Just weeks ago, President Obama signaled he would veto the TRAIN Act—a bill that could indefinitely delay implementation of the Cross-State Air Pollution and the utility MACT rules. This week, the White House said that it “strongly opposed” two bills that would delay the compliance period for reducing pollution from industrial boilers, solid waste incinerators, and cement plants.

California’s Supreme Court last week gave the state’s Air Resources Board (ARB) the green light to proceed with a statewide cap-and-trade program that seeks to cut California’s greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Friday extended a construction permit for the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) unfinished Unit 1 reactor at the Bellefonte site near Scottsboro, Ala. The agency last week also listed actions Dominion must take before restarting operation of the quake-hit twin-reactor North Anna nuclear power plant near Louisa, Va.

Stirling Energy Systems, the Scottsdale, Ariz., maker of a reflective dish that concentrates sunlight onto a Stirling engine, has reportedly filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy—making it the fourth solar company to fall this year amid the plummeting price of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels.

Hours before the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) controversial advanced energy loan guarantee program (funded under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) expired on Friday, the agency finalized seven loan guarantees totaling more than $5.9 billion. Projects include solar power facilities in California, Nevada, and Arizona, and a bioenergy project in Kansas.

Sixty projects in 25 states were awarded a total of $156 million on Thursday under the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) agency. They focus on accelerating innovations in clean technology while increasing America’s competitiveness in rare earth alternatives and breakthroughs in biofuels, thermal storage, grid controls, and solar power electronics.

Ameren Energy Resources (AER) Co. on Tuesday announced it would shutter its coal- and oil-fired Meredosia and Hutsonville energy centers in Illinois by 2011, citing concerns about rising costs related to the compliance of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR).

The German government in July finalized a package of bills that will phase out nuclear’s 23% contribution to the country’s power supply by 2022 and increase renewable generation from the current 17% to 35%. In August, the Federal Network Agency ( Bundesnetzagentur) said it wouldn’t rely on power from seven of the nation’s oldest reactors […]

Situated in predominantly rural central Illinois, the 1,000-MW Coffeen Energy Center has installed a number of controls in recent years and achieved significant environmental performance. For example, in 2010 a new scrubber facility was added that reduces SO₂ from combustion gases coming from the plant’s two coal-fired boilers. The plant personnel’s continuing commitment to protecting the environment helps to promote a strong relationship between the plant and the local community.

The new NLB 605 series of water jet pump units from NLB Corp. gives users a powerful combination of ultra-high pressure and high horsepower in a rugged unit they can convert to a variety of operating pressures. The range of the NLB 605 Series has been expanded to include eight operating pressures from 4,000 psi […]

In China this August, as Ling Ao Unit 4—the second unit of the Ling Ao Phase II nuclear plant—started commercial operation, Westinghouse and its consortium partners marked the milestone of receiving the reactor vessel for the Sanmen nuclear power plant—the world’s first AP1000—in China’s Zhejiang province. The start-up of Ling Ao Unit 4 in Guangdong […]

CPS Energy, the largest municipally owned utility in the U.S. providing both natural gas and electric service, implemented an energy plan in 2003 that required energy conservation measures, use of available renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, and additional coal-fired generation. The $1 billion 750-MW Spruce 2 fits into that plan by being one of the cleanest coal-fired plants in the country.

The BelGAS division of Marsh Bellofram Corp. introduced Type P627, a high-performance, spring-loaded, direct-operating high-flow gas regulator that is designed to control both low- and high-output pressure in oil and gas applications. Designed for maximum durability, Marsh Bellofram BelGAS Type P627 regulators are compact and offered in multi-position body and spring case configurations. Units offer […]

Several states have already instituted mercury emission limits in expectation of tightening mercury emission rules that will require reductions of up to 91%. Coal-fired plants searching for an economical way to meet the new limits may need to look no further than replacing their baghouse filter elements.

As utilities in California are scrambling to meet the state’s 33% renewable mandate by 2020, a 49.6-MW peaking plant in Modesto, Calif., built by Finnish firm Wärtsilä for the Modesto Irrigation District, has been commissioned to provide flexible, fast-start peaking generation to balance the state’s increase in intermittent renewable generation (Figure 4). 4. Flexible peaking. […]

Utilities of Springfield elected to add a 300-MW coal-fired plant to its fleet to meet rising demand for electricity. It was the first coal plant constructed by the utility since 1976. An extremely competitive construction market required the utility to adopt new contracting practices to meet a tight project schedule, an approach that proved very successful. The $555 million plant commissioned in January 2011 is expected to cover system growth at least through 2024.

BeamCap’s signature product, the BeamCap, prevents dust accumulation on I-beams, structural steel members, pipes, cable trays, and other difficult-to-clean areas. BeamCap pieces completely enclose the structures, eliminating horizontal surfaces where dust consistently builds up. This eliminates the need for cleaning in hard-to-reach places and greatly reduces the potential for fires and secondary explosions. The aluminum […]

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules are being processed at a furious pace in 2011. Unexpectedly, the new greenhouse gas and ozone rules were stayed by President Obama. However, it’s the Utility MACT Rule and the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that leave utilities on unsteady ground. The result has been a number of plant closure announcements that far exceed the magnitude of the coal-fired generation losses predicted by the EPA. The predicted losses vary greatly.

Kuwait put online the first 1,400 MW of its massive 2,000-MW combined cycle gas turbine Sabiya facility in June to mitigate looming power shortages it faces each summer. The plant—Kuwait’s largest power plant and one of the largest in the Gulf region—is now operating six GE 9FA gas turbines; the remaining 600 MW are expected […]

Aqua-Vu, a provider of portable underwater viewing systems, introduced the Claw 360, a device designed for the detection and removal of objects in an underwater environment. The Claw 360 incorporates a Sharp 520 color camera that can rotate 360 degrees to scan the environment. Lighting is provided by high-intensity LEDs that rotate with the camera. […]

Dallas-based Luminant, Texas’ largest power generator, on September 9 filed a legal challenge against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) but said the newly finalized rule that will require generators to dramatically reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from power plants had forced it to idle two coal-fired units and reduce capacity at three other units. This decision follows a similar decision made by American Electric Power to shutter 6GW of coal-fired plants in June.

A new analysis of 85 hydroelectric reservoirs distributed around the world suggests that these systems emit about 48 million metric tons of carbon annually. That figure is much lower than earlier estimates of 64 million metric tons that were based on studies relying on more limited data and which cautioned that reservoirs of all types […]

In April 2008, AES Philippines purchased the Masinloc coal-fired power plant in Zambales Province in the Luzon region. Originally constructed in 1998 as a two-unit, 600-MW plant, the facility uses coal from a variety of sources in the Pacific Rim. After AES finished overhauling much of its equipment, the expanded 660-MW (gross) plant’s availability increased from 48% to 74%, which enabled net electricity production to jump by 129% by 2010.

Advance Products & Systems’ new Kleerband Flange Protectors and Radolid Protection caps protect bolts, nuts, and flange faces on raised-face or full-face flanges in conditions where extreme corrosion occurs, such as at gas plants, pump stations, and above- and below- ground installations. Kleerband is a patented transparent polymer band with grease injection fittings and a […]

Few reasonable people can dispute that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is conducting a war against coal. If you doubt that conclusion, just look at the large number of new regulations affecting coal-fired power plants that have been proposed in rapid-fire succession by the EPA.

Siemens Gets $1 Billion Order to Build Gas Power Plants in Thailand. Siemens on Aug. 17 said it received two orders worth $1 billion from Thailand for the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of combined cycle power plants. The firm will build Chana Block 2 in the province of Songkhla and Wang Noi Block 4 […]

The new 665-MW Plum Point Energy Station is energizing the Arkansas Delta, an area that is ready to supplement its farming heritage by promoting new jobs that offer residents a higher standard of living. But first, the plant’s construction team had to overcome a number of significant challenges related to building a facility in the New Madrid fault zone.

America’s energy and environmental policies have been dysfunctional for decades. Obsessively moving toward “green” has made America weaker and has damaged our economy. During POWER’ s first 100 years (1882–1982), the magazine chronicled the U.S. growing into the strongest industrialized economy in the world. America designed and built products for the world using raw materials and energy from within our own borders. Now we are in a recession and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “War on Coal” continues. Does anyone get the connection? Ever-worsening regulations are killing jobs by the thousands.

Experts say the cascading blackout  that put millions of Westerners in the dark in early September was no surprise: Major power outages have more than doubled in the last decade

The plummeting cost of photovoltaic (PV) panels—resulting from lower costs for high-grade silicon and advancements in thin-film technology, solar storage, and electronic control technologies—has a slew of firms rethinking concentrating solar power (CSP) projects. Although there is a CSP project pipeline (including both CSP and concentrating PV) of more than 9 GW in the U.S., […]