POWER

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.

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.

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. […]

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.

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.

Neptune Mixer Co., a division of Neptune Chemical Pump Co., announced that its Series HGL mixers are now available in both electric and air-driven models. The Series HGL mixers are ideal for intermediate bulk container (IBC) and poly tote applications found within the wastewater treatment and chemical industries. Explosion-proof models are also available. Neptune’s HGL […]

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.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D,C., November 23, 2010 — Republican blood is flowing in the halls of Congress as the GOP works to establish leadership and jurisdiction of its new House majority. The territory at stake involves energy and environment. In the House, where the gore is great, a gun fight is underway over who […]

Exelon plans to invest nearly $5 billion in what it called “cost-effective, clean energy projects” starting this year. The investment will pay for energy efficiency and smart grid programs and renewable energy projects, though a majority of funds—up to $3 billion—will be spent on increasing output at the company’s nuclear plants.

The Department of Interior on Monday gave its approval to Solar Millennium’s 500-MW Amargosa Farm Road Solar Project, the second large-scale solar power project on U.S. public lands in Nevada.

Policymakers must focus more on developing new energy storage technologies as they consider a national renewable electricity standard, recommends the American Physical Society’s (APS) Panel on Public Affairs (POPA) in a new report that examines scientific and business perspectives on how to best integrate renewables into the U.S. grid.

The demolition of a 275-foot smokestack at Springfield’s former Mad River Power Plant went awry last week as the tower collapsed in the wrong direction. Instead of landing in an empty clearing in the east, the tower fell southeast, knocking out 12,500-volt power lines and smashing a building that held backup generators.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week issued a long-awaited document that provides policy guidance to state agencies on how to start issuing permits to power plants and other stationary sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) when the rules take effect on Jan. 2. The document also provides technical information on how to implement the “Best Available Control Technology” (BACT) requirement for GHG sources applying to Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permits under the Clean Air Act—though it stops short of prescribing BACTs.

FirstEnergy Corp. today announced it would permanently shut down units 4 and 5 at its R.E. Burger Plant in Shadyside, Ohio, by Dec. 31, abandoning plans to repower the coal units with biomass. The Akron-based company cited a significant plunge in market prices of electricity, saying that they “no longer support a repowered Burger Plant.”

The UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on Thursday approved a 900-MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station in Spalding, Lincolnshire, in an effort to boost the nation’s energy security. The consent was given on the condition that the plant reserves enough space to allow for a future retrofit of carbon capture technology.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., Nov. 11, 2010 — Pardon my cynicism, but I don’t for a minute believe that the Republican electoral sweep earlier this month will result in significant cuts in federal spending anytime soon. Am I charging that Republican electoral doctrine is a tissue of hypocrisy? Yes, I am, and we will […]

Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) is to buy Southern California Edison’s (SCE’s) 48% stake in Units 4 and 5 of the coal-fired Four Corners Power Plant near Farmington, N.M, if state and federal regulators agree. Arizona’s largest utility said on Monday that if the deal goes through, it would also shut down the plant’s “older, less efficient” Units 1, 2, and 3, and install more emission controls on the remaining units at the 2,040-MW five-unit power plant.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), a body that controls the Outer Continental Shelf, on Monday invited bids to put up wind turbines off Maryland’s coast.

Days after Entergy Corp. announced it was considering selling its 605-MW Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt., the New Orleans–based company on Sunday temporarily shut down the plant after discovering a leak of radioactive water.

This week brought some important news about carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology from around the world. Canada’s province of Alberta is considering a bill that would allow it to accept long-term liability for injected carbon dioxide; a key project to capture the greenhouse gas in Barendrecht, the Netherlands was shelved mostly due to public opposition; and a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) field test shows it is possible to store carbon dioxide in unmineable lignite seams.

Alberta Proposes to Take Up CCS Liability | Key CCS Project Shelved in The Netherlands | Field Tests Suggest Carbon Storage Possible in Lignite Seams

The results of the 2010 midterm elections bode well for the struggling U.S. wind sector, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). The industry group’s president, Denise Bode, made the statement during a live webcast on Friday.

DTE Energy on Monday said it would buy a significant interest in the 49.5-MW Mt. Poso Cogeneration Co. power plant near Bakersfield, Calif., and convert it entirely to biomass. After the conversion, the plant will operate on wood fuel, primarily derived from urban wood waste, tree trimmings, and agricultural residues.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., Nov. 5, 2010 – It could be a sign of the times, or merely a temporal coincidence. Liza Heinzerling this week announced she is leaving the Environmental Protection Agency, where she has been a hard-charging policy chief, to return to teaching at the Georgetown University law school. The departure came […]

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., Nov. 4, 2010 — Here’s another major blow to the increasingly problematic nuclear renaissance: France’s “European Pressurized Water” (EPR) reactor design is “in crisis,” according to a new analysis by a British economist  and nuclear energy policy analyst. The problems with the “Generation III+” reactor are so serious that they […]

On Tuesday, while voters rejected many politicians who supported cap-and-trade legislation, the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board (EIB) adopted what it said are the most comprehensive greenhouse gas regulations in the U.S.

Days after California’s Air Resources Board (ARB) released its proposed greenhouse gas cap-and-trade regulation, voters on Tuesday rejected a controversial proposition to suspend the state’s landmark greenhouse gas reduction law.

A set of common standards proposed by European Union (EU) Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger today could force utilities in the 27-nation bloc to abide by binding rules for the long-term storage of nuclear waste. The proposal chiefly calls for construction of long-term deep geologic storage repositories.

A U.S. district court judge last week ordered Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO) to cease work on a small tract of land designated as jurisdictional wetlands where the utility is building the $1.7 billion John W. Turk., Jr. power plant—the nation’s first ultrasupercritical pulverized coal power plant.