POWER Magazine

At least one person was injured when a boiler exploded at the Veolia Energy Schuylkill Station combined heat and power plant in Philadelphia on June 15. The 163-MW natural gas–fired plant provides steam for the city’s district heating system as well as power to the grid. According to media reports, the blast occurred around 3:15 […]The post Boiler Explosion Shuts Down Philadelphia CHP Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A Minnesota law that bans power imports from new out-of-state coal-fired power plants is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court has deemed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on June 15 upheld a decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota that found that the statute’s prohibitions had the effect […]The post Federal Court Strikes Down Minnesota Coal Power Import Ban appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Panels at the 2016 Edison Electric Institute convention focused on technologies and policies at what’s often called the “grid edge."The post Grid Edge and Digital Technologies Take Center Stage at EEI Convention appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Edison Electric Institute has forged a new partnership with startup incubator 1776 to accelerate the pace of innovation in energy.The post EEI Partners with Startup Incubator to Accelerate Innovation in Energy appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) listed costs and time among several reasons for its preferred method to close its coal ash impoundments in place, rather than by removal, but the move has come under fire by environmental groups. The federally owned corporation earlier this month released a final environmental impact statement (EIS) to support its […]The post TVA Backs “In-Place” Coal Ash Impoundment Closure Method Over Removal appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Georgia Power will shut down and stop receiving coal ash at all 29 of its coal ash ponds within the next three years. The announcement on June 13 is the latest in a string of similar moves from coal plant–owning utilities across the nation in response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) coal ash disposal […]The post Georgia Power to Shut Down Coal Ash Ponds Within Three Years appeared first on POWER Magazine.

EEI Convention keynote speaker Keren Elazari urged electric utilities to partner with "friendly hackers."The post EEI Convention Opens with Call to Work with “Friendly Hackers” appeared first on POWER Magazine.

2016 EEI Edison Award winners are AEP and AESThe post 2016 Edison Award Winners Announced appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) controversial Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) survived another day as the U.S. Supreme Court on June 13 declined to review the D.C. Circuit’s decision to leave the rule in place while the EPA revises it to comply with a 2015 Supreme Court ruling. The 2015 decision sent MATS back […]The post Supreme Court Leaves Revised MATS in Place for Now appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) approved Minnesota Power Co.’s integrated resource plan (IRP) on June 9, which calls for the economic idling of the company’s Taconite Harbor Energy Center—a two-unit 150-MW facility (Unit 3 was retired in June 2015)—this fall and ceasing coal operations at the site in 2020. The MPUC also adjusted the […]The post Regulators Approve Plan to Close Four Minnesota Coal Units appeared first on POWER Magazine.

One of the witnesses testifying before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on June 9 believes states and regulated entities will be granted additional time to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan (CPP), if the rule is ultimately found to be lawful. Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court has […]The post How Will the Supreme Court Stay Affect the Clean Power Plan? appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Michigan utility DTE Energy announced on June 8 that it would retire a total of eight aging coal-fired units at three of its plants by 2023. The units slated for retirement are located at the 651-MW River Rouge plant, the 536-MW Trenton Channel plant (Figure), and the 1,547-MW St. Clair plant. All three are located in […]The post DTE to Retire Eight Coal-Fired Units at Three Plants appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Even though it may dominate forecasts, natural gas–fired generation faces a troubled expansion in the U.S., according to experts from a variety of stake-holding entities—including an industry group, a utility, a generator, and a pipeline company. Challenges that have few solutions—from price volatility, to gas transport concerns, to rule uncertainty—may upend the nation’s dependence […]The post Experts: Gas Power’s Expansion Riddled with Roadblocks appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Fresh on the heels of its decision to finally move ahead with the long-anticipated retirements of the Quad Cities and Clinton nuclear plants in Illinois, Exelon officials told an Iowa newspaper that its Byron and Three Mile Island (TMI) plants face the same challenges and could be forced into retirement without changes to markets and […]The post Byron, Three Mile Island Nuclear Plants at Risk, Exelon Says appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The last of six gigantic modules in the nuclear island for Unit 3 at the Vogtle AP1000 reactors under construction near Augusta, Ga., have been placed. The CA02 and CA03 modules, weighing 52 tons and 237 tons respectively, are critical components and part of the In-Containment Refueling Water Storage Tank (IRWST), Georgia Power said on […]The post Vogtle Nuclear Construction Marks More Milestones appeared first on POWER Magazine.

North Carolina’s governor has vetoed a coal ash bill backed by Duke Energy that would have reinstated the recently dissolved Coal Ash Management Commission. Senate Bill 71 (SB71), introduced in February 2015, has passed both houses. Some media sources suggest that lawmakers have enough votes to override the veto. The bill seeks to re-establish the […]The post Governor’s Veto Intensifies Coal Ash Fight in North Carolina appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) reached another milestone on June 3 when operators at Watts Bar Unit 2—the nation’s newest nuclear power plant and the first added to the fleet in 20 years—synchronized its generator to the power grid, generating electricity from the plant for the first time (Figure 1). 1. Reactor Operator Bill Hahn […]The post Watts Bar Unit 2 Nuclear Plant Synchronized to Power Grid appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Given the lack of progress on Illinois energy legislation, Exelon Corp. announced on June 2 that it would begin taking steps to permanently shut down its Quad Cities and Clinton nuclear power plants. In a statement, the company said Clinton would close on June 1, 2017, and that Quad Cities would follow exactly one year […]The post Exelon Makes Good on Threat—Quad Cities and Clinton Nuclear Plants to Close appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Domestic uranium production is falling to levels not seen since the early 2000s, which are themselves equal to production during the dawn of the nuclear age in the 1950s. Prospects for any sort of rebound look bleak, as a joint venture between GE, Hitachi, and Toshiba is looking to import Russian-designed fuel assemblies for use in […]The post Uranium Production Near Historic Lows as U.S. Reactors Look to Russia appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The post THE BIG PICTURE: A String of Retirements appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Coal-fired power plants around the U.S. are closing—rapidly. It’s a trend that will continue for the foreseeable future as dozens more units are slated for closure in the next few years. According to aThe post Supporting Coal Power Plant Workers Through Plant Closures appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The nuclear industry has been expecting big things from small modular reactors (SMRs) for a long time, but to date, no SMRs have reached commercial construction phase. That may change soon. Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems has a plan to deploy NuScale Power’s Integral Pressurized Water Reactor at a site in Idaho. Will others follow […]The post Is There a Market for Small Modular Reactors? appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Ensuring the reliability of the power system is the responsibility of many industry participants. In this POWER exclusive, one regional reliability entity, the Midwest Reliability Organization, explains its role. In response to the 2003 Blackout—which affected parts of the U.S. Northeast and Midwest, plus portions of the Canadian province of Ontario—the U.S. Congress mandated adoption […]The post Risk-Based NERC Compliance: Assessing Risk to Bulk Power System Generation appeared first on POWER Magazine.

“Why are you picking on the Clean Air Act?” That’s a question we’ve heard more than once while traveling the country to talk about our new book, Struggling for Air: Power Plants and the “War onThe post Learning from the Clean Air Act’s Tragic Flaw appeared first on POWER Magazine.

New worker training has traditionally meant classroom instruction and wading through a big pile of printed materials. But videos can offer deeper and more rapid understanding of critical issues, especially for younger generations. The Electric Power Research Institute has developed a series of videos to help power plants train new workers more effectively. Inexperienced new […]The post Training the Next Generation of Electric Utility Workers appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The annual panel discussion by high-level leaders from diverse power companies is a cornerstone of the ELECTRIC POWER Conference & Exhibition, and it has been consistently emblematic of the state of theThe post Executive Roundtable Addresses the New Face of the Power Industry appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has pulled back funding for two proposed offshore wind demonstration projects spearheaded separately by Dominion Virginia Power and Principle Power, bolstering its support instead for projects it says demonstrate more progress or potential. The funding decision stems from the agency’s 2012 selection of seven offshore demonstration projects, which initially received […]The post DOE Ditches Two Major Offshore Wind Demonstration Projects appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Kansas City–based Great Plains Energy has agreed to purchase Westar Energy—Kansas’ largest electric utility—in a combined cash and stock transaction with an enterprise value of about $12.2 billion. The deal was announced on May 31. When complete, Westar will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Great Plains Energy, which also owns Kansas City Power and […]The post Great Plains Energy to Acquire Westar Energy in Deal Worth $12.2 Billion appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The two probable major-party U.S. presidential candidates hold very different views on energy and climate. One intends to focus on expanding and developing America’s fossil-fuel industries, while the other plans to grow renewable energy and promote efficiency. Can you guess who’s who? Fossil vs. Renewable Donald Trump, the presumed Republican nominee, presented his “America-First Energy […]The post Energy Policy Differences Between Trump and Clinton Are Black and White appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A new rule proposed by the Obama administration requires vendors and contractors selling goods and services to the federal government to disclose their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate-related risk data. The rule proposed by the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council on May 25 seeks to drive greater disclosure of the federal government’s supply chain, which […]The post Proposed Rule Requires Federal Government Contractors, Vendors to Disclose Climate Risks appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must halt its drive to help states supportive of the Clean Power Plan to comply with the rule because it defies the Supreme Court stay, the attorneys general for West Virginia and Texas have urged the agency. An April 28 request to the agency by 14 states seeking technical assistance […]The post AGs Tell EPA to Halt Aid to States Planning Clean Power Plan Compliance appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Talen Energy, which owns a portion of the Colstrip Power Plant in Montana and operates the plant for the five other utilities and holding companies that also own shares, told the other owners on May 23 that it plans to exit as operator by May 2018 because it is losing too much money. The huge […]The post Colstrip Power Plant Operator Talen Looks Toward the Exits appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Exelon’s Quad Cities and Three Mile Island nuclear plants have failed to clear the PJM capacity auction for the 2019–2020 planning year, and the future looks grim for at least one of those plants. The Chicago-headquartered company on May 25 confirmed that the two plants would not receive capacity revenue for the period. It also […]The post Two Exelon Nuclear Plants Fail to Clear PJM Auction appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) newest nuclear plant, Watts Bar Unit 2, achieved initial criticality on May 23 at 2:16 a.m. Although that may sound ominous to anyone untrained in nuclear terminology, initial criticality simply means that Watts Bar Unit 2 reached a state in which the reactor’s neutron population remained steady from one generation […]The post Watts Bar Unit 2 Reactor Goes Critical (and That’s a Good Thing) appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Phibro—an independent commodity merchant company based in Stamford, Conn.—through its affiliate Philipp Brothers Fertilizer, recently announced that it is acquiring a clean coal gasification plant just outside of West Terre Haute, Ind., from SG Solutions. The plant had been used to produce synthetic gas and steam to fuel the adjacent Wabash River Combined Cycle Plant, […]The post Repurposed: Coal Gasification Plant Will Be Used to Produce Fertilizer appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Misaligned mirrors at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California caused electrical cables to catch fire about two-thirds of the way up the Unit 3 tower on May 19, according to several media reports of statements attributed to fire department personnel. The San Bernardino County (Calif.) Fire Department (SBCFD) reported on its Facebook page […]The post Fire Is Latest Hurdle for Ivanpah Concentrating Solar Power Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz said the time will come—perhaps 10 to 15 years from now—when “nuclear power is going to have to see a substantial resurgence.” Moniz was speaking on May 19 at the “Summit on Improving the Economics of America’s Nuclear Power Plants.” He provided opening remarks, framing the challenges facing the […]The post Moniz: Incentives Needed to Alleviate Nuclear Power Woes appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Donald Trump, presumptive Republican nominee for president, has chosen a back-bench Republican congressman with a lot of experience in state energy regulation as his advisor on energy issuesThe post Trump Picks North Dakota Lawmaker as Key Energy Advisor appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Experts testifying during a Senate hearing on critical infrastructure security on May 18 were at odds about how vulnerable the electric grid is to a variety of threats. “The Chinese are already in our power grid. The Russians are already inside our power grid. They may lack the motivation—because of the interrelationship that we have with […]The post Ted Koppel Says Chinese and Russians Are in U.S. Power Grid appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Even if the final Clean Power Plan is not implemented, U.S. electricity-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will remain well below 2005 levels, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a comparison of two cases looking forward through 2040. The cases are part of the agency’s May 17–released Annual Energy Outlook 2016 Early Release (AEO2016 Early […]The post EIA: Clean Power Plan Will Wallop Coal Power Generation appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is ready to end its involvement with the Texas Clean Energy Project (TCEP), a carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) facility under development in west Texas, a move that would effectively shut the project down, according to its backers. Along with FutureGen, Hydrogen Energy California (HECA), and NRG’s Petra Nova […]The post DOE Poised to Pull Out of Texas Clean Energy Project appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Oral arguments to assess the merits of the Clean Power Plan will now take place before a nine-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on September 27, bypassing review of challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) controversial rule by a three-judge panel that was originally scheduled to […]The post D.C. Circuit Delays Clean Power Plan Case Hearing by Months, Opts for En Banc Review appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The U.S. Senate passed a $37.5 billion measure on May 12 to fund fiscal year 2017 Department of Energy (DOE) programs and critical infrastructure projects administered by the Army Corps of Engineers and Bureau of Reclamation. The bill would increase FY2017 spending by $355 million over FY2016 enacted levels, giving $261 million more than was […]The post Senate Passes $37.5 Billion Spending Bill for Energy and Water Programs appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Fort Calhoun Station (FCS) appears to be the next in a string of nuclear plants that have ceased operations or plan to retire as a result of difficult economics. Tim Burke, president and CEO of Omaha Public Power District (OPPD)—the plant’s owner—presented senior management’s recommendation to close FCS by December 31, 2016, to the board […]The post Fort Calhoun May Close by Year End, Joining List of Premature Nuclear Power Plant Retirements appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Fuel cells powered by natural gas, biogas, and hydrogen are a rapidly expanding option for distributed generation, with fuel cell­­–based power plants being deployed in capacities into tens of megawatts. But as the technology improves and costs begin to scale, opportunities for other applications are being explored. One such application may even go beyond power […]The post Fuel Cells Could Be a “Game-Changer” for Carbon Capture appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The world’s frenzied economic growth through 2040 won’t be matched by electricity demand growth, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) says in the International Energy Outlook 2016 (IEO2016 ) released on May 11. World net electricity generation will jump 69% by 2040, the IEO2016 reference case projects, but that is still well below “what it would […]The post EIA International Outlook to 2040 Foresees Decoupling of Power Demand and Economic Growth appeared first on POWER Magazine.

GE’s shopping spree in the power sector continued on May 10 as GE Power signed an agreement with Doosan Engineering & Construction to acquire the Korean firm’s heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) business for $250 million. According to GE, the acquisition will allow it to expand its offerings for combined cycle power plant solutions. The […]The post GE Power Picks Up Doosan’s HRSG Business Unit appeared first on POWER Magazine.

SaskPower's Boundary Dam Unit 3 carbon capture facility is now operating with a reliability rate of over 92%.The post SaskPower Carbon Capture Facility Operating More Reliably appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is conducting a formal investigation concerning costs and delays plaguing Mississippi Power’s Kemper integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant. Southern Co., Mississippi Power’s parent company, revealed the investigation in a recent 10-Q financial filing. The company said that while it is fully cooperating with the SEC, it believes the […]The post Southern Co. Kemper IGCC Delays, Cost Surges Are Under SEC Scrutiny appeared first on POWER Magazine.