Efficiency | EnergyNorthwest.com

Powering the AI Era: Strengthening the Grid for Data Centres, Telecommunications, and Efficiency

March 15, 2025

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming industries at an unprecedented pace, but its rapid adoption comes with a significant challenge: energy consumption. The surge in AI-driven computing is placing immense pressure on power grids worldwide, demanding a fundamental rethink of energy supply, efficiency, and infrastructure planning. Nowhere is this challenge more evident than in..
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[WEBCAST] Retooling Your Small Business Energy Efficiency Program for Deeper Savings

May 30, 2022

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WHY ATTEND: According to NREL, small businesses consume 44% of commercial building energy use. Yet fewer than 5% have engaged with their utility’s energy efficiency programs. To accelerate progress toward ever more aggressive carbon reduction goals, forward thinking utilities are taking a fresh look at how to better attract participation from this large and underserved..
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New Materials, Efficiency Upgrades Advancing Solar Technologies

December 1, 2021

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The growth curve for solar power continues its upward trajectory, thanks to technologies such as perovskites, heterojunction solar cells, and energy storage systems designed to complement rooftop solar. New inverters and racking solutions are making solar installations more efficient, helping extract more energy from the sun’s rays.

There is no shortage of technological advancements in the solar power sector, contributing to renewed growth in the industry after the coronavirus pandemic paused several projects. More countries are turning to solar as they establish decarbonization targets, more companies are setting sustainability goals, and the push for home improvements—an offshoot of the pandemic—has supported residential rooftop solar.

Researchers have continued to develop more-efficient solar energy equipment, and the market is supporting innovation. A two-year extension of the 26% Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for solar power, passed by the U.S. Congress earlier this year, has provided more impetus for homeowners and businesses interested in adding solar.

And an important factor in the growth of solar power may not be a better solar panel or inverter, but rather deployment of energy storage to support solar development.…

How Artificial Intelligence Is Improving the Energy Efficiency of Buildings

May 10, 2021

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The post How Artificial Intelligence Is Improving the Energy Efficiency of Buildings appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A lot of energy is consumed by buildings. In fact, the Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit energy efficiency advocacy group, says buildings account for about 40% of all U.S. energy consumption and a similar proportion of greenhouse gas emissions. Some estimates suggest about 45% of the energy used in commercial buildings is consumed by heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, of which, as much as 30% is often wasted.

Most power companies these days have energy efficiency programs that help customers identify waste and implement energy-saving measures, but there are also non-utility providers working on solutions. Montreal, Canada–based BrainBox AI is one of them. It’s using artificial intelligence (AI) to significantly reduce energy consumption in buildings.

“We’ve developed an autonomous artificial intelligence technology that applies to commercial buildings in order to render their heating and cooling needs, which is typically the single largest consumer of energy in a building, and to make those much more efficient and certainly much more flexible to outside demands and occupant demands,” Sam Ramadori, president of BrainBox AI, said as a guest on The POWER Podcast.…

Self-Tuning Artificial Intelligence Improves Plant Efficiency and Flexibility

April 14, 2021

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The post Self-Tuning Artificial Intelligence Improves Plant Efficiency and Flexibility appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Flexible plant operations are highly desirable in today’s power generation industry. Every plant owner desires increased ramp rates and the ability to operate at lower loads so their plants will remain “in the money” longer in today’s competitive power markets. This goal, while laudable, remains elusive. The ADEX self-tuning artificial intelligence (AI) system allows plants to continuously optimize plant performance at any operating point rather than being constrained to a static “design point” commonly found in gas- and coal-fired plants. Better yet, no changes to the plant distributed control system (DCS) are required.

Renewable energy resources, coupled with internet technologies and emerging large-scale energy storage, fundamentally change the modern electricity markets. Wind and photovoltaic electricity resources have proved to be the most disruptive renewable energy technologies over the past few years and will continue to do so. The challenge for grid operators is managing these disparate electricity providers to match weather-dependent supply with consumers demanding more independence and flexibility to manage personal demand patterns.…

Modern HRSG Designs Maximize Combined Cycle Plant Efficiency

February 22, 2021

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The post Modern HRSG Designs Maximize Combined Cycle Plant Efficiency appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Iberdrola SA and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) recently commissioned the El Carmen combined cycle plant, located in Nuevo León, northeast Mexico. Wood supplied the two horizontal heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) for the plant. The 875-MW combined cycle plant is based on two 300-MW MHPS M501J combustion turbines and is the first plant built in Mexico to sell power directly to industrial customers through its wholesale power market in over 70 years. CFEnergia, a subsidiary of CFER, delivers natural gas to the plant.

Mexico began deregulating its electricity market in 2013 with wholesale trading commencing in 2016. The reforms opened the electricity market to private investors to increase market competition, and to accelerate the expansion and modernization of Mexico’s power generation infrastructure. Until 2013, all facets of the electricity market, from generation to distribution, were the exclusive domain of the state-owned Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), an integrated monopoly, and private participation was limited to the generation of power not intended for public consumption.…