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Well over half of North America faces a potential shortage of electricity supplies in the coming years, compounded by surging demand growth, accelerating generator retirements, and delays in resource development, […]
The post Five Critical Insights from NERC’s 2024 Long-Term Reliability Assessment appeared first on POWER Magazine.
The shift to clean energy is triggering growing concerns about the sustainability, resilience, and integration of the power sector’s complex supply chains. Here are five trends to watch. The power sector’s
The post Five Dynamic Factors Reshaping the Power Sector Supply Chain appeared first on POWER Magazine.
The post Consumers Energy to Quit Coal by 2025, Speeding Closure of Five Units appeared first on POWER Magazine.
Michigan’s largest energy provider Consumers Energy will stop using coal as a fuel source for power generation within the next four years—15 years earlier than previously planned.
In an updated integrated resource plan (IRP) filed with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) on June 23, the CMS Energy subsidiary said the effort would lead Michigan’s clean energy transformation, and, if approved, it would make Consumers “one of the first utilities in the nation to go coal-free.”
Under the sweeping plan, Consumers will accelerate the closure of about 2.5 GW by 2025. It will speed up retirement of its three coal-fired units at its Campbell generating complex near Holland to 2025. Campbell 1 and 2—a combined 600 MW—are currently slated to close in six years. The 840-MW Campbell 3 is scheduled to close in 2040. It would also speed up closure of D.E.…
The post Five Reasons Remote Technology Makes Sense Even If You Never Plan to Operate Your Power Plant Remotely appeared first on POWER Magazine.
During the last 25 years significant advancements have been made in remote monitoring capabilities for power plants. A number of operations and maintenance (O&M) functions can routinely be managed remotely, and it is also becoming more common for peaking and renewable energy plants to be remotely operated reliably and safely.
Operating and maintaining a full-scale power plant remotely presents challenges that require sophisticated systems, reliable sensor and diagnostic equipment, stable high-bandwidth communication, and advanced security protocols. Even with progress made in each of these areas, some plant managers don’t foresee a scenario where remote operations will become the norm. But even in cases where there are no plans to run a generating station from a remote location, there is still a solid case for adopting remote technology.
Here are five reasons why the case for remote technology is stronger today than ever before.…
Entergy Corp. will keep the Palisades nuclear power plant in Covert, Michigan, open until the spring of 2022, owing to a shortfall in recovery granted to Consumers Energy by state regulators.
In a bid to actively exit the merchant nuclear power business, investor-owned Entergy had decided to shutter the 798-MW plant by October 1, 2018. “Market conditions have changed substantially, and more economic alternatives are now available to provide reliable power to the region,” it said when it announced its decision about a year ago.
The decision came as a surprise because Entergy has a power purchase agreement with Consumers Energy—Michigan’s largest utility and the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy—which committed the company to buying nearly all the power generated at Palisades through April 2022. Entergy reasoned the plant’s closure could save Consumers’ customers as much as $ 172 million over four years, even after Consumers paid Entergy $ 172 million to terminate the contract.
On September 22, however, the Michigan Public Service Commission granted Consumers a recovery of only $ 136.6 million of the $ 172 million it requested for the buyout of the power purchase agreement. …