COVID-19 (coronavirus)

EIA: U.S. Fossil fuel consumption fell last year by 9 percent, lowest in decades

Fossil fuel consumption in the U.S., including power generation as well as transportation, fell in 2020 by the sharpest decline in more than seven decades, according to a new report by the federal Energy Information Administration. Consumption of petroleum, natural gas and coal dropped to the equivalent of 72.9 quadrillion British thermal units (Btus) last year. This was down 9

Kiewit close to completing 625-MW Hill Top CCGT plant in PA

The 625-MW Hill Top Energy Center is still expected to go online this summer despite the workforce challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor Kiewit reported that the combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant is on track despite the previous work suspension in April 2020. The construction team accelerated its schedule to make up for

News

Several perennial leaders topped the regional segments of research firm J.D. Power’s latest annual survey for residential electric customers. PPL, MidAmerican, Kentucky Utilities, EPB, Salt River Project and Clark Public Utilities once again led the scoring by customers in their respective regions. Arizona-based SRP is a 19-time repeat regional leader in the west large utility segment, while Iowa-based MidAmerican Energy

Instrumentation & Controls

Exelon Corp. is taking its Byron Unit 2 nuclear station offline for a nearly three-week planned outage to refuel. The 33-year-old Unit 2 is being taken offline early in October for 19 days of maintenance, refueling and upgrades. The workforce employed on the project includes 700 employees of owner Exelon as well as 1,200 additional contractors. “Byron Station provides safe,

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Editor’s Note: The virtual POWERGEN+ series will present a session on “Protect your Power Source: Ensuring the Reliability of Diesel Fuel in Emergency Power Systems,” beginning 4:30 p.m. ET. The 45-minute, free session is sponsored and presented by Mongoose Power Solutions. Michelle Hilger, chief connector and on-site power advocate for Mongoose Power Solutions, will highlight the maintenance needs and best

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The Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) has published robust jobs numbers, showing that the number of people employed in the industry has remained steady despite the pandemic. According to the NIA’s annual Jobs Map, 59,584 people are employed in the civil nuclear sector across the UK, a slight increase on 2019. All parts of the industry, including generation, new build, decommissioning

Post-Pandemic, Here’s Why Efficiency Matters Now More Than Ever for the Energy Industry

The Coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated already-shrinking margins for energy producers. Especially for oil and gas companies, reduced demand and increased cost…

AECOM, Jacobs top ENR’s top 100 Environmental report

Engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firms heavy in the power generation project industry, lead by New-York based AECOM, were named as the top enviro…

Demolition ends, excavation begins as coal-to-gas repowering project proceeds in Mississippi

Burns & McDonnell has completed demolition work at a Mississippi coal-fired power plant which is being converted to natural gas generation three years from …

Energy Cast podcast: COVID communications at NY’s ConEdison

Energy Cast is a regular podcast featuring some of the top experts across all links in the industry chain. Those include coal, nuclear, efficiency, renewables, …

Coal

The energy demand impact of the coronavirus shutdown is hitting the already distressed coal-fired sector particularly hard, statistics show. A new report by Moo…

Emissions

Exelon is not letting COVID-19 stop its push for helping young women develop careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The Chicago-bas…

European Union unveils hydrogen, energy integration and post COVID strategies

The European Commission this morning unveiled new strategies for energy system integration and hydrogen that are designed to be key investment pillars of Europe…

OUC leads utilities named Trusted Brands due to COVID-19 response

The electric power industry’s prompt and generous response to the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed it to an all-time high in customer trust ratings, according to …

IEA calls for $3 trillion global investment in COVID-19 recovery

The International Energy Agency has unveiled a global COVID-19 recovery plan for the global energy sector which outlines a three-year series of actions designed…