergy, is one of them. EthosEnergy is a leading independent service provider of rotating equipment services and solutions to the power, oil and […]The post Amicarella ‘Demystifies’ the Role of CEO for Women [PODCAST] appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post PG&E, Tesla Team on Milestone Battery Storage System appeared first on POWER Magazine. A new battery energy storage system (BESS) at an electric substation in California is expected to be one of the world’s largest utility-owned, lithium-ion storage systems when it begins operating next year. The 182.5-MW BESS is being built by Tesla and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) at the utility’s substation in Moss Landing in Monterey […]The post PG&E, Tesla Team on Milestone Battery Storage System appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Assembly Phase Underway for ITER Nuclear Project appeared first on POWER Magazine. Officials with the ITER project in France said work has started on the assembly of giant components needed for construction of an experimental nuclear fusion reactor, a project designed to demonstrate the scientific and technological feasibility of fusion energy for peaceful use. The ITER group, in a ceremony July 28 that was broadcast online (see […]The post Assembly Phase Underway for ITER Nuclear Project appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Why Coal Lost—and Can It Recover? appeared first on POWER Magazine. Coal burn in the power sector has fallen off a cliff. Demand peaked at 1.045 billion tons in 2007. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates consumption in 2020 will be 377 million tons, a drop of 64% in little more than a decade. The EIA is forecasting a modest rebound in 2021 (to 462 […]The post Why Coal Lost—and Can It Recover? appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Keeping the Lights on in South Korea appeared first on POWER Magazine. South Korea has flourished over the past six decades, transforming its place on the world stage. However, progress has come at a price—far higher than average pollution generated from its energy grid. On its path of progress, the country has capitalized on the promise of cheap coal power. Meeting its energy and emissions goals will […]The post Keeping the Lights on in South Korea appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Map Shows ‘Low-Impact’ Locations for Wind Power appeared first on POWER Magazine. A global environmental group that works to protect land, water, and wildlife said states in what it considers the U.S. “wind belt” can develop wind power generation to meet renewable energy goals without presenting a significant risk to surrounding areas. An analysis from The Nature Conservancy, focused on the central U.S. where there is vast […]The post Map Shows ‘Low-Impact’ Locations for Wind Power appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Rosatom Accepts First MOX Fuel Batch for BN-800 Fast Reactor appeared first on POWER Magazine. Rosatom, the Russian state-owned nuclear energy company, said it is ready to receive a shipment of the first full reload batch of fresh uranium-plutonium mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel for the BN-800 fast reactor at the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station, the nation’s oldest operating nuclear energy facility. The company on July 23 announced the Mining and Chemical […]The post Rosatom Accepts First MOX Fuel Batch for BN-800 Fast Reactor appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post [VIDEO] POWER Insights: The Amazing DIII-D Fusion Project appeared first on POWER Magazine. The DIII-D National Fusion Facility, operated by General Atomics for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is the largest magnetic fusion research facility in the U.S. The mission of the DIII-D research program is to establish the scientific basis for the optimization of the tokamak approach to fusion energy production. The DIII-D program is a […]The post [VIDEO] POWER Insights: The Amazing DIII-D Fusion Project appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Rains Complicate Ethiopian Hydro Dam Dispute appeared first on POWER Magazine. Ethiopia says it had reached a “major common understanding” with Egypt and Sudan related to the first filling and annual operation of the 6.4-GW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), paving the way to a “breakthrough agreement” in the contentious dispute that is primarily about use of the River Nile’s waters. As POWER reported in […]The post Rains Complicate Ethiopian Hydro Dam Dispute appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Using Autonomous Drones in the Power Sector [PODCAST] appeared first on POWER Magazine. Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), have been dabbled with throughout the power industry for years. POWER featured a drone on its cover in April 2014, and has published many articles on drone technology since then. Yet, the technology has been used more as a novelty in the power sector up to this point. As […]The post Using Autonomous Drones in the Power Sector [PODCAST] appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post Duke Energy Has New CCGT Plant in Asheville appeared first on POWER Magazine. Duke Energy Progress, the Duke Energy subsidiary that serves about 1.6 million customers in the Carolinas, announced the completion of its new Asheville Combined Cycle Station in Arden, North Carolina. The company said the $817 million combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) facility (Figure 1) includes two power blocks with a total of four generators and […]The post Duke Energy Has New CCGT Plant in Asheville appeared first on POWER Magazine.