Newport Corp. introduced the compact and high-torque RGV100HL high-speed precision rotation stage. Developed to accelerate loads having higher rotational inertia, the new stage is compatible with Newport’s XPS-DRV02 driver. The RGV100HL provides the same high resolution and outstanding positioning performance as Newport’s legacy RGV100BL precision rotation stage while delivering three times the torque and five […]

As the book title Too Dumb to Meter: Follies, Fiascoes, Dead Ends, and Duds on the U.S. Road to Atomic Energy implies, nuclear power has traveled a rough road. In this POWER exclusive, we present the 11th, 12th, and 13th chapters, “The Atomic Earth-Blaster,” “Chariot Swings Down to Alaska,” and “Sedan Side Trip to Nevada— the first three chapters of the “Eddie Teller’s Exploding Ambitions” section.

Regardless of how much prevention is employed to mitigate combustible dust in coal-fired power plants, fugitive coal dust is pervasive and can be dangerous. In coal-fired power plants, mechanical transfer points are leading sources for airborne fugitive dust. However, because coal dust travels quickly over large areas with minimal airflow, fugitive combustible dust settles in many areas.

It’s that time of year again. At the end of each year I am forced to revisit predictions I made a year ago in my “Speaking of Power” editorial and accept your kudos for my stellar soothsaying or blame shift when my guesswork falls short.

With the passing of the 2012 election, one is reminded of the saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) recently kicked off a new era in its cap-and-trade program designed to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) when it held its first GHG emissions allowance auction on November 14. While CARB pronounced the auction a success, the low price and lukewarm demand for allowances evidences market reticence to fully embrace the program.

Achieving a balance between affordable and sustainable electricity while improving reliability is a challenge unlike any the electricity sector has faced since its inception. Technology innovations in key areas such as energy efficiency, smart grid, renewable energy resources, hardened transmission systems, and long-term operation of the existing nuclear and fossil fleets are essential to shaping the future of electricity supplies.

By Kennedy Maize (@kennedymaize) Washington, D.C., 2 January 2013 – It came as no surprise when, shortly after Christmas, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson said she will step down sometime this month. Jackson, a controversial and hard-charging but politically adept EPA chief, will return to her New Jersey home, where she may run for […]

Last week, as the broader debate over the "fiscal cliff" muted discussions over whether an extension to the wind production tax credit (PTC) should be granted, the top ranking executive of wind power lobby group the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) last week announced her resignation.

Edison International’s unregulated power generating unit Edison Mission Energy (EME) on Monday filed for bankruptcy protection after reaching a reorganization agreement with its parent company and holders of its $3.7 billion in debt to become an entity that is independent of Edison International.

The Nebraska Public Power District’s (NPPD’s) Board of Directors on Friday unanimously voted to increase the amount of power produced at its 800-MW Cooper Nuclear Station by 146 MW through an extended power uprate.

Six months after withdrawing a $1 billion plan to retrofit its 49-year-old Big Sandy coal-fired plant near Louisa, Ky., from the Kentucky Public Service Commission (PSC), American Electric Power (AEP) operating unit Kentucky Power on Wednesday announced it would retire the plant’s 800-MW Unit 2 by 2015 and will decide on the future of its 278-MW Unit 1.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday issued a final rule that strengthens its National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) to 12.0 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m³) but declared it would not finalize a proposal to update separate secondary PM2.5 standards. The final rule’s issuance was lauded by environmental and public health groups, though industry groups opposed it, citing concerns that nonattainment areas would suffer economic setbacks.

Major oil and gas production company Vintage Production California and its subsidiary OXY USA last week agreed to pay $34,000 to resolve the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) first greenhouse gas (GHG) permitting violation case.

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) admitted to reliability standards violations connected with a 43-minute San Diego blackout on March 31, 2010, and agreed to pay a civil penalty of $200,000, says an order issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Friday.

By Kennedy Maize (@kennedymaize) Washington, D.C., 15 Dec. 2012 – Pushed by the pending fiscal cliff and the expiration of 20 years of piecemeal tax subsidies, the U.S. wind industry is proposing a phase out of the production tax credit that has helped wind power to boom in the past few years. The proposal by […]

While announcing that staff would meet with Southern California Edison (SCE) representatives on Dec. 18 to discuss the utility’s proposal to restart the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station’s (SONGS’) Unit 2, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) warned that the meeting was "only one step in a long process," and that "a final decision on whether […]

A new report commissioned by the Department of Energy (DOE) surveying offshore wind potential in the U.S. finds that establishing an offshore wind sector could drive more than $70 billion in annual investments by 2030. Citing that report, the DOE on Wednesday announced awards for seven offshore wind demonstration projects in Maine, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, and Virginia as part of efforts to launch a U.S. offshore wind industry and support offshore installations in state and federal waters for commercial deployment by 2017.

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Friday announced a $29 million investment in four solar projects aimed at improving grid connection and reducing installation costs through plug-and-play technologies and reliable solar power forecasts. The awards are part of the agency’s SunShot Initiative, which is working to make solar energy competitive with other forms of energy without subsidy by the end of the decade.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Friday announced it was proposing to amend rules that govern low-level radioactive (LLR) waste disposal facilities. The proposal, published in the Federal Register, requires new and revised site-specific analyses and would permit the development of criteria for waste acceptance based on the results of those analyses.

Maybe it’s time to start talking about the “POWER bump.” Over two years ago, POWER magazine published a story about a new concept for generating power from waste heat. Today, Sarnia, Ontario’s AVEtec Energy Corp. announced that Silicon Valley entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel will fund a prototype Atmospheric Vortex Engine (AVE) invented by the company’s president, Louis Michaud. The technology holds promise for low-cost thermal plant efficiency gains by generating power from waste heat.

After a four-year analysis, UK nuclear regulators on Thursday approved the generic nuclear design of the UK EPR proposed by France’s EDF and AREVA, confirming that it meets regulatory expectations on safety, security, and environmental impact. The decision paves the way for EDF to begin construction on two EPRs at Hinkley Point in Somerset.

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), an industry trade group that has forcefully been lobbying for an extension of the production tax credit (PTC) that is set to expire on Dec. 31, on Wednesday asked congressional lawmakers to instead consider a future phase-out of its primary federal incentive. The group said that even if temporary, an extension of the performance-based market mechanism was critical "to allow the industry to invest in the cost-saving technologies required to finish the job."

Texas could again see tight power supplies in the summer of 2013 and beyond—with reserve margins dropping to 2.8% by 2022—even though the outlook has improved, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) warned in its latest long-term outlook released on Monday.

Fuel for power generation will account for about 55% of demand-related energy growth through 2040, ExxonMobil forecasts in its freshly released annual energy forecast. Like several other forecasters, the Irving, Texas–based oil and gas company also predicts that natural gas will emerge as the leading source of electricity generation by 2040. Among key findings in […]

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced on Oct. 30 that a multi-partner team led by Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois has been selected for an award of up to $120 million over five years to establish a new Batteries and Energy Storage Hub.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) on Monday made public a proposal that calls for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use its authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to set greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for existing power plants. The NRDC approach would have the EPA create “systemwide standards” rather than ones based on individual generating units.

Allowing unlimited U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) would increase marginal costs of supply and raise domestic natural gas prices, but it would have "net economic benefits" across a range of scenarios ranging from relatively normal conditions to stress cases with high costs of producing natural gas in the U.S. and exceptionally large demand for U.S. LNG exports around the world, a report prepared for the Department of Energy and released on Wednesday suggests.

A day after French utility EDF released a cost update for its Flamanville EPR reactor under construction in Normandy, France, claiming increases of a stunning $2.6 billion—bringing overall estimated costs for the advanced reactor to $10.5 billion—Italian power giant Enel formally withdrew its participation from that project and five other French EPR projects.

NRG Energy has given up a $1.2 billion plan to add a 744-MW pulverized coal unit to its Limestone Electric Generating Station near Jewett, Texas, saying low natural gas prices had rendered the project uneconomic.