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The POWER Interview: Spotlight on the Solar Wave

May 28, 2021

The post The POWER Interview: Spotlight on the Solar Wave appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Growth in the solar power sector is coming from many angles, with utilities building ever-larger solar arrays, and more homeowners and building owners putting panels on their rooftops. Many utilities and other companies also are expanding offerings of community solar, a way for electricity customers to get the benefits of solar power without having to install a rooftop system.

BlueWave Solar, a Boston, Massachusetts-based company founded in 2010, offers community solar sales and services along with solar financing and project development. What began as a company “that started … with a couple guys driving around in an old station wagon touting the benefits of solar to anyone who would listen,” according to the BlueWave website, today has projects scattered across the U.S. Northeast.

The company works with cities and a variety of energy companies, and recently announced it has secured more than 1 GW of future solar and storage projects across eight states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.…

The POWER Interview: A Marketplace for Energy Collaboration

May 26, 2021

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The digitization of power generation is among the technology advancements transforming the way electricity is produced and distributed. Utilities have always sought ways to improve the efficiency of their operations, along with lowering the cost of maintenance while streamlining asset management.

The digital transformation has brought numerous challenges, as utilities seek to upgrade their legacy thermal generation while at the same time integrating renewable energy resources into their fleets. The advent of decentralized, distributed power generation also has brought digitization to the forefront, particularly as companies work to improve the quality of the data they’re gathering from their power plants, and figure out how to access and use an ever-larger quantity of information about how their assets are operating.

Awesense, a Vancouver, British Columbia technology group, is among the companies working to help power generators integrate digitization into their operations. The company’s Digital Energy Platform, “a digital twin-based energy analytics platform that allows utilities to scale at the same pace as the rapidly changing technology landscape of the energy grid,” is designed to support energy providers at a time when changing business models have become a constant in the industry.…

Hydrogen from Nuclear Power Test Set at Idaho Lab

May 18, 2021

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A California company that introduced a new electrolyzer technology last year has announced an agreement with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) to test how nuclear energy can create clean hydrogen using the product.

San Jose-based Bloom Energy on May 18 said INL will use the company’s solid oxide, high-temperature electrolyzer to produce carbon-free hydrogen through electrolysis, powered by nuclear generation. Bloom on Tuesday said the electricity generated by nuclear facilities could produce “cost-effective hydrogen,” including during periods when the power grid has an ample supply of electricity. Rather than ramping down to prevent an oversupply of power, the plant can use its electricity to produce hydrogen.

INL, based in Idaho Falls, Idaho, is a nuclear science and technology lab. The facility’s team leads research, development, and demonstration projects to support and expand the use of nuclear energy. The group, like those in other countries, is involved with supporting the growth of a hydrogen economy, a sector with a rapidly growing market as governments and industries worldwide seek to decarbonize their operations.…

Coal Shipments to Power Sector at Lowest Level in 14 Years

May 16, 2021

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Shipments of coal to U.S. power plants in 2020 fell 22% year-over-year, according to data released May 13 by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The agency said the U.S. power sector received 428 million short tons (MMst) of coal last year, the lowest amount since the EIA began publishing shipment data in 2007.

The EIA said the COVID-19 pandemic was partly to blame for the drop, as demand for electricity fell nationwide. The agency in April reported that U.S. energy consumption in 2020 fell 7% year-over-year, which it said “marked the largest annual decrease in U.S. energy consumption in both percentage and absolute terms in our consumption data series that dates back to 1949.”

Thursday’s report also pointed to the ongoing decline of U.S. coal-fired power generation; federal data shows about 9.5 GW of coal-fired generation was shuttered nationwide last year, the fourth-highest total since 2009.…

More Coal Cuts—AEP, Mississippi Power Detail Closures

April 24, 2021

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American Electric Power (AEP), which in 2019 reached an agreement to close Unit 1 of the two-unit, 2.6-GW coal-fired Rockport power plant in Indiana, has now announced a plan to close Unit 2 of the facility.

Both units at Rockport are now expected to be shuttered by year-end 2028. AEP, the parent of Indiana Michigan Power, which operates the plant, on April 22 announced it would purchase Unit 2 of the plant from Wilmington Trust Co., a financial services firm. The deal was made to ensure the retirement of both units.

Thursday’s announcement came as AEP announced its first-quarter 2021 earnings, which were $ 575 million, compared to $ 495 million for the same period in 2020. AEP, like many power generating companies, is retiring older power plants and replacing that generation with renewable energy resources. AEP has said its goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 80% from its 2000 baseline by 2030.…

Compact Advanced Tokomak Concept Takes Fusion Power One Step Closer to Commercial Reality

April 4, 2021

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Scientists at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility have released a new design for a compact fusion reactor that can generate electricity and help define the technology necessary for commercial fusion power.

General Atomics, which operates the DIII-D facility in San Diego, California, for the U.S. Department of Energy, says the approach is based on the “Advanced Tokamak” concept pioneered by the DIII-D program. The design is said to enable a higher-performance, self-sustaining configuration that holds energy more efficiently than in typical pulsed configurations, allowing it to be built at a reduced scale and cost.

“The key to our approach is to raise the pressure inside the tokamak,” Dr. Richard Buttery, director of experimental science for the DIII-D facility and leader of the project, said in a statement issued to POWER. “This makes more fusion occur, allowing us to reduce the current, which in turn makes the plasma easier to sustain and more stable.…