The American Nuclear Society hosted a Supplier Showcase webinar titled “Modernizing Safety I&C: Practical Strategies and a Path Forward for Analog and Digital Systems.” The event featured two speakers from Framatome: Logan Davenport, supervisor of product development and life cycle maintenance, and Erica Hindle, an I&C safety system software engineer.
Tata Steel is engaging with the UK government to address challenges in the timely implementation of its electric arc furnace (EAF) project at Port Talbot. CEO T V Narendran confirmed that there are no delays from Tata Steel in the construction of the 3.2 million tonne capacity project, which represents a 1.25 billion pound investment.
The primary concern is the delay in securing power supply for the facility. While Tata Steel UK anticipates electricity access by 2029, a connection offer was signed with the Electricity System Operator (ESO) in May 2024. This agreement tasks National Grid with building new electrical infrastructure to power the EAF by the end of 2027. The project, supported by 500 million pounds from the government, is designed to cut site-level CO2 emissions by 90 percent, equivalent to 5 million tonnes annually. Discussions with the UK government are ongoing regarding these concerns.
Power distribution licensees in India are encountering difficulties in power procurement, as day-ahead markets on power exchanges have repeatedly reached the ₹10-per-unit ceiling for extended periods. This market volatility has led to utilities paying significantly higher prices for emergency supplies, with some purchases exceeding ₹30 per unit. The reliance on day-ahead markets for covering demand gaps, particularly during non-solar hours, has resulted in only about 51% of total buy bids being cleared, according to a Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) order from October 2025.
The current procurement practices persist despite the Resource Adequacy Guidelines of June 2023, which mandate every distribution licensee to maintain a ten-year rolling plan, vetted by the CEA. However, some states are not consistently submitting the required resource adequacy data. Challenges also include outdated load forecasting methods and fragmented data systems within utilities, hindering effective planning. While CERC's draft Power Market (First Amendment) Regulations, 2025, aim to broaden contract options for over-the-counter platforms, the fundamental issue remains the lack of proactive, long-term power purchasing strategies among many utilities in India.