COVID-19 (coronavirus)

COVID-19 outbreak declared at Snare Hydro System worksite in NWT, Canada

By Elizabeth Ingram, HydroReview content director The Office of the Chief Public Health Officer (OCPHO) of Northwest Territories, Canada, has declared an outbreak at the Northwest Territories Power Corporation’s (NTPC) Snare Hydro System worksite after two people developed COVID-19 since Sept. 11, 2021 including one person who acquired COVID-19 on site. An outbreak in a closed facility in the Northwest

NERC: U.S. power sector strong, yet increasingly susceptible to weather, cyber threats

The nation’s bulk power system faced massive challenges over this past year, including a deadline winter storm in the southwest and devastating wildfires, heat waves and tropic storms elsewhere. The power sector certainly failed in some of those instances, but all in all the U.S. grid is holding together pretty well considering evolving threats and growing variety in the generation

China reopening coal mines as electricity demand accelerates

Coal-fired power generation in China is bucking global trends and getting ready to get bigger. The nation’s National Development and Reform Commission last week announced that operations will resume in dozen of coal mines. The reopening is due to surging demand in the past year as China’s economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. China now accounts for more than half

EIA: COVID-19 reversed recent residential electricity demand drop in 2020, but not by much

Although many people spent more time at home during 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, retail sales of electricity to the residential sector in the United States, calculated per capita (per person), averaged 4,437 kWh per person, only 1% more than in 2019, according to a new report released Friday by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Warmer weather in

EIA: 2020 Energy sector CO2 emissions lowest in nearly 40 years

By Elizabeth Ingram, Hydro Review In 2020, as the U.S. responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, CO2 emissions from energy consumption fell to the lowest level since 1983. The 4.6 billion metric tons (Bmt) of CO2 emitted in 2020 was an 11% decrease from 2019, the largest annual decrease on record, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Monthly Energy Review. The

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…

Coronavirus crushed U.S. clean energy workforce in 2020; 400K-plus jobs still lost

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only devastated the U.S. health care system, but it’s taken a long-lasting direct hit on the nation’s once healthy clean energ…

Salt River Project, Clark PU, FPL & PPL among top utilities in J.D. Power residential satisfaction study

Several perennial leaders topped the regional segments of research firm J.D. Power’s latest annual survey for residential electric customers. PPL, MidAmerican…

Leadership Summit: Video Interview with Black & Veatch Power President Mario Azar

Mario Azar has experienced the power generation industry from all sides. He has been cognizant of the past’s lessons enough times to know the future becko…

Georgia Power: Vogtle 3 and 4 nuclear project holding fast to schedule despite COVID-19 impacts

COVID-19 is impacting the cost and workforce schedule for the Vogtle Units 3 and 4 expansion, but Georgia Power reported that it’s still planning to put the n…

IEA Outlook: COVID impact on energy demand felt for years

Global energy demand will drop five percent this year and carbon emissions by seven percent while the impact of COVID-19 on the sector will be felt for years to…

Byron nuclear plant, facing 2021 closure, getting refueling outage in October

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 …

Report: Mission-critical, commercial end users will lift diesel engine on-site power market 25 percent through 2025

Editor’s Note: The virtual POWERGEN+ series will present a session on “Protect your Power Source: Ensuring the Reliability of Diesel Fuel in Emergen…

NIA: UK nuclear industry jobs robust despite COVID-19 impacts

The Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) has published robust jobs numbers, showing that the number of people employed in the industry has remained steady despite…