POWER Magazine

Renewable generation in the U.S. has doubled over the past 10 years. In 2018, generation from solar, wind, hydro, and other renewables soared to a record 742 TWh—or 17.6% of total U.S. generation. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), since 2008—when renewables provided 382 TWh—wind generation rose from 55 TWh and generated 275 TWh […]The post Renewables Provided 18% of U.S. Power Generation in 2018 appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A report from an independent market monitor for PJM Interconnection shows that natural gas-fired power generation topped coal-fired output in PJM in 2018, the first time that gas has topped coal in the history of the largest U.S. grid operator. The “2018 State of the Market” report from Monitoring Analytics LLC, which includes Volume 1 […]The post Gas Now Tops Coal in PJM, but Nuclear Still No. 1 appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Norsk Hydro, a major global aluminum producer that is also Norway’s third-largest producer of hydropower, has been stricken by an extensive cyberattack—reportedly ransomware—that forced its entire global network offline. The company powers its sizable aluminum production operations with 20 hydropower plants concentrated in Telemark, Røldal-Suldal, Sogn, and Vennesla, producing a total 10 TWh per year. […]The post Cyberattack Debilitates Major Aluminum and Hydropower Producer appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators are urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to withdraw a proposed rule that they said could “lead to the undoing” of the Obama administration’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). In a March 18 letter to newly appointed EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler, the group led by Sens. Lamar Alexander […]The post Bipartisan Senators Urge EPA to Drop Proposed Changes to Mercury Rule appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Dominion Energy has reached an agreement with utilities in Connecticut to keep the Millstone Power Station, the state’s only nuclear power plant, in service for at least another decade. Dominion announced the deal March 15, the deadline the company had to tell ISO New England, the regional grid operator, whether it would retire the two […]The post Dominion Reaches Deal to Keep Millstone Nuclear Plant Open appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Westmoreland Coal Co., the nation’s largest independent coal producer, announced March 15 that it has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will operate as a new, privately held company. The company, headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, near Denver, said its assets, including three mines in Montana, are now owned and operated by Westmoreland Mining LLC, a […]The post Westmoreland Coal Emerges from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The chief executive of Vistra Energy Corp. last week said coal is not likely to regain market share in the U.S. power market. Curtis Morgan, in a panel discussion March 14 at the CERAWeek event in Houston, Texas, said “coal is on its way out. More and more plants are being retired.” It’s not the […]The post POWER Notebook: ‘Coal on Way Out’, Theme Parks Embrace Renewables appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Florida Power & Light (FPL) continues to add to its solar power portfolio, with the utility on March 13 announcing plans to build the largest community solar program in the U.S. Eric Silagy, FPL’s president and CEO, in a statement said, “We’ve been aggressively expanding solar with one goal in mind: bringing more solar to […]The post FPL Plans to Build 1,500 MW of Solar in Next Two Years appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The U.S. has agreed to build six nuclear power plants in India, according to a joint statement from the two countries issued March 13 in Washington, D.C. The countries held two days of talks this week, discussing international security and nuclear cooperation. The talks involved Andrea Thompson, the U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control […]The post U.S. Will Build Nuclear Plants in India appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Nathan Myhrvold, the long-time polymath idea man for Bill Gates, his former boss at Microsoft, on March 12 told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) annual regulatory information conference, “Energy is the fulcrum that gives leverage to human ingenuity.” Nuclear, he said, must be a large part of providing that leverage to the world. Myhrvold, speaking […]The post Myhrvold Pushes Advanced Nuclear at NRC Conference appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the Japanese utility that took on the behemoth task of controlling and decommissioning the six-unit Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture after the March 11, 2011, accident, recently released a video showing progress at the site. Source: https://www4.tepco.co.jp/en/news/library/archive-e.html?video_uuid=t820ghcq&catid=61795 The disaster began as a 15-meter (49-foot) tsunami inundated and disabled the […]The post VIDEO: Progress and Challenges to Decommission Fukushima Daiichi appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the U.S. continue to rise, as the use of natural gas for power generation increases in countries such as China, South Korea, Japan, and Mexico. Data from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) shows that four U.S. LNG export facilities combined to ship 483 LNG cargoes in 2018, a […]The post Energy Secretary Wants to Fast-Track U.S. LNG Export Projects appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A Wyoming bill designed to keep coal-fired power plants operating in the state was signed into law by the state’s governor last week, one of several developments worldwide that impacted the power generation landscape in early March. Also in the U.S., the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) defended its hiring of a contractor that led the […]The post POWER Notebook: Wyoming Moves to Save Coal Plants appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Royce Peters, senior technical coordinator for the Carpenters International Training Center (ITC) in Las Vegas, Nevada, was a guest on The POWER Podcast. The ITC is the largest and most-comprehensive training facility of its kind in the world. Following the completion of phase six of construction in 2018, the center now has more than 1.2 […]The post An Inside Look at a State-of-the-Art Training Facility [PODCAST] appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Minnesota and Wisconsin recently joined the list of states aiming for a 100% clean-energy future, while some Illinois lawmakers are pushing for not only carbon-free power, but also 100% renewable energy. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) was the latest to announce a set of policy proposals designed to lead his state’s electricity sector to 100% […]The post States Take Lead with Plans for 100% Carbon-Free Energy appeared first on POWER Magazine.

An estimated 91% of U.S. coal power plants that submitted groundwater monitoring data as required by the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) 2015 Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR) rule have unsafe levels of one or more contaminants, a collaborative analysis of the monitoring data by several environmental groups suggests. The March 4 report is significant because power […]The post Power Companies Refute Findings of Widespread Coal Plant Groundwater Contamination appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Florida Power & Light (FPL) on March 4 announced plans to build four new solar power plants this year, with each expected to come online in early 2020. The company has rapidly expanded its solar power portfolio in recent years; the four new plants will join 18 others already operating in the state. FPL also […]The post FPL Developing More Solar, Set to Bring Big Gas Plant Online appeared first on POWER Magazine.

When U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), he unintentionally ignited the worldwide deregulation of electricity markets, which in turn began a worldwide technology race between two distinct types of power plants: the newly created, industrial-scale plant that PURPA dubbed “cogeneration” and the traditional, utility-scale power […]The post The Line Blurs Between Small Cogen Plants and Large Combined Cycles appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Grappling with a historically low planning reserve margin of 7.4%, owing to a mass of coal plant closures, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is forecasting record electric use this summer and warns it could issue energy alerts at “various times.” ERCOT said its March 5–released final Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy (SARA) for […]The post ERCOT Warns of Intensified Summer Supply Crunch (UPDATED) appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Several developments worldwide impacted the power generation landscape in the past week, including more news about the closure of a coal-fired power plant in Alabama, the restart of a geothermal facility in Hawaii, and construction of a biomass-fueled power plant in Japan. In addition, a company said it plans a $150 million investment in three […]The post POWER Notebook: Alabama Power Says Closing Coal Plant Will Cost $740 Million appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The New York-based hedge fund aiming to take over New Mexico’s San Juan Generating Station (SJGS), targeted for closure by state lawmakers, wants to refit the 46-year-old, coal-fired plant to use carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology. Acme Equities LLC said last week that retrofitting the 847-MW plant with CCS technology would cut carbon emissions […]The post Carbon Capture Proposed to Save New Mexico Coal Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Energy supplies are tight in the Pacific Northwest, a region that has been stricken with unseasonably frigid weather and is bracing for deep freezes as a mass of Arctic air descends on the region. The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), a federal power marketer that sells wholesale power from 31 federal dams and one nuclear […]The post Power Supplies in Pacific Northwest Tighten as Deep Freeze Grips Region appeared first on POWER Magazine.

After the Great Tohoku Earthquake and tsunami, and ensuing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in March 2011, Japan issued stringent safety regulations and reviews that affected its entire 50-reactor fleet. It meant that as each Japanese nuclear reactor entered its scheduled maintenance and refueling outage, it could not returned to operation until restart […]The post THE BIG PICTURE: Japan’s Nuclear Comeback appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Rosenergoatom, Russia’s state-owned nuclear plant owner and operator, said it set another nuclear power production record in 2018. The company generated 204 TWh from its 35 reactors—1.4 TWh more than inThe post Russia Sets New Domestic Nuclear Generation Record appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Dust collection plays a vital role for safe and efficient power plant operation. There are a number of dust collection options available to plant designers, and baghouses have gained wide acceptance. TheThe post Improve Baghouse Performance with Custom Filtration Media appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The January agreement between GE and Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. for a 1.8-GW combined cycle power plant in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is part of the country’s commitment to increasing its power generationThe post UAE Adds Gas Power to Its Mix and Renewables Abroad appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Eight years after Germany decided it would halt nuclear power production by 2022, the country that relied on lignite and hard coal for 38% of its generated power in 2018 will phase out coal by 2038 or earlierThe post Germany’s Coal Exit Bound to Be Complicated appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Distribution System Is Newest Energy Transition Frontier in Europe. The European power sector is urging member states and regulators within the European Union (EU) to speed up development ofThe post POWER Digest [March 2019] appeared first on POWER Magazine.

America’s energy mix is undergoing a period of rapid change. The way we generate electricity in this country looks dramatically different than it did just a decade ago, as wind and solar have matured andThe post How Existing Technology and Market Updates Lead to More Affordable, Reliable, Clean Power appeared first on POWER Magazine.

If you’ve been following the news, you know that Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection because it is facing tens of billions of dollars in liability forThe post Should a Power Company Be Held Responsible for Wildfires? appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The SES Saran solar power plant entered commercial operation in late January in Saran, in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan, an area long known for its coal production. Government officials said the plant isThe post Kazakhstan Adds New Solar Plant to Growing Renewables Capacity appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Senate on February 28 officially confirmed Andrew Wheeler to be administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on a 52–47 vote, mostly along party lines. The nomination of Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, was controversial, with many lawmakers and environmentalists criticizing his ties to the coal industry. Wheeler has held the role in an acting […]The post Andrew Wheeler Confirmed as EPA Administrator appeared first on POWER Magazine.

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry on February 28 said nuclear power and the use of clean coal technology are the way to combat climate change and reduce emissions from the energy sector. Perry, speaking at a joint press conference in Washington, D.C., with Fatih Birol, director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said, “We believe […]The post DOE Chief: Nuclear Power, Clean Coal Technology Key to Reducing Emissions appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will refrain from amending the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for sulfur dioxide (SO2), retaining a 2010 rule, which it said adequately protects public health. The agency on Feb. 25 said in a notice that a periodically required review of the primary—or health-based—rule concluded no revision was necessary. The […]The post EPA to Retain Primary NAAQS for Sulfur Dioxide appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Multinational power and gas giant ENGIE, which embarked on an aggressive transition toward zero-carbon three years ago, saw tempered revenue growth over 2018, owing in part to its disposal of thermal generation businesses in the UK and Poland, and the 1-GW Loy Yang B coal-fired power plant in Australia. ENGIE CEO Isabelle Kocher, who outlined […]The post ENGIE to Exit 20 Countries, Refine Transition Growth Strategy appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Carol Holahan, counsel in Foley Hoag’s Energy & Cleantech practice, was a guest on The POWER Podcast. Holahan advises large regional generators and other participants in the wholesale and retail competitive electricity markets on policy initiatives, changing environmental regulations, decommissioning and sale of plants, and matters pending before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). During […]The post FERC and Cybersecurity: It’s Complicated [PODCAST] appeared first on POWER Magazine.

General Electric’s (GE’s) sale of its biopharma unit on February 25 is designed to reduce the company’s overall debt load, and CEO Larry Culp said the deal is the latest step in his plan to strengthen the whole of GE, particularly the company’s struggling Power division. GE on Monday agreed to sell the biopharma part […]The post GE Selling Biopharma Unit in $21.4 Billion Deal appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A private New York-based real estate investment company that focuses on North American energy projects has reached an agreement with officials in Farmington, New Mexico, to keep the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station open beyond 2022. The city is part-owner of the 847-MW plant, and the other owners—which include Tucson Electric Power, Los Alamos County, […]The post Groups Reach Deal to Keep New Mexico Coal Plant Open appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Arizona’s largest utility wants to support its renewable power portfolio by adding as much as 850 MW of battery storage capacity to its solar power plants by 2025. Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) made the announcement February 21. Don Brandt, the utility’s chairman and CEO, in a statement said, “Arizona is already a national leader […]The post APS Will Add 850 MW of Battery Storage to Solar Plants appeared first on POWER Magazine.

This week (Feb. 17–23) is National Engineers Week. “EWeek” as the National Society of Professional Engineers calls it, is a formal coalition of more than 70 engineering, education, and cultural societies, and more than 50 corporations, and government agencies. Its key goal: raising public awareness of engineers’ positive contributions to quality of life. Over the […]The post National Engineers Week: Engineering for the Power World appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Danish engineering, design, and consultancy firm Ramboll Group in December entered into an agreement to acquire U.S-based engineering and design consultancy OBG. Founded in 1945, OBG has delivered integrated engineering solutions within water, energy, environment and advanced manufacturing, and today, the company says it has extensive client relationships in both the private and public sectors, […]The post POWER Interview: The Future of Power Sector Engineering Amid Market Disruptions appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Hitachi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), two giant Japanese companies with substantial stakes in the world’s power sector, are separately rethinking future business directions as sizable disruptions shake up prospects for traditional market growth. In recent months, Hitachi refined its business model to prepare it for explosive demand in digitalization solutions, focusing heavily on grid […]The post Japanese Conglomerates Rejigger Power Sector Strategies appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Southern Company CEO Thomas Fanning on February 20 said construction of two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle is on track and could possibly beat the current regulatory approved startup dates for the AP1000 units. Fanning spoke Wednesday on the company’s fourth-quarter 2018 earnings call. He said Georgia Power, a Southern Company subsidiary and the […]The post Southern Company CEO: Vogtle Ahead of Schedule appeared first on POWER Magazine.

An Alabama power plant that has operated for more than a century will close in April, with Alabama Power saying that the cost to comply with government regulations on the handling of coal ash and wastewater no longer make the plant economically viable. Jim Heilbron, Alabama Power’s senior vice president and senior production officer, on […]The post Alabama Power Will Close Century-Old Coal Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A subsidiary of MDU Resources Group on February 19 said it plans to close three of its coal-fired units at power plants in Montana and North Dakota. Montana-Dakota Utilities said it would partly replace the lost generation with a new simple-cycle gas-fired unit at the North Dakota site. The company on Tuesday said a biannual […]The post MDU Will Close Coal Units in Montana, North Dakota appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Georgia regulators on February 19 approved another $526.4 million in expenditures by Georgia Power related to the long-delayed Vogtle nuclear power plant expansion near Waynesboro, Georgia. Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) members voted 4-1 to approve a settlement agreement for the 19th Vogtle Construction Monitoring (VCM) Report, which covers the first six months of 2018. The […]The post Georgia PSC Backs Additional Costs for Vogtle Nuclear Project appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Entergy Texas on February 15 began construction of its first new power plant in 40 years. The Montgomery County Power Station (MCPS), located in Willis, will be a 993-MW combined cycle gas turbine plant, adjacent to the existing Lewis Creek Power Plant. Entergy Texas is part of Entergy Corporation, which provides power to about 3 […]The post Entergy Texas Breaks Ground on New 993-MW Combined Cycle Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A renewable energy project in eastern Oregon is being touted as the first in the U.S. to combine wind and solar power with battery storage. Portland General Electric (PGE) plans to build the Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility just north of Lexington, Oregon, the company announced last week. The utility is developing the 380-MW project with […]The post Solar, Wind, Storage Come Together in Oregon Project appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Gustav Knepper power plant in Dortmund-Mengede, Germany, was leveled by two controlled explosions on February 17. The facility had been closed for five years. The plant’s boiler house was brought down first. A 210-meter chimney and 128-meter cooling tower were leveled in a second blast, about 45 minutes after the first. The German YouTube […]The post Video Shows Demolition of Old German Coal Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.