POWER Magazine

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) on April 24 rejected Vectren’s proposal to build an 850-MW natural gas-fired power plant to replace two coal-burning units at its A.B. Brown Generating Station, along with another coal unit at a nearby plant. The commission said it based its decision on the potential financial risk to ratepayers who they said […]The post Indiana Regulators Reject Vectren Plan for Gas Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Managing the power load of a Las Vegas casino might seem a daunting task. MGM Resorts International, which operates several iconic properties on the city’s famous strip along with other hospitality and entertainment venues worldwide, took matters into its own hands a few years ago as it tried to control its energy costs and also […]The post Generating a Winning Plan for Sustainability appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Washington this week became the latest state to establish a goal of 100% carbon-free clean electricity, as lawmakers passed Senate Bill 5116, which mandates a transition to clean power across the state by 2045. The bill was first introduced in January and is expected to be signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee. Washington joins […]The post Washington, Nevada Pass Clean Power Legislation appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Nuclear power in the U.S. and globally has battled headwinds in recent years, and not just from the growth of other power generation resources such as solar, wind, and natural gas. Problems in the U.S. nuclear sector, such as construction delays and cost overruns at the Vogtle site in Georgia, the cancellation of the V.C. […]The post The POWER Interview – Keeping Nuclear Power Viable appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In a legal victory for environmental groups, a federal court has vacated key portions of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) November 2015-promulgated effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs) for steam electric power plants, deeming them “unlawful.” The decision adds a dramatic new element of uncertainty in timing of the rule, which the Trump administration has said it […]The post Federal Court Vacates Parts of Obama EPA’s ELG Rule appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In a significant technical triumph, GE has completed first installation of a new gas-fired power plant technology that it says can reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions to 5 parts per million (ppm). GE on April 11 completed combustion upgrades on nine GE 9E gas turbines at five power generation enterprises in Shenzen, a major industrial […]The post GE Marks ‘Ultra Low’ NOx Gas Turbine Technology Triumph appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Duke Energy on April 17 announced it will develop six utility-scale solar power projects in North Carolina, among 14 solar projects chosen as part of the state’s Competitive Procurement of Renewable Energy (CPRE) program. The 14 projects—10 in North Carolina and four in South Carolina—could cost as much as $772.5 million to build according to […]The post Duke Energy Projects Lead Carolinas’ Solar Expansion appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Only months after ABB announced Hitachi would acquire a majority stake in its flagship power grids business for $11 billion, the company’s board of directors ousted CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer and officially launched a search for a new leader. The Zurich-based technology giant said on April 17 that the board of directors and Spiesshofer “mutually agreed […]The post Leadership Shakeup at ABB Amid Power Grids Business Overhaul appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Entergy on April 16 said it will sell its Indian Point Energy Center to Comprehensive Decommissioning International, a Camden, N.J.-based jointly owned subsidiary of Holtec International, a company buying nuclear plants that are closed or scheduled for retirement. Holtec in the deal will receive funds that Entergy has invested in a decommissioning trust, currently worth […]The post Holtec Adds Indian Point Nuclear Plant to Decommissioning Portfolio appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont on April 15 announced the Millstone Nuclear Power Station will stay open for at least another decade, thanks to a deal between Dominion, the plant’s owner, and utilities Eversource and United Illuminating, a subsidiary of Avangrid. Millstone, like other U.S. nuclear power plants, has been challenged by rising operating costs and […]The post Dominion Brokers 10-Year Deal to Keep Millstone Nuclear Plant Open appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to reconsider industry-led challenges to state nuclear subsidy programs in New York and Illinois leaves the contentious matter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The high court on April 15 declined to accept petitions for review of decisions by the Second Circuit and Seventh Circuit, dealing a major blow […]The post Nuclear Subsidy Dispute Now Rests with FERC, Competitive Generators Say appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Ohio lawmakers on April 12 announced a plan to provide financial support to the state’s two nuclear power plants by adding a surcharge to customers’ electric bills. The bill’s supporters said it also would generate as much as $300 million annually for clean power generation in Ohio, though the measure calls for abolishing mandates for […]The post Ohio Lawmakers Announce Plan to Subsidize Nuclear Plants appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Legislation recently introduced in the U.S. House that would expand the federal solar investment tax credit (ITC) to energy storage technologies has gained the backing of major trade groups representing the solar, hydropower, and wind sectors. The Energy Storage Tax Incentive and Deployment Act (H.R. 2096), introduced on April 4 by Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), […]The post Storage ITC Bill Gains Key Industry Backers appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Construction activity on wind projects across the U.S. surged to a record level of more than 20 GW in the third quarter of 2018, and about 35.1 GW of new wind capacity was under construction or in advanced development at the end of 2018, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). In 2018, the […]The post Wind Industry Prepares for Massive Expansion appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Time is winding down for lawmakers interested in enacting legislation to save the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear plant. That message was amplified on April 5 when Exelon Corp. filed the federally required Post Shutdown Decommissioning Activities Report (PSDAR) with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The PSDAR details plans for TMI Unit 1 after its final […]The post Pressure Mounts as Legislators Try to Save Nuclear Plants appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Cybersecurity firm FireEye has uncovered and is responding to a new intrusion at an unnamed critical infrastructure facility that it suggests in an April 10 blog post was perpetrated by the group behind the TRITON attack, which prompted a process shutdown at a Middle Eastern facility in 2017. But while details of the new attack are sparse, […]The post New Cyberattack by Group Behind TRITON/TRISIS Reported appeared first on POWER Magazine.

PJM Interconnection said it will hold its 2022–2023 capacity auction under current market rules on Aug. 14, 2019, though the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has yet to issue a decision on the grid operator’s plan to revamp its Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR). In an April 10 filing, however, PJM asked FERC to clarify that […]The post PJM Will Hold Capacity Auction Under Current Rules in August appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Financing has reportedly been secured for a 1,600-MW coal-fired power plant in India’s eastern state of Jharkhand. Qatar’s Gulf Times newspaper reported April 6 that Power Finance Corp., a state-run lender in India, and its subsidiary REC approved a $1.5 billion loan for the project. The report said the new plant would be funded through loans […]The post POWER Notebook: New 1,600-MW Coal Plant in India; Low-Price Solar Deal in Idaho appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The world’s first complete advanced nuclear fuel test assemblies containing accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) have been installed at Southern Co.’s Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant’s Unit 2 in Georgia. Nuclear giant Framatome delivered four GAIA lead fuel assemblies containing enhanced ATF (EATF), including both pellets and cladding, to the plant owned by Georgia Power in […]The post Vogtle 2 Installs World’s First Full Accident-Tolerant Fuel Assemblies appeared first on POWER Magazine.

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 & […]The post For First Time, IEA Quantifies Coal’s Dominant Role in Global Temperature Increase appeared first on POWER Magazine.

PG&E Corp. announced on April 3 the appointment of William “Bill” Johnson as the company’s new president and CEO. It also announced the appointment of 10 new directors to its board of directors. The board appointments will be effective as of the next in-person board meeting, which will be held as soon as practicable, the […]The post Former TVA CEO Will Take the Reins at PG&E appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Department of Energy (DOE) unveiled a slate of measures to help U.S. hydropower thrive as costs for wind and solar plummet. Measures will include a roadmap to identify hydro’s value in a future grid, and a first-of-its-kind prize designed to encourage innovative and faster pumped storage construction techniques. In her opening speech at Waterpower […]The post How the DOE Is Looking to Save Hydropower appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Florida Power and Light Co. (FPL) has been building new solar farms and bringing gigawatts of new natural gas-fired generation capacity online in recent years. Now the utility has announced what it calls the world’s largest solar-powered battery storage system. FPL on March 28 said the Manatee Energy Storage Center, a 409-MW/900-MWh battery storage facility, […]The post FPL Will Build World’s Largest Battery Storage System appeared first on POWER Magazine.

North Carolina officials have ordered Duke Energy to excavate all its coal ash storage ponds in the state, saying the utility’s current plan for its coal ash sites does not sufficiently protect groundwater. The directive issued April 1 comes after regulators in other states, including Virginia, issued similar rulings regarding coal ash disposal in those […]The post N.C. Officials Order Duke Energy to Excavate Coal Ash Ponds appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corp. (UMERC) placed two new natural gas-fired generating stations into commercial operation on March 31, part of the company’s plan to reshape its generation fleet as it seeks to “balance reliability and customer cost with environmental stewardship.” UMERC, a subsidiary of WEC Energy Group, also retired the coal-fired 430-MW Presque Isle […]The post New Gas-Fired Plants Come Online in Michigan appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A project to demonstrate a novel power cycle that promises to produce low-cost, reliable, and flexible power from natural gas—while generating no atmospheric emissions, and fully capturing carbon dioxide—is inching closer to commissioning. Its developers are now actively assessing siting for the first commercial-scale 300-MW NET Power facility. NET Power’s 50 MWth Demonstration Plant in La […]The post Inside NET Power: Gas Power Goes Supercritical appeared first on POWER Magazine.

While conventional power plant cycles produce power from turbines using water or steam as the working fluid, supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) cycles use CO2 that is in a supercritical state—at a temperature and pressure above its critical point where liquid and gas phases are not distinguishable. CO2 has a relatively low critical pressure of 7.4 megapascal […]The post What Are Supercritical CO2 Power Cycles? appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post THE BIG PICTURE: Cost of Power Comparison appeared first on POWER Magazine.

India’s first grid-scale battery-based energy storage system was launched in February. The 10-MW system is owned by AES Corp. and Mitsubishi Corp., and operated by Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd. (TataThe post India Installs Its First Grid-Scale Battery Storage System appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A widespread misconception persists that nuclear plants can only function as inflexible baseload sources of power—and it’s hurting prospects for the nuclear sector’s role in the world’s future powerThe post Flexible Operation of Nuclear Power Plants Ramps Up appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The world’s first autonomous combined cycle power plant is currently under construction at the Takasago Machinery Works facility in Japan, and it will be operational by 2020, according to Mitsubishi HitachiThe post Autonomous Power Plant Takes Shape in Japan appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Netherlands Orders Early Closure of Coal Plants. The Dutch government on March 8 told Swedish power producer Vattenfall to stop using coal at the 650-MW Hemweg-8 hard coal-fired unit in Amsterdam by theThe post POWER Digest (April 2019): News Briefs from Around the World appeared first on POWER Magazine.

What keeps you up at night? The question has become cliché as panel moderators now routinely ask it as a “thought-provoking” final query to close out executive roundtable sessions at industry conferencesThe post Replacing Retirees and Improving Reliability High on To-Do Lists appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Ever since deregulation came to the power industry, combined cycle plant managers have been trying to benchmark their production metrics and cycling costs against those of their competitors. There has alwaysThe post Analytical Tool Helps HRSG Operators Compare Equipment Reliability appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Today’s microgrid installations showcase a variety of configurations and control systems. Commercial and industrial sites are finding innovative ways to power their operations, particularly those in remoteThe post Off-Grid Microgrid: Solar + Batteries + Thermal Generation appeared first on POWER Magazine.

When conversations around the power industry turn to computer hacking, more often than not experts say it’s not a question of if, but rather, how systems have been compromised. William Doering, adjunct professor in the online Master’s in Business Administration program at Maryville University and a director with Guidehouse—a management consulting services provider—said he has participated […]The post Working with Peers Is Critical to Power System Reliability [PODCAST] appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A wide-ranging bill introduced by a large group of bipartisan U.S. senators on March 27 seeks to cement the role advanced nuclear reactors will play in the nation’s future power mix. The “Nuclear Energy Leadership Act” (NELA), aims to “reestablish U.S. leadership in nuclear energy,” which has been lost to state-sponsored development in Russia and […]The post Bipartisan Senators Move to Cement Nuclear Power’s Future appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is funding a project that would prepare Westinghouse’s 25-MWe eVinci micro-reactor for nuclear demonstration readiness by 2022. The agency on March 27 said it will provide $12.9 million of the estimated $28.6 million Westinghouse needs for a project to prepare the micro-reactor for a demonstration, including for design, analysis, licensing […]The post Bagging DOE Support, Westinghouse Eyes Demonstration for Nuclear Micro-reactor by 2022 appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Several power-sector CEOs—appearing at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Summit in New York this week—suggested that existing nuclear power plants should not be allowed to slowly vanish from the U.S. electricity grid under market pressure caused by cheap natural gas and the growth of renewable energy. The leaders submitted that nuclear power provides important […]The post CEOs Say Preserving the Nuclear Power Fleet Is Imperative appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Depending on the deployment location and competing energy prices, photovoltaic solar panels are among the most cost-effective power solutions being added to the grid today, often without subsidies and other incentives. The revelation came during a panel discussion—which included several CEOs from the power sector—that took place at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Summit […]The post Solar Power Is Economical Today, but Comes With Challenges appeared first on POWER Magazine.

President Trump has signed an executive order (EO) to boost coordination for and national resilience against electromagnetic pulse (EMP) threats—both from nuclear warfare and natural events like solar superstorms. The action suggests new federal mandates to protect critical infrastructure against EMP events and attacks may be on the horizon. Senior Trump administration officials from the National Security […]The post Trump Acts on Critical Infrastructure Resiliency Against EMP Threats appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Siemens, Three Mile Island, and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) made notable headlines over recent days. Here is this week’s POWER notebook. Siemens Bags First Order for 41-MW Aeroderivative Gas Unit Siemens on March 25 said it received its first order for its newest aeroderivative gas turbine offering—the SGT-A45. The buyer, Bayat Power, a subsidiary […]The post POWER Notebook: First Order for Novel Gas Turbine; Three Mile Island Accident Turns 40; PG&E Pushes Back on Judge’s Proposal appeared first on POWER Magazine.

After a Navajo tribal council on March 21 voted 11–9 to block acquisition of the Navajo Generating Station (NGS) and Peabody Energy’s Kayenta coal mine, the Navajo Transitional Energy Co. (NTEC) announced it would drop its bid to keep the 2.3-GW coal-fired plant near Page, Arizona, open. NTEC, a company wholly owned by the Navajo […]The post Navajo Nation Ends Bid to Acquire 2.3-GW Coal Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

GE introduced its GT26 HE (high efficiency) gas turbine upgrade on March 25 by announcing Uniper would be the first to install the new technology at the company’s Enfield Power Station in London, England. “We’re proud to launch our new GT26 HE upgrade with Uniper—it’s the most advanced solution we’ve ever introduced on a GT26 […]The post First Gas Turbine Upgrade Blending GE and Alstom Technology Unveiled appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry on March 22 said his department will guarantee up to $3.7 billion in additional loans to finance continued construction of two new nuclear reactors at the Vogtle plant in Georgia. While Perry and other government officials stressed the importance of the project to the U.S. nuclear industry, critics called it a […]The post Vogtle Loan Guarantees Praised, Criticized appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The United States Energy Association (USEA) is an association of public and private energy-related organizations, corporations, and government agencies that helps increase understanding of the world’s energy issues. Barry Worthington has been the executive director of the USEA for more than 30 years. During that time, he has seen the association grow from a two-person, […]The post Trump Ended War on Fossil Fuels, but Focus Needed on CCS [PODCAST] appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A German business magazine reports that Siemens is exploring options for its struggling gas turbine business, and could look to form a joint venture with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI). Manager Magazin on March 21 said Siemens “wants to accommodate the large turbine business of the Japanese Mitsubishi Group and in the future hold only a […]The post Siemens, Mitsubishi Discuss Merger of Turbine Units appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry will reportedly announce March 22 that the Trump administration will finalize $3.7 billion in loan guarantees to support completion of the Vogtle nuclear plant construction project. The announcement is expected when Perry visits the site near Waynesboro, Georgia, on Friday along with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Southern Co. CEO Tom […]The post Trump Administration Set to Guarantee $3.7 Billion to Finish Vogtle Nuclear Expansion appeared first on POWER Magazine.

MGM Resorts International took a bold step in 2016 when it ended its energy-buying relationship with NV Energy and instead chose to purchase electricity from private providers. The company’s decision was driven by a desire to slash bills and boost renewables. Henry Shields, executive director of finance and analysis in the Corporate Sustainability division of […]The post How a Major Resort Owner Manages Its Power [PODCAST] appeared first on POWER Magazine.