POWER

Basin Electric’s directors decided last week that a proposed demonstration project to capture emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) at the Antelope Valley Station (AVS) in Beulah, N.D., will remain on hold until the economic viability of such a venture can be further developed.

The U.S. Department of Energy announced yesterday that it had finalized a $1.45 billion loan guarantee for building Abengoa Solar’s Solana, the world’s largest parabolic trough concentrating solar plant (CSP). The 250-MW project in Arizona will require a total investment of around $2 billion.

Following a 26-month environmental and safety review, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) last week approved a 20-year license extension for the NextEra Energy Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC) near Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Delegates from more than 190 nations concluded the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, on Friday. For the second year in a row, the gathering concluded with a set of nonbinding agreements.

It appears as if owners of industrial boilers, heaters, and solid waste incinerators may get a reprieve from new, more stringent emissions rules, which were  expected to be put into effect in January.

On Dec. 8, Exelon COO Chris Crane announced that the company will operate the Oyster Creek Generating Station in New Jersey until 2019, after which the plant will retire. That makes it an early retirement, as the plant is federally licensed to operate until 2029.

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) expressed disappointment on Monday at the dismissal by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit of the association’s suit against the Department of Energy’s continued assessment of nuclear waste fees. However, it noted that the court did leave a window open for future action.

On Thursday,  Duke Energy Indiana, the Indiana Utility Consumer Counselor, the Duke Energy Indiana Industrial Group, and Nucor Steel jointly notified the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) that they are withdrawing their Sept. 17 settlement on cost increases associated with Duke Energy’s Edwardsport coal gasification power plant near Vincennes, Ind. The parties agreed to enter into new settlement negotiations.

On Saturday, Nissan North America Inc. delivered the first Nissan LEAF all-electric vehicle to a California resident who was the first person in the U.S. to place an order for the car.

The Commissioners of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) voted unanimously on Tuesday to grant the air quality permits necessary for the Tenaska Trailblazer Energy Center under development near Sweetwater, Texas, to begin construction. Trailblazer will be the first new-build carbon-capturing coal plant in Texas to receive an air quality permit—a critical approval that opens the door for future construction of the energy center.

ACME Tele Power Ltd. and First Solar Inc. announced on Dec. 8 that they have signed an agreement covering the supply of First Solar’s advanced, thin film modules to ACME for a 15 MW (DC) solar power plant in the state of Gujarat, India. Delivery is expected to take place by March 2011 to fulfill the Gujarat government’s expectations.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., December 8, 2010 — Rebuffing the Tea Party contingent and right wing gas bags such as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, House Republicans have picked Michigander Fred Upton to chair the all-important House Energy and Commerce Committee in the 112th Congress. Upton, who has represented the southwestern corner of Michigan […]

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear challenges from five major power companies on a federal appeals court decision that ruled they could be sued, under a federal “public nuisance” law, to curb greenhouse gas emissions, which allegedly cause entity-harming climate changes. Industry experts say the case will likely be heard by the high court next April, and a decision could be made as early as June.

More than 52 GW—16%—of the existing U.S. coal-fired generation fleet will be retired rather than face the cost of compliance with pending air quality regulations between 2015 and 2020, engineering and consulting firm Black & Veatch predicted in its end-of-year Energy Market Forecast.

India’s Atomic Energy Commission and its state-owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India Limited (NPCIL) on Monday signed major agreements with France’s AREVA for the construction of two EPR reactors—the first of a series of 6—at Jaitapur in the western state of Maharashtra.

Dominion Virginia Power last week struck a deal with the National Park Service and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to close a 74-MW West Virginia coal-fired plant as part of plans to build a new 1,300-MW natural gas–fired power station in northwestern Virginia.

Ten European Union (EU) countries last week signed a memorandum of understanding  to develop an offshore energy grid linking renewable wind energy sources in the North Sea and put it into operation by 2020. The nations also committed to working together to overcome the regulatory, legal, market, planning, and technical issues involved in creating a North Sea grid.

PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission organization that ensures the reliability of eastern U.S. high-voltage grids, last week approved $1.25 billion in transmission improvements, including a capacity improvement project to rebuild one of the most heavily used transmission lines in PJM.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., December 1, 2010 – At this point, probably only one person in America believes that Lisa Murkowski did not win Alaska’s November election to the U.S. Senate. Unfortunately, that one person is defeated Republican nominee Joe Miller, who refuses to drop what has become an entirely quixotic effort to stave […]

As the United States grapples with how best to address climate change and conservation—whether by taxing carbon, cap and trade, or setting higher renewable portfolio standards—an effective approach exists at the state level to reduce electricity producers’ carbon emissions: restructuring.

Experts have decried congressional and academic reliance on a mathematical model for understanding complex systems that suggests an attack on a small part of the U.S. power grid could disrupt the entire power system network.

Recent mandates require government facilities to develop energy policies that enable energy conservation, increase the use of renewable energy, and improve energy security. Utilities with government facilities in their service territory may have opportunities to develop solar and other renewable energy projects that help them meet state renewable portfolio standards while increasing a government facility’s usage of renewable energy. The key to such a win-win proposition is careful structuring of the project agreement to leverage each party’s assets.

On November 8, 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued its decision in West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, et al. v. Huffman. It’s an opinion that should be of great interest to government agencies and others who find themselves in a position of seeking to remediate water quality problems left by third parties.

Iberdrola Renovables Starts Up National Wind Turbine Control Center. Iberdrola Renovables, a company that owns 41 operating wind farms (3,900 MW in nameplate capacity) in the U.S., on Sept. 26 began operating its National Control Center (NCC), a facility based in Portland, Ore., that has operational control over some 800,000 inputs from 2,500 wind turbines […]

In 2010 investment in wind power continued to accelerate, particularly in California and Texas. California also entered several solar projects in the race for financing. The finish line that renewable power developers and their partners are racing to meet is a December 31 deadline to qualify for federal cash grants.

Republicans picked up more than enough seats during the mid-term elections to assume control of the House, but don’t expect any relief from the administration’s war on coal-fired power plants.

Survey wind turbine manufacturers about how to calculate wind farm availability and you will get countless different definitions and exceptions to the rule.

Electro Static Technology’s AEGIS WTG wind turbine grounding ring seeks to prevent bearing damage that could otherwise cause generator failure by safely channeling harmful shaft currents away from bearings to the ground. Maintenance-free, effective at any wind turbine speed, and available for any-size generator, the ring is designed for OEM installation or easy up-tower retrofit. […]

Boiler auxiliary equipment often receives no respect for the role it plays in maintaining efficient boiler performance. In this second installment of our Power 101 series, we examine the design and performance of the air preheater.

The quality of the cooling water intake and the amount of debris in that water affects the operation and performance of the condenser and therefore the thermal performance of the typical steam plant.