The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) awarded a grant to PLN Indonesia Power (Indonesia Power) for technical assistance to help develop the country’s first small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear power plant. Indonesia Power selected Oregon-based NuScale Power OVS, LLC (NuScale) to carry out the assistance in partnership with a... Read more →

Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) (earlier post) and Fuji Electric Corp. of America (FEA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to complete multiple Equipment, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contracts for the delivery of geothermal power facilities at CTR’s Hell’s Kitchen Lithium and Power Project located in Imperial County, California. The EPC contracts... Read more →

In 2022, US natural gas consumption averaged a record 88.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d)—the highest annual natural gas consumption, according to records beginning in 1949, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). US natural gas consumption last year increased 5% (4.5 Bcf/d) from 2021, the second-fastest year-over-year... Read more →

Eni and Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a spin-out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) signed a Collaboration Framework Agreement with the aim of accelerating the industrialization of fusion energy. Eni made its first investment into CFS in 2018 and is a significant shareholder. This strategic agreement will leverage Eni’s... Read more →

The CEA, France’s Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, has spun out two start-ups—Hexana and Stellaria—to develop small fourth-generation modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). Hexana aims to implement a fast neutron and sodium-cooled reactor, integrating a high-temperature storage device. This installation will be based on a set composed of two small... Read more →

Dow and X-Energy Reactor Company entered into a joint development agreement (JDA) to demonstrate the first grid-scale advanced nuclear reactor for an industrial site in North America. (Earlier post.) As a subawardee under the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) Cooperative Agreement with X-energy, Dow intends... Read more →

The California Energy Commission (CEC) approved a staff analysis recommending the state pursue extending operation of Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) through 2030 to ensure electricity reliability. DCPP is currently scheduled for phased retirement in 2024 and 2025. The determination is based on data showing California risks energy supply shortfalls... Read more →

SK Inc. Materials and ExxonMobil signed a Heads of Agreement (HOA) for SK Inc. Materials to pursue the offtake of blue ammonia from ExxonMobil’s planned low-carbon hydrogen project at its integrated complex in Baytown, Texas. SK seeks to import blue ammonia produced from ExxonMobil to South Korea in support of... Read more →

Volvo Penta has expanded its genset range and launched its most powerful engine to date with the introduction of the D17. The new power generation 17-liter engine delivers exceptional power-to-weight ratio from the same footprint as the proven, compact D16. The D17 offers up to 5% less fuel consumption per... Read more →

Following the start of series production of fuel cells in December 2022, the Danish fuel cell developer and manufacturer Blue World Technologies is now launching the CellPack Stationary, a methanol fuel cell-based power generator. The CellPack Stationary is specially developed for the telecommunication industry, an industry that every year installs... Read more →

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH), Ontario Power Generation (OPG), SNC-Lavalin and Aecon have signed a contract for the deployment of a BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) at OPG’s Darlington New Nuclear Project site. This is the first commercial contract for a grid-scale SMR in North America. The BWRX-300 is a... Read more →

Geothermal lithium producer Vulcan Energy Resources signed a Binding Term Sheet (BTS) with Stellantis for the first phase of a multiphase project aimed at decarbonizing the energy mix of the Rüsselsheim manufacturing site in the Upper Rhine Valley, Germany, by developing new geothermal projects. In June 2022, Stellantis made a... Read more →

Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) reports that its engineering team has improved several process stages, including optimization of the brine preparation stage, to achieve highly efficient recovery of lithium, in real-time, from the company’s live Salton Sea geothermal brine resource. (Earlier post.) CTR took an integrated design approach to optimize the... Read more →

Renewable energy sources are central to the energy transition toward a more sustainable future. However, because sunshine and wind are inherently variable and inconsistent, finding ways to store energy in an accessible and efficient way is crucial. While there are many effective solutions for daily energy storage, the most common... Read more →

Norwegian state-owned energy company Equinor and Germany-based energy company RWE have agreed to work together to develop large-scale value chains for low carbon hydrogen. The partners aim to replace coal-fired power plants with hydrogen-ready gas-fired power plants in Germany, and to build production of low carbon and renewable hydrogen in... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) and DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announced the achievement of fusion ignition at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). On 5 December, a team at LLNL’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) conducted the first controlled fusion experiment in history to reach this milestone—known as scientific... Read more →

Allianz Capital Partners, on behalf of Allianz insurance companies, has signed an agreement to acquire a minority stake in Ren-Gas Oy, a green hydrogen and power-to-gas project developer based in Finland. Allianz will provide funding of €25 million to Ren-Gas to support the company’s project portfolio towards execution. Allianz will... Read more →

The Department of the Interior announced results from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM’s) wind energy auction for five leases offshore California. (Earlier post.) The lease sale represents the third major offshore wind lease sale this year and the first ever for the Pacific region. The sale drew competitive... Read more →

NuScale Power, along with Shell Global Solutions (Shell) and industry participants will develop and assess a concept for an economically optimized Integrated Energy System (IES) for hydrogen production using electricity and process heat from a NuScale VOYGR small modular reactor (SMR) power plant. The project entitled, “Development and Demonstration of... Read more →

Rio Tinto is planning to invest a further $600 million in renewable energy assets in the Pilbara as part of the company’s efforts to decarbonize its Western Australian iron ore operations. The investment will fund the construction of two 100MW solar power facilities as well as 200 MWh of on-grid... Read more →

ABB has secured its first order from COSCO Shipping, China’s largest shipping company, for in-line permanent magnet shaft generator systems. Compared with traditional diesel generator sets (single unit), the permanent magnet shaft generator system will yield fuel savings of up to 17%. Permanent magnet shaft generators are small, light, and... Read more →

In Japan, JERA concluded memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) related to cooperation in transporting fuel ammonia for the Hekinan Thermal Power Plant, expected to begin commercial operation in the late 2020s. JERA is a 50-50 joint venture between TEPCO Fuel... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE) and the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) are teaming up with utilities to support four hydrogen demonstration projects at nuclear power plants. High-temperature electrolyzers for hydrogen production use both heat and electricity to split water and... Read more →

Fusion Fuel (earlier post) completed the interconnection of its H2Évora plant to the Portuguese electric grid and has successfully commissioned the facility. The demonstration project, comprising 15 HEVO-Solar units and associated balance-of-plant equipment, will produce 15 tons of green hydrogen per year and avoid the emission of 135 tons of... Read more →

The global net zero transition can represent a $3.5-trillion investment opportunity for Indonesia, according to a new report published at the BNEF Summit Bali by research company BloombergNEF (BNEF) entitled Net-Zero Transition: Opportunities for Indonesia. Based on BNEF’s New Energy Outlook, its annual long-term scenario analysis on the future of... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced an approximately $150-million cost-shared award with American Centrifuge Operating (ACO), a subsidiary of Centrus Energy Corp, to demonstrate the ability to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU)—a crucial material needed to develop and deploy advanced reactors in the United States. HALEU is uranium that... Read more →

PUNCH Group and Tecnogen (part of Bruno Generators Group) is presenting a hydrogen engine generator with an integrated flywheel system at bauma. A hydrogen engine by PUNCH Hydrocells is combined with a Flywheel Power System by PUNCH Flybrid. These components are integrated into a generator set developed in collaboration with... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) will award $38 million to 12 projects that will work to reduce the impacts of light-water reactor used nuclear fuel (UNF) disposal. (Earlier post.) The projects, led by universities, private companies, and national laboratories, were selected to... Read more →

Construction of General Fusion’s demonstration machine, which is being built at the UK Atomic Energy Agency’s Culham Campus, advanced significantly with the fabrication of an at-scale fusion vessel trial ring by Sheffield Forgemasters. This critical component will confirm the specifications of the thick-walled fusion vessel, designed to withstand the high... Read more →

General Fusion and the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) kicked off projects to advance the commercialization of magnetized target fusion energy as part of a collaborative agreement. The results will hone the design of General Fusion’s demonstration machine being built at the Culham Campus, part of the UK fusion cluster.... Read more →

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) and Indonesia’s Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) have agreed to conduct joint research and development of ammonia-fired power generation by gas turbine. The project will apply Indonesia’s Institut Teknologi Bandung's (ITB) specialized expertise in chemical reaction engineering to probe optimization of ammonia firing. MHI and ITB... Read more →

Westinghouse Electric Company has signed a service agreement with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to bring its eVinci microreactor closer to commercialization. The agreement initiates a Vendor Design Review (VDR) which is a pre-licensing technical assessment of the eVinci small modular reactor design. Westinghouse will execute both Phases 1 and... Read more →

Chevron New Energies, and Mitsui Oil Exploration (MOECO) signed a Joint Collaboration Agreement to explore the technical and commercial feasibility of advanced geothermal power generation in Japan. Building on Chevron and MOECO’s long-standing relationship, the new collaboration will study geothermal resource potential across Japan and will evaluate the effectiveness of... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz plans to build a wind farm at its test track in Papenburg, northern Germany, with an output of more than 100 MW to cover up to more than 15% of the annual electricity demand of Mercedes-Benz Group AG in Germany. As part of its effort to erect a double-digit... Read more →

TECO 2030 has launched a new product concept for its containerized fuel cells, the TECO 2030 Power Barge. The solution comprises TECO 2030 fuel cell modules, batteries, power electronics, safety- and automation systems, hydrogen storage, and a refueling solution. The concept forms a scalable multimegawatt solution for electricity production for... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced up to $10 million in funding (DE-FOA-0002784) to establish clear practices to determine whether low-energy nuclear reactions (LENR) could be the basis for a potentially transformative carbon-free energy source. The funding is part of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) LENR Exploratory Topic,... Read more →

Motivated by the need to eliminate expensive rare-earth magnets in utility-scale direct-drive wind turbines, Sandia National Laboratories researchers have developed a fundamentally new type of rotary electrical contact. Sandia is now ready to partner with the renewable energy industry to develop the next generation of direct-drive wind turbines. Sandia’s Twistact... Read more →

The UK’s Advanced Modular Reactor Research, Development and Demonstration (AMR RD&D) program has awarded £3.3 million (US$3.8 million) to support six projects focused on the development of high temperature gas reactors (HTGRs). The AMR funding represents another step in the government’s plans to accelerate homegrown nuclear power to strengthen the... Read more →

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) is stepping up its call for consumers to lower electricity use in the afternoons and evenings to avoid outages over the next few days. Starting tomorrow, this multi-day event is going to get much more intense. We are facing a load forecast of 48,817... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) has awarded research funds to the MIT Energy Initiative, CORE POWER, and the Idaho National Laboratory for a three-year study into the development of offshore floating nuclear power generation in the US. The NEUP funding will allow detailed collaborative research... Read more →

California lawmakers passed Senate Bill 846, which authorizes the extension of operating the Diablo Canyon Nuclear power plant (DCPP) beyond the current expiration dates (of 2024 for Unit 1 and 2025 for Unit 2), to up to five additional years (no later than 2029 and 2030, respectively), under specified conditions.... Read more →

Abilene Christian University’s (ACU) Nuclear Energy eXperimental Testing (NEXT) Lab submitted an application for a construction permit for a molten-salt research reactor (MSRR) with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The application is the first for a new research reactor in more than 30 years and the first for an... Read more →

Toyota Motor North America is collaborating with the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to build, install and evaluate a 1-megawatt (MW) proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell power generation system at NREL’s Flatirons Campus in Arvada, Colorado. This 3-year, $6.5-million collaboration is funded in part... Read more →

Sandia National Laboratories researchers recently delivered electricity produced by a new power-generating system to the Sandia-Kirtland Air Force Base electrical grid. The system uses heated supercritical carbon dioxide instead of steam to generate electricity and is based on a closed-loop Brayton cycle. The Brayton cycle is named after 19th century... Read more →

TerraPower, a nuclear innovation company, has closed an equity raise that yields a minimum of $750 million. This is one of the largest advanced nuclear fundraises to-date. The fundraise was co-led by SK Inc. and SK Innovation (collectively, SK) and TerraPower’s founder Bill Gates. SK invested $250 million. SK Group... Read more →

The Department of Energy (DOE) selected Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to lead a $9.25-million collaborative project in nuclear energy research through the Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program. SciDAC brings together experts in science and energy research with those in software development, applied mathematics, and computer science to... Read more →

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Professor Jie Lian has been awarded $500,000 from the US Department of Energy as part of the Nuclear Energy University Research Program (NEUP) to conduct research and develop new materials that will make advanced nuclear reactors more resilient and economically efficient. Dr. Lian, the principle investigator... Read more →

The California Energy Commission (CEC) adopted a report establishing offshore wind goals and moving the state one step closer to development of the clean energy resource off California’s coast. Preliminary findings in the report set planning goals of 2,000-5,000 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind by 2030 and 25,000 MW (25... Read more →

Dow, a leading global materials science company, and X-energy, a nuclear energy innovation company, signed a letter of intent which will help Dow advance its carbon emissions reduction goals through the development and deployment of X-energy's advanced small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) technology in the US. Dow and X-energy will... Read more →

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects US electricity consumption this year to increase 2.4% over 2021, resulting primarily from increased economic activity but also from hot summer weather throughout most of the country. According to the agency’s August 2022 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), growth in renewable energy will meet... Read more →