Progress Energy Florida provided an update to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC) on Monday regarding the status of its Crystal River Nuclear Plant. Based on an initial review, the company believes that repairing the unit is the best option, and it is taking steps to complete more detailed engineering and construction analyses. The company estimates that the unit will return to service in 2014.

U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday unanimously decided that the Clean Air Act (CAA) and other efforts by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gas (GHGs)  “displace” any federal common-law right to “seek abatement of carbon dioxide emissions” from fossil fuel–fired power plants—including claims that GHG emissions constitute a “public nuisance.”

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says in a new report that while all U.S. nuclear plant sites have had some groundwater contamination from radioactive leaks,  there was no discernable impact on the public’s health from radioactive leaks at three nuclear plants it investigated. It concludes, however, that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) could better identify and characterize the leaks if it required transparent monitoring data from licensees.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it would hear an appeal from PPL Montana of a March 2010 Montana Supreme Court decision that would have forced the power company to pay accrued rent and interest worth some $56 million to the state of Montana for the use of riverbeds beneath the company’s hydroelectric plants—some which have been generating power for more than a century.

The EPA on Tuesday extended by 30 days the timeline for public input on the proposed mercury and air toxics standards, though it stressed that the extension would not alter the timeline for issuing the final standards in November 2011. The public comment period for the so-called Toxic Air rule will now end on August 4, 2011.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee today introduced legislation that directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop “achievable standards” for industrial boilers and incinerators and grants more time for the development of and compliance with those rules.

San Antonio’s CPS Energy on Monday announced it would mothball by 2018—15 years earlier than planned—its 871-MW coal-fired J.T. Deely Power Plant—instead of spending an estimated $3 billion on pollution controls to comply with anticipated environmental regulations. The nation’s largest municipal utility expects to replace the plant’s generation through conservation and future renewable sources.

The Department of Energy (DOE) doled out several loan guarantee offers worth a combined $919 million in the past week. Recipients of the conditional commitments include Mesquite Solar 1 for the development of a 150-MW photovoltaic (PV) solar project in Arizona; Calisolar Inc. to help commercialize its silicon solar manufacturing process; 1366 Technologies to develop a multicrystalline wafer-manufacturing project, and Granite Reliable Power for a 99-MW wind project.

The U.S. installed 252 MW of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) solar projects in the first four months of this year—66% more than the first quarter of 2010, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) says in a newly released report. The industry group also says that cumulatively, grid-connected solar electric installations in the U.S. have reached more than 2.85 GW—2.3 GW of which is grid-connected PV.

By Kennedy Maize   Washington, D.C., June 16, 2011 — The Obama administration’s latest genuflection toward the smart grid, announced with considerable fanfare and a dog-and-pony show put on the by White House’s science office this week, was an empty spectacle. It featured a cast of stars: science advisor John Holdren, energy secretary Steve Chu, […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday announced it would take more time to review public comment on draft rules concerning greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and propose the regulations on Sept. 30—instead of July 26 as initially planned. The agency said, however, that it is on track to have final rules ready by May 26, 2012.

A report released on Friday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds that power plant smokestacks of 500 feet or higher disperse pollutants over greater distances—and that stack height is one of several factors that contribute to the interstate transport of air pollution. The congressional investigative arm also finds that several boilers remain uncontrolled for certain pollutants, including several connected to tall stacks.

Italy on Monday overwhelmingly voted to abandon nuclear power after Germany’s cabinet last week backed a controversial policy to shutter that country’s nuclear plants by 2022.

The body of a contract worker trapped when a large boiler structure at the Paul L. Bartow Power Plant on Weedon Island near St. Petersburg, Fla., unexpectedly collapsed was recovered late Monday night, four days after the accident occurred, Progress Energy said.

The Department of Energy in the past week made three more conditional loan guarantee offers: $2 billion to support two concentrating solar power (CSP) projects in California—the Mojave Solar Project in San Bernardino County and the Genesis Solar Project in Riverside County—and a $350 million partial loan guarantee for an Ormat-owned Nevada geothermal project.

Through a combination of actions that encourage the development of untapped geothermal resources and new technologies, geothermal energy could account for around 3.5% of annual global electricity production by 2050 (a considerable increase from current levels of 0.3%) the International Energy Agency (IEA) says in a report released on Tuesday.

American Electric Power (AEP) plans to retire nearly 6 GW of coal-fired capacity and upgrade or refuel another 11 GW as part of an estimated $8 billion plan to comply with a series of regulations proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). About 25 GW of AEP’s 38-GW capacity is coal-fired—making it the biggest […]

An electricity grid policy framework was released at a White House event on Monday at which government and industry representatives discussed the compelling benefits of a modernized grid while hinting at the often intransigent obstacles to making progress toward that goal. In conjunction with the event and release of the policy statement, the Obama Administration announced several public and private initiatives, including $250 million in loans for smart grid technology deployment as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utility Service.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., June 12, 2011 – Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla appears to relish the role of contrarian, something the world of “green” and “smart” energy, whatever those terms mean, lacks in abundance. So it was that Khosla recently appeared at the annual Energy Storage Association meeting and made a presentation that led […]

A day after Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) doubled estimates of the total amount of radiation released into the atmosphere after an earthquake and tsunami ravaged Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s (TEPCO’s) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the government nuclear watchdog released a 750-page report in which it admits, for the first time, that nuclear fuel may have possibly melted through reactor pressure vessels and accumulated at the bottom of outer containment vessels.

China has formally revoked grants to Chinese wind turbine manufacturers that agreed to use key parts and components made in China rather than purchasing imports after the U.S. filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO), saying the subsidies were prohibited under international trade rules. The U.S. took action after the United Steelworkers (USW) last September filed a trade case alleging that China used “protectionist and predatory” practices to develop its renewable sector at the expense of production and job creation in the U.S.

American Electric Power (AEP) and Duke Energy on Thursday said they would jointly develop a 55-mile, extra-high-voltage transmission project with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in Indiana and Kentucky.

The U.S. House Energy and Water Appropriations subcommittee on Thursday passed a bill that restores $35 million to the development of the Yucca Mountain permanent nuclear waste repository in Nevada, including $10 million that goes to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to continue its license application.

The latest recipient of a conditional commitment for a $45.6 million federal loan guarantee from the Department of Energy (DOE) is Fotowatio Renewable Venture’s 20-MW alternating current (AC) photovoltaic (PV) solar generating facility.

GenOn has reportedly reached a settlement agreement with environmental groups PennEnvironment and the Sierra Club in a case that alleges the Houston-based company continuously violated its Clean Water Act discharge permit and discharged more than three million gallons of wastewater a day from its 1,700-MW coal-fired Conemaugh Generating Station in Western Pennsylvania into the Conemaugh River.

The Department of Energy has commissioned a testing facility as part of its National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC) to enable research and development of post-combustion carbon dioxide capture technologies for coal-based power plants and to speed up their deployment.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., June 1, 2011 – Maybe no electric utility in the country has a worse reputation for reliability that Pepco, which serves the nation’s capital and much of its Maryland suburbs. The company is under fire from District of Columbia and Maryland utility regulators for a record of storm-related blackouts over […]

The North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) Reliability Standards are under constant revision even while new requirements are under active development. Three important regulatory definitions are currently being contested.

Radial, axial, and circumferential metallic seals installed on rotary, regenerative air preheaters have evolved little from the original metal strip designs that date back to the original Ljungström preheaters developed nearly a century ago. Unfortunately, metallic strip seals degrade soon after installation, allowing excessive air-to-gas leakage, which translates into increased fuel consumption and fan power.

Fourteen years ago, the MHI T-Point demonstration combined-cycle plant in Takasago, Japan, changed the way modern gas turbines are validated under real operating conditions. In February, T-Point marked yet another milestone by starting to validate the world’s largest and highest efficiency gas turbine, which operates at the unprecedented turbine inlet temperature of 1,600C.