Tampa Electric offers tips for storm readiness

NRC Special Inspection at River Bend reviews failures of portable emergency diesel generators, nuclear safety measures, and Entergy Operations actions after Fukushima; off-site power loss readiness, remote COVID-19 oversight, and corrective action plans are assessed.

Key Points

An NRC review of generator test failures at River Bend, assessing nuclear safety, root causes, and corrective actions.

✅ Evaluates failures of portable emergency diesel generators

✅ Reviews causal analyses and adequacy of corrective actions

✅ Remote COVID-19 oversight; public report expected within 45 days

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a special inspection at the River Bend nuclear power plant, part of broader oversight that includes the Turkey Point renewal application, to review circumstances related to the failure of five portable emergency diesel generators during testing. The plant, operated by Entergy Operations, is located in St. Francisville, La., as nations like France outage risks continue to highlight broader reliability concerns.

The generators are used to supply power to plant systems in the event of a prolonged loss of off-site electrical power coupled with a failure of the permanently installed emergency generators, a concern underscored by incidents such as the SC nuclear plant leak that shut down production for weeks. These portable generators were acquired as part of the facility's safety enhancements mandated by the NRC following the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi facility in Japan, and amid constraints like France limiting output from warm rivers, the emphasis on resilience remains.

The three-member NRC team will develop a chronology of the test failures and evaluate the licensee's causal analyses and the adequacy of corrective actions, informed by lessons from cases like Davis-Besse closure stakes that underscore risk management.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they will complete most of their work remotely, while other regions address constraints such as high river temperatures limiting output for nuclear stations. An inspection report documenting the team's findings, released as global nuclear project milestones continue across the sector, will be publicly available within 45 days of the end of the inspection.
 

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Hybrid renewable energy projects integrate wind, solar, and battery storage to enhance grid reliability, reduce curtailment, and provide dispatchable power in markets like Alberta, leveraging photovoltaic tracking, overbuilt transformers, and improved storage economics.

Key Points

Hybrid renewable energy projects combine wind, solar, and storage to deliver reliable, dispatchable clean power.

✅ Combine wind, solar, and batteries for steady, dispatchable output

✅ Lower curtailment by using shared transformers and smart inverters

✅ Boost farm income via leases; diversify risk from oil and gas

Third-generation farmer James Praskach has been burned by the oil and gas sector and watched wicked weather pound his crops flat, but he is hoping a new kind of energy -- the renewable kind -- will pay dividends.

The 39-year-old is part of a landowner consortium that is hosting the sprawling 300-megawatt Blackspring Ridge wind power project in southeastern Alberta.

He receives regular lease payments from the $600-million project that came online in 2014, even though none of the 166 towering wind turbines that surround his land are actually on it.

His lease payments stand to rise, however, when and if the proposed 77-MW Vulcan Solar project, which won regulatory approval in 2016, is green-lighted by developer EDF Renewables Inc.

The panels would cover about 400 hectares of his family's land with nearly 300,000 photovoltaic solar panels in Alberta, installed on racks designed to follow the sun. It would stand in the way of traditional grain farming of the land, but that wouldn't have been a problem this year, Praskach says.

"This year we actually had a massive storm roll through. And we had 100 per cent hail damage on all of (the Vulcan Solar lands). We had canola, peas and barley on it this year," he said, adding the crop was covered by insurance.

Meanwhile, poor natural gas prices and a series of oilpatch financial failures mean rents aren't being paid for about half of the handful of gas wells on his land, showing how a province that is a powerhouse for both fossil and green energy can face volatility -- he's appealed to the Alberta surface Rights Board for compensation.

"(Solar power) would definitely add a level of security for our farming operations," said Praskach.

Hybrid power projects that combine energy sources are a growing trend as selling renewable energy gains traction across markets. Solar only works during the day and wind only when it is windy so combining the two -- potentially with battery storage or natural gas or biomass generation -- makes the power profile more reliable and predictable.

Globally, an oft-cited example is on El Hierro, the smallest of the Canary Islands, where wind power is used to pump water uphill to a reservoir in a volcanic crater so that it can be released to provide hydroelectric power when needed. At times, the project has provided 100 per cent of the tiny island's energy needs.

Improvements in technology such as improving solar and wind power and lower costs for storage mean it is being considered as a hybrid add-on for nearly all of its renewable power projects, said Dan Cunningham, manager of business development at Greengate Power Corp. of Calgary.

Grant Arnold, CEO of developer BluEarth Renewables, agreed.

"The barrier to date, I would say, has been cost of storage but that is changing rapidly," he said. "We feel that wind and storage or solar and storage will be a fundamental way we do business within five years. It's changing very, very rapidly and it's the product everybody wants."

Vulcan Solar was proposed after Blackspring Ridge came online, said David Warner, associate director of business development for EDF Renewables, which now co-owns the wind farm with Enbridge Inc.

"Blackspring actually had incremental capacity in the main power transformers," he said. "Essentially, it was capable of delivering more energy than Blackspring was producing. It was overbuilt."

Vulcan Solar has been sized to utilize the shortfall without producing so much energy that either will ever have to be constrained, he said. Much of the required environmental work has already been done for the wind farm.

Storage is being examined as a potential addition to the project but implementing it depends on the regulatory system. At present, Alberta's regulators are still working on how to permit and control what they call "dispatchable renewables and storage" systems.

EDF announced last spring it would proceed with the Arrow Canyon Solar Project in Nevada which is to combine 200 MW of solar with 75 MW of battery storage by 2022 -- the batteries are to soak up the sun's power in the morning and dispatch the electricity in the afternoon when Las Vegas casinos' air conditioning is most needed.

What is clear is that renewable energy will continue to grow, with Alberta renewable jobs expected to follow -- in a recent report, the International Energy Agency said global electricity capacity from renewables is set to rise by 50 per cent over the next five years, an increase equivalent to adding the current total power capacity of the United States.

The share of renewables is expected to rise from 26 per cent now to 30 per cent in 2024 but will remain well short of what is needed to meet long-term climate, air quality and energy access goals, it added.

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California Public Safety Power Shutoffs highlight wildfire prevention as PG&E outages disrupt schools, businesses, and rural communities, driving generator use, economic hardship, and emergency preparedness across Northern California during high-wind events.

Key Points

Utility outages to reduce wildfire risk during extreme winds, impacting homes and businesses in high-risk California.

✅ PG&E cuts power during high winds to prevent wildfires

✅ Costs rise for generators, fuel, batteries, and spoiled food

✅ Rural, low-income communities face greater economic losses

The intentional blackout by California’s largest utility this week put Forest Jones out of work and his son out of school. On Friday morning Mr. Jones, a handyman and single father, sat in his apartment above a tattoo parlor waiting for the power to come back on and for school to reopen.

“I’ll probably lose $400 or $500 dollars because of this,” said Mr. Jones, who lives in the town of Paradise, which was razed by fire last year and is slowly rebuilding. “Things have been really tough up here.”

Millions of people were affected by the blackout, which spanned the outskirts of Silicon Valley to the forests of Humboldt County near the Oregon border. But the outage, which the power company said was necessary to reduce wildfire risk across the region, also drew a line between those who were merely inconvenienced and those who faced a major financial hardship.

To have the lights on, the television running and kitchen appliances humming is often taken for granted in America, even as U.S. grid during coronavirus questions persisted. During California’s blackout it became an economic privilege.

The economic impacts of the shut-off were especially acute in rural, northern towns like Paradise, where incomes are a fraction of those in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Both wealthy and poorer areas were affected by the blackout but interviews across the state suggested that being forced off the grid disproportionately hurt the less affluent. One family in Humboldt County said they had spent $150 on batteries and water alone during the shutdown.

“To be prepared costs money,” Sue Warhaftig, a massage therapist who lives in Mill Valley, a wealthy suburb across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Ms. Warhaftig spent around two days without electricity but said she had been spared from significant sacrifices during the blackout.

She invested in a generator to keep the refrigerator running and to provide some light. She cooked in the family’s Volkswagen camper van in her driveway. At night she watched Netflix on her phone, which she was able to charge with the generator. Her husband, a businessman, is in London on a work trip. Her two sons, both grown, live in Southern California and Seattle.

“We were inconvenienced but life wasn’t interrupted,” Ms. Warhaftig said. “But so many people’s lives were.

Pacific Gas & Electric restored power to large sections of Northern California on Friday, including Paradise, where the electricity came back on in the afternoon. But hundreds of thousands of people in other areas remained in the dark. The carcasses of burned cars still littered the landscape around Paradise, where 86 people died in the Camp Fire last year, some of them while trying to escape.

Officials at power company said that by Saturday they hoped to have restored power to 98 percent of the customers who were affected.

The same dangerous winds that spurred the shut-off in Northern California have put firefighters to work in the south. The authorities in Los Angeles County ordered the evacuation of nearly 100,000 people on Friday as the Saddleridge Fire burned nearly 5,000 acres and destroyed 25 structures. The Sandalwood Fire, which ignited Thursday in Riverside County, had spread to more than 800 acres and destroyed 74 structures by Friday afternoon.

While this week’s outage was the first time many customers in Northern California experienced a deliberate power shut-off, residents in and around Paradise have had their power cut four times in recent months, residents say.

Many use a generator, but running one has become increasingly expensive with gasoline now at more than $4 a gallon in California.

On Friday, Dennis and Viola Timmer drove up the hill to their home in Magalia, a town adjacent to Paradise, loaded with $102 dollars of gasoline for their generators. It was their second gasoline run since the power went out Tuesday night.

The couple, retired and on a fixed income after Mr. Timmer’s time in the Navy and in construction, said the power outage had severely limited their ability to do essential tasks like cooking, or to leave the house.

“You know what it feels like? You’re in jail,” said Ms. Timmer, 72. “You can’t go anywhere with the generators running.”

Since the generators are not powerful enough to run heat or air conditioning, the couple slept in their den with an electric space heater.

“It’s really difficult because you don’t have a normal life,” Ms. Timmer said. “You’re trying to survive.”

To be sure, the shutdown has affected many people regardless of economic status, and similar disruptions abroad, like a London power outage that disrupted routines, show how widespread such challenges can be. The areas without power were as diverse as the wealthy suburbs of Silicon Valley, the old Gold Rush towns of the Sierra Nevada, the East Bay of San Francisco and the seaside city of Arcata.

Ms. Cahn’s cellphone ran out of power during the blackout and even when she managed to recharge it in her car cell service was spotty, as it was in many areas hit by the blackout.

Accustomed to staying warm at night with an electric blanket, Ms. Cahn slept under a stack of four blankets.

“I’m doing what I have to do which is not doing very much,” she said.

Further south in Marin City, Chanay Jackson stood surrounded by fumes from generators still powering parts of the city.

She said that food stamps were issued on the first of the month and that many residents who had to throw away food were out of luck.

“They’re not going to issue more food stamps just because the power went out,” Ms. Jackson said. “So they’re just screwed until next month.”

Strong winds have many times in the past caused power lines to come in contact with vegetation, igniting fires that are then propelled by the gusts, and hurricanes elsewhere have crippled infrastructure with Louisiana grid rebuild after Laura according to state officials. This was the case with the Camp Fire.

Since higher elevations had more extreme winds many of the neighborhoods where power was turned off this week were in hills and canyons, including in the Sierra Nevada.

The shut-off, which by one estimate affected a total of 2.5 million people, has come under strong criticism by residents and politicians, and warnings from Cal ISO about rolling blackouts as the power grid strained. The company’s website crashed just as customers sought information about the outage. Gov. Gavin Newsom called it unacceptable. But his comments were nuanced, criticizing the way the shut-off was handled, not the rationale for it. Mr. Newsom and others said the ravages of the Camp Fire demanded preventive action to prevent a reoccurrence.

Yet the calculus of trying to avoid deadly fires by shutting off power will continue to be debated as California enters its peak wildfire season, even as electricity reliability during COVID-19 was generally maintained for most consumers.

In the city of Grass Valley, Matthew Gottschalk said he and his wife realized that a generator was essential when they calculated that they had around $500 worth of food in their fridge.

“I don’t know what we would have done,” said Mr. Gottschalk, whose power went out Tuesday night.

His neighbors are filling coolers with ice. Everyone is hoping the power will come back on soon.

“Ice is going to run out and gas is going to run out,” he said.

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HVDC-WISE Project accelerates HVDC technology integration across the European transmission system, delivering a planning toolkit to boost grid reliability, resilience, and interconnectors for renewables and offshore wind amid climate, cyber, and physical threats.

Key Points

EU-funded project delivering tools to integrate HVDC into Europe's grid, improving reliability, resilience, and security.

✅ EU Horizon Europe-backed consortium of 14 partners

✅ Toolkit to assess extreme events and grid operability

✅ Supports interconnectors, offshore wind, and renewables

A partnership of 14 leading European energy industry companies, research organizations and universities has launched a new project to identify opportunities to increase integration of HVDC technology into the European transmission system, echoing calls to invest in smarter electricity infrastructure from abroad.

The HVDC-WISE project, in which the University of Strathclyde is the UK’s only academic partner, is supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme.

The project’s goal is to develop a toolkit for grid developers to evaluate the grid’s performance under extreme conditions and to plan systems, leveraging a digital grid approach that supports coordination to realise the full range of potential benefits from deep integration of HVDC technology into the European transmission system.

The project is focused on enhancing electric grid reliability and resilience while navigating the energy transition. Building and maintaining network infrastructure to move power across Europe is an urgent and complex task, and reducing losses with superconducting cables can play a role, particularly with the continuing growth of wind and solar generation. At the same time, threats to the integrity of the power system are on the rise from multiple sources, including climate, cyber, and physical hazards.

Mutual support

At a time of increasing worries about energy security and as Europe’s electricity systems decarbonise, connections between them to provide mutual support and routes to market for energy from renewables, a dynamic also highlighted in discussions of the western Canadian electricity grid in North America, become ever more important.

In modern power systems, this means making use of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technology.

The earliest forms of technology have been around since the 1960s, but the impact of increasing reliance on HVDC and its ability to enhance a power system’s operability and resilience are not yet fully understood.

Professor Keith Bell, Scottish Power Professor of Future Power Systems at the University of Strathclyde, said:

As an island, HVDC is the only practical way for us to build connections to other countries’ electricity systems. We’re also making use of it within our system, with one existing and more planned Scotland-England subsea link projects connecting one part of Britain to another.

“These links allow us to maximise our use of wind energy. New links to other countries will also help us when it’s not windy and, together with assets like the 2GW substation now in service, to recover from any major disturbances that might occur.

“The system is always vulnerable to weather and things like lightning strikes or short circuits caused by high winds. As dependency on electricity increases, insights from electricity prediction specialists can inform planning as we enhance the resilience of the system.”

Dr Agusti Egea-Alvarez, Senior Lecturer at Strathclyde, said: “HVDC systems are becoming the backbone of the British and European electric power network, either interconnecting countries, or connecting offshore wind farms.

“The tools, procedures and guides that will be developed during HVDC-WISE will define the security, resilience and reliability standards of the electric network for the upcoming decades in Europe.”

Other project participants include Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission, the Supergrid Institute, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Europe, Tennet TSO, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, TU Delft, Tractebel Impact and the University of Cyprus.

Climate change

Eamonn Lannoye, Managing Director of EPRI Europe, said: “The European electricity grid is remarkably reliable by any standard. But as the climate changes and the grid becomes exposed to more extreme conditions, energy interdependence between regions intensifies and threats from external actors emerge. The new grid needs to be robust to those challenges.”

Juan Carlos Gonzalez, a senior researcher with the SuperGrid Institute which leads the project said: “The HVDC-WISE project is intended to provide planners with the tools and know-how to understand how grid development options perform in the context of changing threats and to ensure reliability.”

HVDC-WISE is supported by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme under agreement 101075424 and by the UK Research and Innovation Horizon Europe Guarantee scheme.

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Calgary Winter Storm and Extreme Cold delivers heavy snowfall, ECCC warnings, blowing snow, icy roads, and dangerous wind chill across southern Alberta, as a low-pressure system and northerly inflow fuel hazardous travel and frostbite risks.

Key Points

A severe Alberta storm with heavy snow, strong winds, ECCC warnings, dangerous wind chill, and high frostbite risk.

✅ ECCC extends snowfall and winter storm warnings regionwide.

✅ Wind chill -28 to -47; frostbite possible within 5-30 minutes.

✅ AMA rescues surge; non-essential travel strongly discouraged.

Calgary and much of southern Alberta faced a significant winter storm that brought heavy snowfall, strong winds, and dangerously low temperatures. Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) issued extended and expanded snowfall and winter storm warnings as persistent precipitation streamed along the southern borders. The combination of a low-pressure system off the West Coast, where a B.C. 'bomb cyclone' had left tens of thousands without power, and a northerly inflow at the surface led to significant snow accumulations in a short period.

The storm resulted in poor driving conditions across much of southern Alberta, with snow-packed and icy roads, as well as limited visibility due to blowing snow. ECCC advised postponing non-essential travel until conditions improved. As of 10 a.m. on January 17, the 511 Alberta map showed poor driving conditions throughout the region, while B.C. electricity demand hit an all-time high amid the cold.

In Calgary, the city recorded four centimeters of snow on January 16, with an additional four centimeters expected on January 17. Temperatures remained far below seasonal averages until the end of the week, and Calgary electricity use tends to surge during such cold snaps according to Enmax, with improvements starting on Sunday.

The extreme cold posed significant risks, with wind chills of -28 to -39 capable of causing frostbite in 10 to 30 minutes, as a Quebec power demand record illustrated during the deep freeze. When wind chills dropped to -40 to -47, frostbite could occur in as little as five to 10 minutes. Residents were advised to watch for signs of frostbite, including color changes on fingers and toes, pain, numbness, tingling sensations, or swelling. Those most at risk included young children, older adults, people with chronic illnesses, individuals working or exercising outdoors, and those without proper shelter.

In response to the severe weather, the Alberta Motor Association (AMA) experienced a surge in calls for roadside assistance. Between January 12 and 14, there were approximately 32,000 calls, with about 22,000 of those requiring rescues between January 12 and 14. The high volume of requests led the AMA to temporarily cease providing wait time updates on their website due to the inability to provide accurate information, while debates over Alberta electricity prices also intensified during the cold.

The storm also had broader implications across Canada. Heavy snow was expected to fall across wide swaths of southern British Columbia and parts of southern Alberta, as BC Hydro's winter payment plan offered billing relief to customers during the stretch. Northern Alberta was under extreme cold warnings, with temperatures expected to dip to -40°C through the rest of the week. Similar extreme cold was forecast for southern Ontario, with wind chill values reaching -30°C.

As the storm progressed, conditions began to improve. The wind warning for central Alberta ended by January 17, though a blowing snow advisory remained in effect for the southeast corner of the province. Northwest winds gusting up to 90 km/h combined with falling snow continued to cause poor visibility in some areas, while California power outages and landslides were reported amid concurrent severe storms along the coast. Conditions were expected to improve by mid-morning.

In the aftermath of the storm, residents were reminded of the importance of preparedness and caution during severe winter weather. Staying informed through official weather advisories, adjusting travel plans, and taking necessary precautions can help mitigate the risks associated with such extreme conditions.

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Canadian Electricity Innovation drives a customer-centric, data-driven grid, integrating renewable energy, EVs, storage, and responsive loads to boost reliability, resilience, affordability, and sustainability while aligning regulators, utilities, and policy for decarbonization.

Key Points

A plan to modernize the grid, aligning utilities, regulators, and tech to deliver clean, reliable, affordable power.

✅ Smart grid supports EVs, storage, solar, and responsive loads.

✅ Innovation funding and regulatory alignment cut long-term costs.

✅ Resilience rises against extreme weather and outage risks.

For more than 100 years, Canadian electricity companies had a very simple mandate: provide reliable, safe power to all. Keep the lights on, as some would say. And they did just that.

Today, however, they are expected to also provide a broad range of energy services through a data-driven, customer-centric system operations platform that can manage, among other things, responsive loads, electric vehicles, storage devices and solar generation. All the while meeting environmental and social sustainability — and delivering on affordability.

Not an easy task, especially amid a looming electrical supply crunch that complicates planning.

That’s why this new mandate requires an ironclad commitment to innovation excellence. Not simply replacing “like with like,” or to make incremental progress, but to fundamentally reimagine our electricity system and how Canadians relate to it.

Our innovators in the electricity sector are stepping up to the plate and coming up with ingenious ideas, thanks to an annual investment of some $20 billion.

#google#

But they are presented with a dilemma.

Although Canada enjoys among the cleanest, most reliable electricity in the world, we have seen a sharp spike in its politicization. Electricity rates have become the rage and a top-of-mind issue for many Canadians, as highlighted by the Ontario hydro debate over rate plans. Ontario’s election reflects that passion.

This heightened attention places greater pressure on provincial governments, who regulate prices, and in jurisdictions like the Alberta electricity market questions about competition further influence those decisions. In turn, they delegate down to the actual regulators where, at their public hearings, the overwhelming and almost exclusive objective becomes: Keeping costs down.

Consequently, innovation pilot applications by Canadian electricity companies are routinely rejected by regulators, all in the name of cost constraints.

Clearly, electricity companies must be frugal and keep rates as low as possible.

No one likes paying more for their electricity. Homeowners don’t like it and neither do businesses.

Ironically, our rates are actually among the lowest in the world. But the mission of our political leaders should not be a race to the basement suite of prices. Nor should cheap gimmicks masquerade as serious policy solutions. Not if we are to be responsible to future generations.

We must therefore avoid, at all costs, building on the cheap.

Without constant innovation, reliability will suffer, especially as we battle more extreme weather events. In addition, we will not meet the future climate and clean energy targets such as the Clean Electricity Regulations for 2050 that all governments have set and continuously talk about. It is therefore incumbent upon our governments to spur a dynamic culture of innovation. And they must sync this with their regulators.

This year’s federal budget failed to build on the 2017 investments. One-time public-sector funding mechanisms are not enough. Investments must be sustained for the long haul.

To help promote and celebrate what happens when innovation is empowered by utilities, the Canadian Electricity Association has launched Canada’s first Centre of Excellence on electricity. The centre showcases cutting-edge development in how electricity is produced, delivered and consumed. Moreover, it highlights the economic, social and environmental benefits for Canadians.

One of the innovations celebrated by the centre was developed by Nova Scotia’s own NS Power. The company has been recognized for its groundbreaking Intelligent Feeder Project that generates power through a combination of a wind farm, a substation, and nearly a dozen Tesla batteries, reflecting broader clean grid and battery trends across Canada.

Political leaders must, of course, respond to the emotions and needs of their electors. But they must also lead.

That’s why ongoing long-term investments must be embedded in the policies of federal, provincial and territorial governments, and their respective regulatory systems. And Canada’s private sector cannot just point the finger to governments. They, too, must deliver, by incorporating meaningful innovation strategies into their corporate cultures and vision.

That’s the straightforward innovation challenge, as it is for the debate over rates.

But it also represents a generational opportunity, because if we get innovation right we will build that better, greener future that Canadians aspire to.

Sergio Marchi is president and CEO of the Canadian Electricity Association. He is a former Member of Parliament, cabinet minister, and Canadian Ambassador to the World Trade Organization and United Nations in Geneva.

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