POWER Magazine

Two planned solar projects in Nevada would be the first in that state to include battery storage, part of an increasing trend toward such projects to help mitigate issues with integrating renewable energy into the larger transmission grid. Both projects are scheduled to begin construction next year pending regulatory approval, with the Bureau of Land […]The post Large Solar-Plus-Storage Projects Planned Near Las Vegas appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Two planned solar projects in Nevada would be the first in that state to include battery storage, part of an increasing trend toward such projects to help mitigate issues with integrating renewable energy into the larger transmission grid. Both projects are scheduled to begin construction next year pending regulatory approval, with the Bureau of Land […]The post Large Solar-Plus-Storage Projects Planned Near Las Vegas appeared first on POWER Magazine.

NextEra Energy Resources, the wholesale power generating subsidiary of Florida-based NextEra Energy Inc., announced it has struck a deal to shorten its power purchase agreement (PPA) with Alliant Energy and will retire the Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC)—a 615-MW nuclear power plant located in Palo, Iowa—before the end of 2020. DAEC’s reactor is licensed with […]The post Duane Arnold Nuclear Plant Will Close in 2020 appeared first on POWER Magazine.

NextEra Energy Resources, the wholesale power generating subsidiary of Florida-based NextEra Energy Inc., announced it has struck a deal to shorten its power purchase agreement (PPA) with Alliant Energy and will retire the Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC)—a 615-MW nuclear power plant located in Palo, Iowa—before the end of 2020. DAEC’s reactor is licensed with […]The post Duane Arnold Nuclear Plant Will Close in 2020 appeared first on POWER Magazine.

California and Texas—two regions where summer reliability concerns were forecast earlier this year—are suffering extreme temperatures and are scrambling to relieve stress on the grid. The California Independent System Operator (CAISO)—the grid operator that serves about 80% of California—on July 24 and 25 issued statewide Flex Alerts, calling for voluntary electricity conservation during peak afternoon […]The post High Summer Temperatures Send CAISO and ERCOT Scrambling to Maintain Grid Reliability appeared first on POWER Magazine.

California and Texas—two regions where summer reliability concerns were forecast earlier this year—are suffering extreme temperatures and are scrambling to relieve stress on the grid. The California Independent System Operator (CAISO)—the grid operator that serves about 80% of California—on July 24 and 25 issued statewide Flex Alerts, calling for voluntary electricity conservation during peak afternoon […]The post High Summer Temperatures Send CAISO and ERCOT Scrambling to Maintain Grid Reliability appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Poised to drive the future of coal power, many Southeast Asian countries are considering new coal plants with high-efficiency, low-emissions (HELE) technologies, a new report suggests. According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) December-released World Energy Outlook 2017, Southeast Asia, along with India and other developing economies in Asia, will drive global coal demand. The […]The post How Southeast Asian Countries Could Drive the Future of Coal Technology appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Poised to drive the future of coal power, many Southeast Asian countries are considering new coal plants with high-efficiency, low-emissions (HELE) technologies, a new report suggests. According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) December-released World Energy Outlook 2017, Southeast Asia, along with India and other developing economies in Asia, will drive global coal demand. The […]The post How Southeast Asian Countries Could Drive the Future of Coal Technology appeared first on POWER Magazine.

French utility Électricité de France (EDF)on July 25 said it has pushed fuel loading at its 1.6-GW Flamanville 3 nuclear project to the fourth quarter of 2019 and increased cost estimates for the project by another €400 million (USD $467.1 million). EDF said its current cost for the project has ballooned to €10.9 billion (USD […]The post EDF Announces More Delays, Cost Overruns for Flamanville 3 Reactor appeared first on POWER Magazine.

French utility Électricité de France (EDF)on July 25 said it has pushed fuel loading at its 1.6-GW Flamanville 3 nuclear project to the fourth quarter of 2019 and increased cost estimates for the project by another €400 million (USD $467.1 million). EDF said its current cost for the project has ballooned to €10.9 billion (USD […]The post EDF Announces More Delays, Cost Overruns for Flamanville 3 Reactor appeared first on POWER Magazine.

More than two dozen people have died in southeastern Laos after part of a newly built hydroelectric dam broke on July 23, flooding nearby villages. Government officials on July 25 said it had confirmed 26 deaths, with fears the death toll will rise with more than 130 people officially listed as missing and heavy rain […]The post Death Toll Likely to Rise After Dam Failure at Laos Hydro Project appeared first on POWER Magazine.

More than two dozen people have died in southeastern Laos after part of a newly built hydroelectric dam broke on July 23, flooding nearby villages. Government officials on July 25 said it had confirmed 26 deaths, with fears the death toll will rise with more than 130 people officially listed as missing and heavy rain […]The post Death Toll Likely to Rise After Dam Failure at Laos Hydro Project appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials in a July 24 webinar said that Russian hackers infiltrated a power plant industrial control system (ICS) in an incident that could have caused a blackout last year. However, as an industrial cybersecurity expert pointed out—and a DHS spokesperson confirmed—the impact of the incident may be overstated. The expert and DHS responded to a […]The post DHS Warns that Russians Hacked Control Rooms appeared first on POWER Magazine.

An internal report from NTPC said an “error in judgment” by plant operators led to an explosion at India’s Feroze Gandhi Unchahar Thermal Power Station last year that resulted in the deaths of 45 workers. Reuters news service on July 23 said it had reviewed a summary of the report on the accident that occurred […]The post Report: Human Error to Blame in Fatal India Plant Accident appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has ordered the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) to broaden, within six months, its Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) reliability standards to include mandatory reporting of cybersecurity incidents that could harm the bulk electric system (BES). FERC’s Order No. 848issued on July 19 directs NERC to develop and submit […]The post FERC Mandates Reporting of Attempted Cybersecurity Breaches appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Trump administration has finalized a significantly weakened rule governing the disposal of coal ash in landfills and surface impoundments by coal generators nationwide. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed on July 18 that it signed the first rule of its two-part rulemaking set that overhauls the Obama administration’s final 2015 rules for the disposal […]The post EPA Finalizes First Set of Coal Ash Rule Revisions appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Framatome reached a major milestone in its review of Le Creusot Forge’s manufacturing records, finishing the task of identifying and characterizing deviations in all of the records for forgings installed on nuclear reactors in France. A total of 1,925 records were analyzed. At this stage of the process, no serviceability issues have been identified in […]The post Records Analysis Complete at Le Creusot Forge, Nuclear Parts Production Ramped Up appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Electric cooperatives in the U.S. have vastly accelerated solar power installments. Today, they own or purchase more than nine times as much solar photovoltaic (PV) power as they did in 2013, a new report says. The report, “A Solar Revolution in Rural America,” was prepared by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), a […]The post How Co-ops Transformed the Solar Landscape in Just Five Years appeared first on POWER Magazine.

For a decade or more, heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) users have heard that Grade-91 tubing (T-91) is susceptible to microstructure damage from improper heat treatment. Now, a new damage mechanism in T-91 tubing has been identified, which HRSG users heard about at the February 2018 HRSG User’s Group Conference. During the discussion on heat […]The post New Damage Mechanism Identified in HRSG T-91 appeared first on POWER Magazine.

China’s first reactor adopting its domestically developed evolutionary third-generation ACPR-1000 design has wrapped up trial operation and begun commercial operation. CGN Power, a subsidiary of China General Nuclear Power Corp., announced that the 1000-MW Unit 5 of the Yangjiang Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong province completed a 168-hour period of trial operation on July 12. […]The post First ACPR-1000 Nuclear Unit Begins Commercial Operation in China appeared first on POWER Magazine.

An industrial-scale pilot plant that will use surplus hydrogen from refinery operations to produce power is taking shape in Australia. Industrial alkaline fuel cell power company AFC Energy on July 12 said it received its first commercial order for a hydrogen power generation unit in Australia from Southern Oil Refining, a subsidiary of Northern Oil. […]The post Refinery Hydrogen Power Pilot Takes Shape in Australia appeared first on POWER Magazine.

NRG Energy will not restart its Dunkirk power plant in western New York, with the company on July 11 saying the cost to reconnect the facility to the state’s electric grid prohibits reopening the retired coal-fired plant as a natural gas-fueled facility. David Gaier, an NRG spokesman, told POWER the project’s increased costs, along with needed […]The post NRG Ends Effort to Repower Dunkirk Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Navajo Nation on July 12 said it has identified a potential buyer for the 2,250-MW Navajo Generating Station (NGS) in Arizona, the largest coal-fired power plant in the western U.S. The Navajo Nation Council, in a joint news release with the Navajo Nation’s Office of the President and Vice President, said the Hopi Tribe […]The post Navajo Nation Negotiating Sale of West’s Largest Coal Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

GE Power and the government of Bangladesh on July 11 announced two major power generation deals, with GE part of joint ventures involving power plants along with oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals. Bangladesh is investing in energy infrastructure to reduce its reliance on imported LNG for energy production. About 30% of the country’s […]The post GE Part of $5.8 Billion Investment in Bangladesh appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Trump administration is moving forward with its effort to replace the Clean Power Plan, with the president set to review a document sent to the White House on July 9. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on July 10 said a new rule, which insiders said would be more favorable to the coal industry, was […]The post EPA Sends Replacement for Clean Power Plan to Trump appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A Maryland-based company and its Canadian subsidiary have joined with a Canada utility in a project to develop, license, and build an advanced small modular reactor (SMR). Advanced Reactor Concepts of Chevy Chase, Maryland, along with ARC Nuclear Canada—operating collectively as ARC Nuclear (ARC)—and New Brunswick Power (NB Power) on July 9 said their SMR […]The post Small Modular Reactor Project Advances in Canada appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Siemens on July 9 said it has a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to work with China’s State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) on heavy-duty gas turbines. Siemens said it will support SPIC’s research and development of the turbines and provide training and technical consultation. “The signing today will expedite finalization of a technology cooperation agreement in […]The post China Tabs Siemens as Partner on Gas Turbines appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Scott Pruitt, chosen by President Donald Trump to lead the Environmental Protection Agency despite repeated lawsuits against the agency when he served as Oklahoma’s attorney general, resigned as EPA director July 5. Pruitt had been under scrutiny throughout his EPA tenure for questionable ethical decisions involving his office. Pruitt, who repeatedly said he had done […]The post EPA Chief Pruitt Resigns; Former Coal Lobbyist Takes Helm appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Two nuclear energy milestones were reached in the past week, as the world’s first commercial AP1000 and EPR reactors were connected to China’s power grid. Westinghouse announced Sanmen 1, the first AP1000 unit, was connected to the grid June 30, one day after Électricité de France (EDF) connected the first EPR reactor—Taishan 1—to the system. […]The post First Commercial AP1000, EPR Reactors Connected to Grid appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on July 2 denied ISO-New England’s (ISO-NE’s) request for a tariff waiver to keep two gas-fired units—a total capacity of 1,700 MW—at Exelon’s Mystic Generating Plant in Boston, Massachusetts, running to address “fuel security risks.” The commission instead gave the grid operator a year to submit permanent tariff revisions […]The post FERC Thwarts ISO-NE’s Attempt to Keep Mystic Gas Units Online appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In a 3–2 decision, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rejected approaches filed by PJM Interconnection to reform its capacity market, whose integrity and effectiveness has been increasingly and “untenably threatened” by state subsidies for preferred generation resources, the federal regulatory body acknowledged. The June 29 order sharply divided the commission, prompting Democrat Commissioners Cheryl LaFleur […]The post FERC Nixes PJM’s Fixes for Capacity Market Besieged by Subsidized Resources appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Japan’s government on July 3 approved a new Basic Energy Plan for the country, saying it is committed to increasing the role of renewable resources for power generation while also confirming it wants nuclear power to remain a vital part of the nation’s energy strategy. Japan issues a revised Basic Energy Plan, which outlines the […]The post Japan’s New Energy Plan Commits to Renewables—And Nuclear and Coal, Too appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Officials with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on July 2 said Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station, the country’s oldest operating nuclear power plant, will officially close on September 17. They also said radioactive material is likely to remain at the site in New Jersey until at least the late 2070s, and perhaps beyond. The […]The post Oyster Creek Will Close Sept. 17; Fuel Could Remain at Site for 60 Years appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Solar power generation reached new highs in the United Kingdom recently, with a heat wave and stretch of sunny days across the country highlighting the potential for renewable energy in Britain. Solar produced a record 533 gigawatt hours (GWh) of power from June 21-28. Solar output topped 8 GW on each of the eight days, […]The post Solar Power Hits New Highs in Britain appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Across the country, energy and utility companies are adopting and using drone technology to increase their business operations and improve overall safety of their workforces. Many companies are also discussing the risks and rewards of implementing new safety technology on job sites. With workplace fatalities in the transportation, warehousing, and utilities sectors comprising 17.3% of […]The post Using Drones to Increase Net Safety in the Utility Sector appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In recent years, the use of single-shaft combined cycle power plants has steadily increased in the U.S. While multi-shaft configurations are advantageous in certain scenarios—for example, when layout flexibility or phased installation is needed—single-shaft designs have proven to be a highly efficient and cost-saving option for power plant owners and operators seeking to maximize the […]The post Benefits of Single-Shaft Combined Cycle Power Plants appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Because the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) could ramp up demand for electricity and slash transportation-related emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants, a growing group of stakeholders, including power companies and trade groups, strongly advocate for an accelerated EV rollout. By mid-2018, several countries with potentially large EV markets had set EV deployment targets, as well […]The post THE BIG PICTURE: The Electric Vehicle Push appeared first on POWER Magazine.

On May 22, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the American Public Power Association (APPA), and two groups representing U.S. and foreign automakers sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)The post Electric Vehicles—Subsidies for an Environmental Pretender appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The safe transportation of transformers, gas turbines, generators, and other electrical production equipment is a vital component in suppliers’ current business models and future growth potential. EquipmentThe post Innovative Tool Monitors for Damaging Impacts and Vibration appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Floating solar panel technology has been gaining traction as a favorable and cost-effective alternative to land-based photovoltaic systems. Thriving on the cusp of a massive inclination toward renewable energyThe post Floating Solar Panel Industry Makes a Splash appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Successfully operating a power plant or other industrial complex depends on many things, including the vendors who supply equipment for construction of the facility, along with those who provide the materialsThe post Equipment Showcase: Construction Equipment appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Ergonomics—human-factors engineering—should be considered in all workplace improvement efforts. Feeling safe and staying clear of injuries can immensely contribute toward increased productivity by reducingThe post Human Factors: How Do Stress and Fatigue Affect Safety? appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Great River Energy rolled out an extensive 700-MHz point-to-multipoint communications project within its 56,000-square-mile service area. Using high-order modulation, combined with full-duplexThe post Innovative Narrowband Solution for SCADA Communications appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Baby boomers are retiring, unemployment is low, skilled craft workers are in short supply, and human resources in the workforce are a growing issue for power industry management. “Demography is destiny.”The post Trends and Obstacles in the Power Industry Workforce appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Trump administration, which is considering subsidizing baseload coal and nuclear power for resiliency and “national security,” is pursuing an “all-of-the-above” energy strategy that emphasizes natural gas exports, said Energy Secretary Rick Perry at the World Gas Conference this week in Washington D.C. In a keynote speech on June 26, Perry described the shale gas […]The post Trump Administration’s ‘All-of-the-Above’ Strategy Stresses Export Role for Natural Gas appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A bill codifying the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) role in addressing industrial control systems (ICS) cybersecurity has cleared the U.S. House of Representatives. While H.R. 5733, “DHS Industrial Control Systems Capabilities Enhancement Act,” contains no mandates for the private sector, it directs the DHS’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) to develop and maintain […]The post Bill Codifying Federal Role in ICS Cybersecurity Clears House appeared first on POWER Magazine.

General Electric (GE) saw its stock price surge more than 7% on June 26 after the company said it would dissolve its stake in oil services company Baker Hughes and spin off its healthcare unit over the next few years. The announcement comes one day after GE said it would sell its Distributed Power business, […]The post GE CEO: Company ‘Finished’ with Restructuring appeared first on POWER Magazine.

There are often multiple closed-loop water cooling systems installed in a power plant. Chances are good that they cool or control temperature on some very critical components. It can be easy to ignore these systems because they are usually quite reliable. By its very nature, when a closed-loop system remains closed and operates properly for an extended period of time, it is often […]The post Test Your Knowledge: Monitoring and Treatment of Closed-Loop Cooling Water Systems appeared first on POWER Magazine.

GE will sell its Distributed Power business, which includes the company’s Jenbacher and Waukesha engines, to Advent International, a global private equity investment company, in a deal worth $3.25 billion. “In Advent, we have a partner that shares our team’s passion for delivering outstanding customer outcomes,” Carlos Lange, president of Distributed Power, said in a […]The post GE to Sell Distributed Power Business to Private-Equity Firm appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Test Your Knowledge The quizzes provided here offer an easy way to test your knowledge of various power-related subjects. If you want to learn more about the quiz topics, follow links to articles from the POWER archive, which are provided on each individual quiz webpage. Monitoring and Treatment of Closed-Loop Cooling Water Systems Quiz http://www.powermag.com/test-your-knowledge-monitoring-and-treatment-of-closed-loop-cooling-water-systems/ Steam Turbine Rotor Vibration […]The post Test Your Knowledge Archive appeared first on POWER Magazine.