Power plant products | ‘Innovation of The Year’


BrightNight’s AI platform, PowerAlpha, has been named “CleanTech AI Innovation Of The Year” in the annual CleanTech Breakthrough Awards conducted by CleanTech Breakthrough, an independent market intelligence organisation.


As its first cognitive enterprise in energy, BrightNight has developed PowerAlpha to deliver clean, reliable power at the lowest attainable cost across diverse geographies and power grids. It is described as a technology- agnostic AI platform that optimises hybrid renewable project design, resource mix, and system configuration to ensure maximum dispatchability, resiliency, speed-to-market, and return on investment. It simulates millions of design iterations, integrating financial modelling to identify the ideal configuration for each customer’s energy needs and broader business objectives. It aims to deliver value post-construction by using digital twin technology, continuous diagnostics, and predictive analytics to manage operations, optimise asset performance, minimise downtime risk, and make real-time dispatch decisions that ensure efficient, firm power with industry-leading economics.


“PowerAlpha was built to reimagine how we generate and deliver clean as well as reliable energy,” said Martin Hermann, CEO of BrightNight. “By combining advanced data science, machine learning, and power systems expertise, we’re enabling the next generation of digital infrastructure and energy on both sides of the meter – smarter, faster, and more resilient.”


“PowerAlpha revolutionises the design, optimisation, and operation of hybrid power projects. Renewable energy has the potential to supply 90 % of global electricity by 2050 and the sector has seen unprecedented growth. However, renewable projects are complex and have a multi-decade project lifecycles, making them sensitive to risk and project assumptions,” said Bryan Vaughn, MD of CleanTech Breakthrough. “PowerAlpha helps take clean power solutions beyond their basic capability and meet the needs of the evolving energy grid by fully integrating, designing, optimising, and operating hybrid power projects with the foresight of integrating industry standard power flow and production cost models.”


Converting stored ash into cement


Ashcor Technologies and Michigan-based Consumers Energy have entered into an agreement to extract and repurpose millions of tons of stored coal ash from the soon to be retired J.H. Campbell Generating Complex. Norm Kapala, vice president of generation operations for Consumers Energy, commented: “While our focus today is on meeting power needs in a more environmentally sustainable way, we are also committed to removing 60 years of ash deposits that will be beneficially repurposed.”


Ashcor’s patented Reclaimed Ash Management technology will transform stored coal ash at the power facility into a high-grade cement replacement material for use in concrete manufacturing. Since global cement manufacturing is responsible


for about 8 % of the world’s total CO2 emissions, the repurposing of coal ash has environmental benefits.


John Tiberi, president of Ashcor, said: “Ultimately, this manufactured ash can substitute up to 30 % of traditional, carbon- intensive portland cement, making it a more sustainable solution for … construction projects and concrete applications. This will be our third RAM facility”.


The Campbell complex, which is located on a 2000 acre site in Port Sheldon Township near Holland, Michigan, began serving Consumers Energy customers in the 1960s. Retiring the complex’s three units in May 2025 is part of the company’s Clean Energy Plan to meet Michigan’s energy needs in the coming decades. Removal and processing of the ash will begin on or before 1 January 2027. The operational life of the project is expected to be about two decades. The RAM technology is capable of processing harvested comingled bottom ash and fly ash and transforming it into a product that meets technical specifications.


This project represents Ashcor’s first foray into coal ash harvesting in the United States, underscoring the company’s ambitious growth strategy and commitment to expanding its presence in this key market. By leveraging its proven expertise and innovative technologies, Ashcor hopes to meet the growing demand for reclaimed, high-performance materials across the construction and industrial sectors, and to replicate its success in Canada with the RAM process.


40 | May 2025| www.modernpowersystems.com CleanTech AI


testing in the field


Meter


Traditional methods of meter testing and site diagnostics can require bulky test equipment, lengthy testing processes, and frequent lab verification. To address these problems, Tesco has launched its T3 Turbo Meter Tester, a lightweight tool that allows technicians to perform fast, accurate self-contained meter testing directly in the field. Because it offers built-in phantom load capabilities, true three-phase testing, and is portable, the tester eliminates the need for external load sources and lab-based verification, and speeds up the testing process. In cases where testing the meter alone isn’t enough, full-site diagnostics and transformer-rated meter testing the T3 can be paired with the company’s 6330 Meter Site Analyser, which provides a ‘complete field-testing solution, ensuring full meter and site diagnostics’.


Main features include:


Needs no external load – a built-in phantom load (0.1A–50A) eliminates reliance on customer load or external test sources;


True three-phase testing in the field, can accurately tests self-contained meters with 0.02% voltage/current accuracy;


Lightweight and rugged construction for field use;


Has interlock safety system to prevent accidental live connections. Together, says Tesco, the T3 and 6330 provide testing for any meter type – the T3 handles self-contained meters, while the 6330 tackles transformer- rated meters and full-site power quality analysis; complete site diagnostics – analysing voltage, current, power factor, and system health, eliminating the need to send meters back to the lab; lightweight, portable units with a strong casing, making them durable and reliable.


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