News

The global competition to build ever-larger offshore wind turbines continues to ramp up, with General Electric (GE) announcing the company’s renewable energy arm is developing a 17- to 18-MW model that could rival those currently being launched by Chinese groups. “Now we are getting a very positive reception from the market with our 17-MW to 18-MW Haliade X variant off of what we’re shipping this […]

Ukrainian energy company DTEK Group said it has finished construction of the first 114 MW of a planned 500-MW wind farm in the country, as DTEK continues to work on energy projects despite the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The company on March 10 said it is seeking international help to complete the Tyligulska wind farm. The current project features 19 Vestas 6-MW wind turbines, […]

Several executives in the energy industry have spoken with POWER in recent months about how utility-scale solar power projects benefit from the addition of energy storage. Many have noted how installing storage systems alongside solar arrays supports the integration of renewable energy to the power grid, and also enhances the economic potential of any such project. Mike Toomey, director of storage development at Denver, Colorado-based […]

Climate change and the dangers posed to the environment by increasing levels of CO2 have led to a greater focus on a non-polluting energy source: renewable hydrogen. Described as the “most abundant clean fuel in the universe,” the application of hydrogen as a fuel for transportation, including plans for a hydrogen-powered aircraft in the next decade, and growing uses in everything from ammonia fertilizers to […]

Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions (DESS), an arm of major U.S. utility Duke Energy, said commercial operation has begun on the group’s largest solar power plant. DESS on March 8 said the 250-MW Pisgah Ridge Solar farm in Navarro County, Texas, is online, supplying power to at least three groups as part of virtual power purchase agreements (VPPAs). “We’re excited to continue to grow our Texas […]

It seems like industry insiders have been lamenting the aging power workforce for decades. Yet, there is still a large percentage of workers in the current workforce that are retirement eligible—some studies suggest the percentage is as high as 40%. Meanwhile, the energy transition has created a large number of new jobs building and operating solar and wind farms, enhancing infrastructure, and developing and deploying […]

Vogtle 3, one of two 1,117-MW Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors Southern Nuclear Operating Co. is building in Georgia, has reached initial criticality. The event marks a pivotal milestone for the Generation III+ pressurized water reactor (PWR)—the first of its kind built in the U.S. “Initial criticality is a key step during the startup testing sequence and demonstrates that—for the first time—operators have safely started the […]

Texas-based energy company Vistra Corp. is adding to its nuclear power generation capacity. The group on March 6 announced it would buy Ohio-based Energy Harbor Corp. in a $3.4 billion deal that includes ownership of three nuclear power stations. The transaction includes $3 billion in cash, with Energy Harbor shareholders receiving a 15% stake in Vistra Vision, a new subsidiary holding company. The new unit […]

The Biden administration has pledged another $1.2 billion to help extend the operating life of older or distressed nuclear power plants, with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm saying nuclear power is needed to support the nation’s clean energy goals. The funding, announced by the Dept. of Energy (DOE) on March 2, is the second tranche of financial aid included in the $6 billion Civil Nuclear Credit […]

A 1.2-GW hydrogen-capable combined cycle power project that Entergy Texas has proposed to build in Orange County, Texas, will be spearheaded by an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) consortium led by Mitsubishi Power, Sargent & Lundy, and TIC. Construction of the $1.19 billion Orange County Advanced Power Station (OCAPS), which received the Public Utility Commission of Texas’s (PUCT’s) approval in January, is slated to begin […]