International
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Energy Security
Keeping the Lights On: How Cuba Is Fighting an Energy Crisis Under Tightened Sanctions
The current state of the national power grid in Cuba is a response to an exceptionally complex scenario, marked by the intensification of the U.S. embargo and its direct impact on fuel supplies. This was the message delivered by First Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines, Argelio Jesús Abad Vigoa, during his appearance on the […]
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Hybrid Power
Aggreko Signs PPA with Mining Group for Hybrid Power Facility in Australia
Aggreko has finalized a landmark power purchase agreement (PPA) with international mining company Harmony Gold for the Eva Copper Mine Project in Northwest Queensland, Australia. The PPA announced April 2 supports development of Australia’s largest off-grid renewable hybrid power facility.
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Energy Storage
Investment Group Acquires Stake in TotalEnergies’ German Energy Storage Portfolio
TotalEnergies has sold a 50% stake in an 800-MW portfolio of battery energy storage projects in Germany to Allianz Global Investors, a Germany-based group that has nearly $640 billion of assets under management.
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History
Chernobyl at 40: The World’s Worst Nuclear Power Accident and Where It Stands Now
On the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, POWER sent a freelance photographer and correspondent to the site in Ukraine to document the massive decommissioning effort still underway—and the new
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Renewables
Geothermal’s Rise a Hot Topic Worldwide
The global surge in energy demand is spurring investment in several sectors, and is bringing renewed interest in areas such as geothermal. The world’s literal hot spots—places such as Iceland, Indonesia, Kenya, and part of the U.S.—are seeing new projects, often as part of testing of advanced technologies such as enhanced geothermal systems (EGS).
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Gas
Cracking the Power Supply Chain Code
The power industry finds itself in an uncomfortable bind. Demand for electricity is surging, driven by data center buildouts, broad electrification, and the retirement of aging coal fleets, but the equipment
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Energy Security
Europe’s Grid Is Already a Hybrid War Target—Most Utilities Aren’t Ready
European electricity infrastructure has become a target of sustained hybrid warfare, and a new report from Eurelectric, the region’s power sector trade group, finds that most of the continent’s utilities
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Renewables
The Hidden Idle Asset Trap: A New Era of BESS Optimization in Europe
Record battery deployments across Europe are masking a growing crisis: assets that are grid-connected but financially idle, stranded by saturated markets and outdated optimization strategies.
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Gas
How Energas Turned an Environmental Concern into Cuba’s Cheapest Power
Energas is a company that stands as a successful example of foreign investment for over 20 years. Its partners include the Cuban state-owned companies Unión Eléctrica (UNE) and CubaPetróleo (CUPET), and its foreign partner is Sherritt International. With an installed capacity of 480 MW across three plants—Energas Boca de Jaruco (Figure 1), Energas Puerto Escondido, […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Solar Power Satellites and Orbital Data Centers—International Space Law Implications
In 2011, I published an article in the Boston University Journal of Science & Technology Law examining space-based solar power (SBSP) and the issue of property rights in space, and more specifically, in geostationary orbit (GEO), under the current regime of international treaties and policies. Today, as the demand for computing power grows, that question […]
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Electrification
UK Government Will Require Solar Power, Heat Pumps in All New British Homes
Officials in the UK have published a planning document that calls for housing developers to install solar panels and heat pumps in all new homes in England starting in 2028. The government on March 24 also said plug-in solar panels that homeowners can self-install on balconies would be widely available in the coming months.
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T&D
Anatomy of a Blackout: Findings from the Spain-Portugal Grid Collapse Final Report
An analysis of the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) Expert Panel’s final report on the April 28, 2025, Iberian Peninsula power grid incident. On a mild, sunny Monday in late April 2025, the power grids of Spain and Portugal collapsed in less than 90 seconds. At 12:33 p.m. Central European Summer […]
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Energy Storage
Cuba Begins Testing First Battery Energy Storage System to Boost Grid Stability
As part of the country’s strategic program to strengthen the stability of the national grid, Cuba has begun load testing of the first unit of a battery energy storage system (BESS) at the El Cotorro substation in Havana. This is the first of four systems with a total capacity of 200 MW. According to the […]
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Nuclear
GE Vernova, Hitachi Exploring SMR Deployment in Southeast Asia
Energy giants GE Vernova and Hitachi said the companies have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) as part of a plan to deploy the groups’ water-cooled BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) in Southeast Asia.
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News
Cuba Suffers Widespread Power Outage After Guiteras Plant Failure: Timeline of the National Grid Restoration
On March 4, the Cuban Electric Union (UNE) reported, through its official account on the social network X, that at 12:35 pm a partial power outage occurred affecting the national grid from the province of Camagüey to Pinar del Río province. Following the outage, all established protocols for system restoration were immediately activated, with the […]
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blackouts
THE BIG PICTURE (Infographic): Blackouts in 2025
Major power outage events in 2025 reveal a broad spectrum of reliability risks, spanning voltage instability and protection failures to extreme weather and heat-related transmission stress. Compared with recent years, which were largely characterized by weather-driven disruptions and resource-adequacy events, 2025 incidents more clearly highlight vulnerabilities in interconnected system operations, including voltage management, reactive power […]
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Microgrid
Powered Remotely: Microgrids Connect Rural Communities with Sustainable Energy Security
Microgrids are bringing greater energy independence to rural and remote communities. ABB’s microgrids experts outline how today’s smart localized power generation and distribution systems lessen far-flung homes and businesses’ reliance on costly fossil fuels and fragile national grid infrastructures. Protecting Remote Communities from Energy Insecurity It’s easy for town and city dwellers to take the […]
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Hydrogen
Advancements in Ammonia-to-Hydrogen Technology Support Decarbonization
The transition of ammonia to hydrogen has become important as the power sector seeks to decarbonize its operations. Industrial-scale ammonia crackers are reaching commercial maturity in many areas, notably in Europe and Asia, and also in the U.S.
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Technology
Why the Promise of AI Is Real, but Potential Yet Unrealized
While artificial intelligence (AI) adoption has spread rapidly, meaningful productivity gains remain elusive because organizations have conflated easy-to-deploy horizontal AI tools with the domain-specific
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Instrumentation & Controls
No Boots on Deck? How AI Enables Autonomous Energy Operations
Artificial intelligence (AI) has pushed the idea of a “one-button start-up” from sci-fi closer to engineering reality. But where is industrial AI for energy operations today, and how far away is that fully
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Data Centers
Engine Power Plants Surge as Data Centers Drive Unprecedented Demand
Manufacturers respond with gigawatt-scale deployments, fast-start technology, and expanded production capacity. The global appetite for electricity has never been more insatiable, and at the heart of this
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Nuclear
Russia’s Rosatom Will Continue Foreign Nuclear Power Plant Projects Despite UK Sanctions
Russia’s state-owned nuclear power group said it will move forward with its power plant projects in foreign countries despite new sanctions from the UK government against Russian companies.
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Renewables
Energea Launches Latin America Solar Portfolio with $100-Million Investment
Global renewable energy developer and operator Energea said it has launched its LATAM Energy Portfolio, the company’s fourth and latest active investment strategy. The group on February 25 said it will invest in distributed solar power projects across South America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
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Renewables
Aggreko Provides Hybrid Power Station with Solar, Gas for Australia Project
Construction is underway on a hybrid power station in Queensland, Australia that will support Arrow Energy’s Surat Gas Project (SGP) North. UK-headquartered Aggreko is leading the project, which is designed to show how natural gas and renewable energy can work together in a power generation installation.
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O&M
Why Prime Movers’ Reliability Is Critical to Power Uptime
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming one of the most significant drivers of global electricity demand. By 2030, data centre consumption is expected to more than double, from 415 TWh to 945 TWh, driven by AI-optimised servers that use up to 10 times the energy of traditional computing. In the U.S., data centres may account […]
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Business
SB Energy Tapped for Proposed 9.2‑GW Ohio Gas Power Plant in First Tranche of $550B U.S.–Japan Deal: What We Know
The Trump administration is touting a proposed 9.2‑GW natural gas power complex near Portsmouth, Ohio, as the centerpiece of a new U.S.–Japan trade deal that officials say could steer up to $550 billion of Japanese capital into American energy and industrial projects. According to a Feb. 17 Commerce Department fact sheet and a statement by […]
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Commentary
Water Strategy Is Power Strategy in the New Economy
New research reveals artificial intelligence (AI)-driven water demand is set to surge nearly 130% over the next 25 years. Power generation consumes about half of that, turning water into a potential constraint on future capacity—and a catalyst for achieving a lasting transition to greater water security. Power producers are facing a new challenge: deliver more […]
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Energy Storage
Wartsila Building Energy Storage in Support of Belgian Grid
Technology group Wärtsilä has been selected by Gramme Storage 1 to deliver a 50-MW/100-MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in central-eastern Belgium. The companies on February 16 said that the project supports Belgium’s transition toward the use of more renewable energy resources.
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Energy Security
Cuba Sets Solar Power Record, Surpassing 900 MW of Photovoltaic Generation
The director of the National Load Dispatch Center of the Cuban Electric Union, Engineer Félix Estrada Rodríguez, reported that Cuba generated more than 800 MW of photovoltaic (PV) power during a midday period on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. This achievement follows the installation of more than 1,000 MW of solar energy capacity throughout 2025, in […]
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Finance
European Investment Bank Launching Financing Platform for Energy Efficiency
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is intensifying efforts to spur energy savings by businesses across Europe with a €60 million ($71.1 million) commitment to launch a financing platform run by Solas Capital, an energy transition investment advisor.