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.

Regulatory uncertainty concerning the disposal of coal ash has stalled coal ash recycling in the U.S. and kept levels below those reported in 2008 for a third consecutive year, suggests a new report from the American Coal Ash Association (ACAA).

Compared to projections from last year, an Early Release Overview of the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) Annual Energy Outlook 2013 (AEO2013) released on Wednesday foresees higher gas production and, with it, a higher share of gas generation by 2040. The outlook also projects a growing share of renewable and nuclear power, but dampened future coal use.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) on Friday announced that the nation’s first competitive lease sales on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) for wind energy will be held next year. The lease sales cover 277,550 acres in two wind energy areas (WEAs) over federal waters along the Atlantic Coast that have a high wind resource potential.

Though subsidies and incentives for wind and other renewables have grabbed the headlines, federal and state initiatives are quietly building some momentum behind combined heat and power.

Following up on its series of conferences on gas-electric coordination this past summer, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission appears ready to find some real solutions in 2013.

Despite controversies over macro energy policies, it looks to be a sure bet that the need for job creation will foster continued state and federal support for shale gas development.

Long the redheaded stepchild of North American power generation, combined heat and power (CHP) may finally be poised for a big leap forward.

Already in the midst of a drive to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, the University of British Columbia didn’t just look to clean energy for its new combined heat and power system. Instead, it decided to combine research with cutting-edge green power.

An emerging flow battery technology got a major boost earlier this year when Gills Onions, one of the largest fresh-cut onion processing plants in the world—began operating a 3.6-MWh vanadium redox battery (VRB) energy storage system (ESS).

China’s 12th Five-Year Plan calls for expanding the use of renewable energy in all forms throughout the country. From solar and wind to biomass gas and briquettes, China has a true “all of the above” renewable energy policy.

In October, Canadian biogas power producer Anaergia opened a 2.8-MW fuel cell system powered by cleaned and conditioned wastewater biosolids at a municipal water treatment facility in Ontario, Calif.

The de facto U.S. energy policy is to burn more gas, much of it produced using “fracking” technology. Huge volumes of low-priced natural gas have caused coal plant shutdowns, slowed renewable development, and undercut new nuclear plant development. Using more gas has also sent the nation’s carbon dioxide emissions into a downward spiral. Is the glut of natural gas too good to be true?

Offshore wind turbine technology experienced a brief gust in October as Siemens Energy began field testing of its new 154-meter (m) rotor for the 6-MW offshore wind turbine, and Norwegian technology company Sway Turbine unveiled a 10-MW offshore turbine.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency efforts to regulate mercury emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants have spanned nearly two decades. In February of this year the agency promulgated the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, but changes to the standards continue.

When the Boulder Canyon Hydroelectric Facility was built in the steep, forested mountains between Boulder and Nederland, Colo., in 1910, it was the highest head hydroelectric facility in the western U.S.

Retrofit projects are often very time-consuming, both for the engineers who must take numerous field measurements to produce drawings and for the contractor that must fabricate each assembly on site. A more cost-effective approach is to begin with a highly accurate set of as-built 3D models produced by laser scanning technology.

The U.S. Navy in late October saw the completion of its largest solar generation system, a 13.78-MW (DC) solar photovoltaic (PV) power system at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake (NAWS China Lake) in California.

Coal used for power generation has been the cornerstone of economic development, social progress, and a higher quality of life around the globe and is now fueling the 21st-century economic miracle rapidly unfolding in China. Meanwhile, China is leading the world in coal-fired plant efficiency and the deployment of clean coal technologies.

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 eighth, ninth, and 10th chapters, “Flightless Birds and Flying Elephants,” “The Devil Flies Nukes,” and “Flatulence in Space,” the concluding chapters of the “Up in the Air: Flights of Radioactive Fancy” section.

Georgia Power Completes 2,500-MW Coal-to-Gas Conversion. Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power on Oct. 28 put online the third and final 840-MW natural gas combined cycle unit at Plant McDonough-Atkinson in Smyrna, Ga. The first gas plant went online in December 2011 and the second on April 26. Bringing the plant’s capacity to 2,500 MW, the […]

Fauske & Associates LLC (FAI) recently patented a specialized pipe clamp to seat vibration-sensing equipment. A beam attached to the clamp protrudes through the pipe insulation. The beam is partially hollow and vented to promote cooling so that accelerometers can be installed on the tip of the beam outside the high-temperature and/or radiation area for […]

The 12th ICS Cyber Security Conference was held at Old Dominion University’s Virginia Modeling Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) October 22–25, 2012. There were approximately 150 attendees from multiple industries, universities, government, and vendors as well as consultants from the U.S., South America, Europe, and Asia.