Advanced Energy Perspectives

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) plan to regulate carbon emissions is just the latest challenge facing the U.S. electric power system. Technological innovation is disrupting old ways of doing business and accelerating grid modernization. Earlier this year, AEE released Advanced Energy Technologies for Greenhouse Gas Reduction, a report detailing the use, application, and benefits of 40 specific advanced energy technologies and services. This post is one in a series drawn from the technology profiles within that report.

Nuclear power plants in operation today rely on nuclear fission (the splitting of heavy atomic nuclei) to produce electricity. Fission releases heat in the reactor core to generate steam, which then spins a turbine attached to a generator that produces electricity. Nuclear power, a zero-carbon emission technology, is typically used for generating baseload electricity, as it is a technology that is not easy to start and stop or cycle up and down. Newer technologies (known as Generation III or III+) offer greater reliability and extensive safety features, as well as higher efficiency, with capacity factors above 80%.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) plan to regulate carbon emissions is just the latest challenge facing the U.S. electric power system. Technological innovation is disrupting old ways of doing business and accelerating grid modernization. Earlier this year, AEE released Advanced Energy Technologies for Greenhouse Gas Reduction, a report detailing the use, application, and benefits of 40 specific advanced energy technologies and services. This post is one in a series drawn from the technology profiles within that report.

Marine power technologies generate electricity from the kinetic energy contained in moving water, including waves, currents, and tides. Wave power works by harnessing the fluctuations in wave height to generate electricity, for example, with a buoy tethered to the sea floor. As the buoy moves up and down with the waves the relative motion between it and the part that is fixed to the sea floor can be captured to drive a generator.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) plan to regulate carbon emissions is just the latest challenge facing the U.S. electric power system. Technological innovation is disrupting old ways of doing business and accelerating grid modernization. Earlier this year, AEE released Advanced Energy Technologies for Greenhouse Gas Reduction, a report detailing the use, application, and benefits of 40 specific advanced energy technologies and services. This post is one in a series drawn from the technology profiles within that report.

A hydroelectric power plant uses turbines and generators to convert the kinetic energy of moving water into electricity. There are three major types of hydroelectric power plants: impoundment, diversion (run-of-river), and pumped storage facilities. An impoundment facility uses a dam to store river water in a reservoir, which it then releases through a turbine to generate electricity. The height differential (“hydraulic head”) between the reservoir surface and the turbine outlet is what provides the energy for power generation. The Hoover Dam is a classic example. A diversion facility takes advantage of natural elevation changes along a river. Run-of-river plants tend to be smaller than impoundment plants, and low-impact, with diverted streams powering turbines before returning downstream. Niagara Falls is an exception, with the Moses Niagara Power Plant and the Lewiston Pump Generating Plant together supplying 2.4 GW of hydro capacity. A pumped storage facility pumps water from a lower to an upper reservoir when electricity demand is low and releases the water back into the lower reservoir to generate electricity when demand is high. It is a form of bulk energy storage. In addition to these three major hydro variants, there is a niche application called in-conduit hydropower. Conduit projects use water supply infrastructure such as tunnels, irrigation canals, and pipelines and outfit them with mini turbines and generating equipment.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) plan to regulate carbon emissions is just the latest challenge facing the U.S. electric power system. Technological innovation is disrupting old ways of doing business and accelerating grid modernization. Earlier this year, AEE released Advanced Energy Technologies for Greenhouse Gas Reduction, a report detailing the use, application, and benefits of 40 specific advanced energy technologies and services. This post is one in a series drawn from the technology profiles within that report.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) plan to regulate carbon emissions is just the latest challenge facing the U.S. electric power system. Technological innovation is disrupting old ways of doing business and accelerating grid modernization. Earlier this year, AEE released Advanced Energy Technologies for Greenhouse Gas Reduction, a report detailing the use, application, and benefits of 40 specific advanced energy technologies and services. This post is one in a series drawn from the technology profiles within that report.

Gas turbine technology is mature and in wide use. In its most basic configuration – the simple cycle gas turbine (SCGT) – air is compressed, mixed with fuel (most frequently natural-gas), and the mixture is burned in a combustor. The resulting hot, pressurized gases are expanded through a turbine that drives the compressor and an electric generator. SCGTs have conversion efficiencies of up to about 40%. In a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant, the hot exhaust gases leaving the turbine pass through a heat recovery steam generator, which produces high-pressure steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator, producing more electricity with no additional fuel input. This increases overall electrical efficiency to nearly 60%, making CCGTs the most efficient conventional power plants available.