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Organic Technology New Paradigm for Power

November 19, 2020

The post Organic Technology New Paradigm for Power appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A Florida-based company that touts what it calls a scalable organic energy-based power technology has launched operations in North America, and said it is making its technology available across several markets including for transportation and commercial buildings.

GO-OPV, LLC on Nov. 17 announced its ORENgE organic technology will be used in a 120,000-square-foot commercial property in New York, where ORENgE panel window installation will provide the property’s power over ethernet, along with meeting the UL 924 lighting standard for emergency lighting and power equipment. The company on Tuesday said it also is accelerating a zero-carbon program for large trucks that will provide vehicles with an advanced low-light power technology.

The technology is part of a growing segment of power generation that includes building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), where photovoltaic modules are integrated into a building. The ORENgE technology, in development since 2012, uses a building’s windows as a power generation source.…

The POWER Interview: Financial Benefits of Energy Storage

November 5, 2020

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The post The POWER Interview: Financial Benefits of Energy Storage appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Speakers at POWER’s recent Distributed Energy Experience were unanimous in their agreement that energy storage is a game-changing technology for the power generation sector. Storage provides for more reliability and resilience, and already is proving its importance to supporting the growth of solar and wind power.

Utilities are incorporating storage into their generation portfolios. It is often featured as part of microgrid configurations, and the business community has discovered the cost-effectiveness of storage in commercial and industrial distributed generation systems.

Abbot Moffat, Director of Business Development / West for Rubicon Professional Services, provided POWER with his insight into energy storage. Rubicon is a team of experienced design and construction experts that works on projects for several industries, including alternative energy, data centers, health care, telecommunications, and power plants.

POWER: What are the financial benefits for a utility to incorporate energy storage into its project portfolio?…

Coal-Fired Power in 2021: A Recovery or a Reckoning?

October 21, 2020

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The post Coal-Fired Power in 2021: A Recovery or a Reckoning? appeared first on POWER Magazine.

This has been the year from hell for coal-fired power and the coal industry. If current projections hold, coal generation in 2020 will be 21% lower than last year and 62% lower than the 2007 peak. The coal share of the generating mix, which for decades hovered around 50%, will finish the year at 20%, the lowest on record. Coal production will be the lowest since 1964 and down by a quarter just from 2019.

The new year may bring relief. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) projects that coal generation will recover most of its 2020 losses in 2021, bringing some stability to coal plant operators and coal miners. The key factor behind a coal power recovery is higher prices for natural gas, which indeed appear likely in 2021. Nonetheless, a coal recovery in 2021 is highly contingent on other dynamics.…

AECOM Sells Power Business as Part of Restructuring

October 17, 2020

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The post AECOM Sells Power Business as Part of Restructuring appeared first on POWER Magazine.

AECOM has announced the closing of the sale of its Power construction business to affiliates of CriticalPoint Capital LLC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The Los Angeles, California-based infrastructure consulting firm, which this month announced a restructuring plan, earlier this year closed on the $ 2.4 billion sale of its Maryland-based Management Services business—which provides consulting services to the government sector—to New York-based private equity firms American Securities and Lindsay Goldberg.

“The sale of the Power construction business marks another milestone in the successful execution of our transformation into a higher-margin, lower-risk Professional Services business,” said Troy Rudd, AECOM’s CEO, in an Oct. 16 news release. “We have built significant momentum in our business and continue to advance efforts to align our organization around a global structure that fosters a culture of collaboration, better connects our expertise and focuses on our best growth opportunities.…

The POWER Interview: Cleaning Up a Radiologically Contaminated Site

October 3, 2020

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The post The POWER Interview: Cleaning Up a Radiologically Contaminated Site appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In the 1940s, the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant was built in unprecedented secrecy as part of the Manhattan Project. Its purpose was to provide enriched uranium for the world’s first atomic bomb, and it expanded operations during the Cold War, producing enriched uranium for defense and commercial purposes.

Uranium enrichment operations were halted at the site in 1985, and the plant was officially closed in 1987. UCOR, an Amentum-led partnership with Jacobs, has been the prime cleanup contractor at the site since 2011. POWER interviewed Kenneth Rueter, president and CEO of UCOR, to learn more about the work that has taken place at the site and how lessons learned could apply to nuclear power plant decommissioning projects.

POWER: The project was obviously extensive. Did the cleanup effort begin immediately and continue nonstop? If so, what were the most time-consuming aspects of the job?…

Cyber Risks Are Top of Mind Throughout the Power Sector

September 19, 2020

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The post Cyber Risks Are Top of Mind Throughout the Power Sector appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The electric power sector in the United States has a long history of facing threats to our infrastructure—whether they are natural or man‐made. While cyberthreats are indeed much more complex, particularly when you consider that some of our cyber adversaries are nation states, the industry has a strong foundation of preparedness, resilience, and response. Though much progress has been made, we recognize that the capability of cyber adversaries continues to evolve at a rapid pace and that requires a more strategic approach to this threat.

The electric power sector established the CEO‐led Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC) to tackle strategic, policy, and operational/tactical efforts to prepare for and respond to all threats facing the sector. The ESCC includes representation from utilities of all sizes and accomplishes its objectives of collective defense, collective response, and preparedness and resilience through close coordination at senior levels within the federal government, such as the U.S.…