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AEP CEO Nick Akins to Step Down, Julie Sloat Tapped as Next Company Head

August 15, 2022

American Electric Power’s (AEP’s) long-serving chairman, president, and CEO, Nick Akins, will step down as CEO on Jan. 1, 2023, and has already passed the company’s presidency to Julie A. Sloat, AEP executive vice president, and chief financial officer (CFO).

Sloat, 53, will become the power generating company’s CEO in January, making her the first woman to serve at the helm of the giant power generating company and only the seventh CEO in its 116-year history.

Julie A. Sloat on Aug. 10, 2022, became AEP’s president and chief financial officer. She has been elected chief executive officer, effective Jan. 1, 2023. Courtesy: AEP

Sloat’s election as CEO by the AEP Board of Directors on Aug. 10 marks a notable executive shuffle for the public utility holding company, which is in the midst of a historic transformation into a more agile and customer-focused provider of energy solutions. As CEO, Sloat will be expected to navigate the massive company through the energy transition, which is being driven by multiple, and often conflicting factors, including changing customer needs, evolving policies, stakeholder demands, demographics, competitive offerings, technologies, and commodity prices.…

Southern CEO Fanning Set to Step Down

July 30, 2022

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Longtime Southern Co. CEO Tom Fanning plans to announce his retirement, perhaps by the end of this year, stepping down after leading the company since 2010.

A Bloomberg report on July 29, citing “people familiar with the matter,” said the U.S. utility giant already has launched a search to find Fanning’s replacement. Bloomberg reported that a Southern Co. spokesperson said a decision has not been made with regard to the timing of Fanning’s exit.

Tom Fanning, CEO of Southern Co. since 2010, is preparing to announce his retirement. Source: Southern Co.

Fanning turned 65 in March of this year. Southern has a mandatory retirement age of 65 for its executives, though Bloomberg reported that the company has extended that age limit for Fanning as he oversees the continued construction of a two-unit expansion of the Vogtle nuclear power plant.

Fanning in a call with investors on July 28 said both of the new units at Vogtle should enter commercial operation in 2023, after years of delays and cost overruns for what energy analysts now say is $ 30 billion-plus project, more than double the expansion’s original cost estimates.…

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

April 4, 2021

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The post Compact Advanced Tokomak Concept Takes Fusion Power One Step Closer to Commercial Reality appeared first on POWER Magazine.

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.…