POWER

The Energy Department on Tuesday said it had signed a final cooperative agreement with the FutureGen Industrial Alliance and Ameren Energy Resources, formally committing $1 billion in Recovery Act funding to build the revamped FutureGen project.

Whether you are a customer (and we all are), a utility executive, a power plant manager, or a grid operator, the smart grid has the potential to provide benefits beyond electricity. That was one theme of the presentations on Tuesday, the first day of the GridWise Global Forum (GGF) in Washington, D.C.

South Africa’s government on Thursday announced it would no longer invest in the Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) project, despite providing nearly 80% of the R9.2 billion ($1.3 billion) that has been poured into development of the Generation-IV helium-cooled high temperature reactor design. The decision was reached with the “fiscal constraints in these hard economic times” in mind, the government said.

The week brought important news from Washington on energy- and climate change–related legislation. Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Tom Udall (D-N.M.) introduced a bill to create a federal renewable electricity standard, the White House said it had received permitting guidance on greenhouse gases from the Environmental Protection Agency, and Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) reportedly canceled a key vote on a bill that sought to curb power plant emissions.

A new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Energy Initiative (MITEI) concludes that uranium supplies will not limit growth of the nuclear industry, contrary to a view that has prevailed for decades.

Costs passed onto consumers associated with the construction of Duke Energy Indiana’s Edwardsport coal gasification plant near Vincennes, Ind., will be capped at $2.975 billion, according to a settlement agreement reached last week between the utility, the Indiana Office of the Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC), and Nucor Steel Indiana.

The California Energy Commission (CEC) last week unanimously approved construction and operation of Solar Millennium’s 1,000-MW Blythe Solar Power Project. If built, the project, consisting of four parabolic trough units, could be the world’s largest concentrating solar power (CSP) facility and among the first commercial solar thermal plants permitted on federal land.

Xcel Energy shut down its 538-MW Black Dog Power Plant in Burnsville, Minn., on Tuesday after an explosion rocked the coal- and gas–fired plant, causing visible damage to the exterior of the building. No personnel were harmed, but three firefighters responding to a smoldering fire in a coal hopper received minor injuries, police said.

By Kennedy Maize Let us hope that the false hope of fast breeder reactors fueled with plutonium reprocessed from spent light water reactor fuel is finally properly interred. A new report from the same MIT crew that examined the future of nuclear power in 2003 buries the pipe dream of breeder reactors, or, at least, […]

Disputes concerning dominance of the world’s renewable energy sector heated up in the past week: The U.S.-based United Steelworkers (USW) filed a trade case alleging that “illegal” Chinese policies and practices threatened America’s industries, while Japan complained to the World Trade Organization (WTO) that Ontario’s feed-in-tariff (FIT) program violated rules and is protectionist.

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) last week said it would delay plans to obtain air permits necessary to begin construction of its proposed coal-fired Cypress Creek Power Station in southeastern Virginia, citing a slump in demand growth caused by the slackened economy.

As lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill this week, a bipartisan group of 26 governors on Monday urged Congress to pass a federal renewable energy standard (RES), saying that it could spur rapid growth of the nation’s renewable electricity sources.

Indiana and 11 other states filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court last week, asking it to overturn a September 2009 decision by 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that allows greenhouse gas emitters to be sued for contributing to a public nuisance—climate change and global warming.

The U.S. Department of Energy last week committed millions of dollars to accelerate the technical and commercial readiness of renewable and energy storage technologies. Commitments include the largest single federal award to date for emerging U.S. marine and hydrokinetic technologies.

A report issued by the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) last week to the state’s General Assembly lambastes the proposed $3.5 billion Taylorville Energy Center (TEC) as too costly “with uncertain future benefits.” The commission also questioned the 716-MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) facility’s construction timeline, concluding that uncertainties could “potentially add to already-significant costs.”

Under a deal made this weekend between energy companies and the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, the life of Germany’s 17 nuclear power plants, located in five of the country’s 16 federal states, will be extended by up to 15 years. The decision has spurred opposition from the country’s local utilities and renewable industry.

The California Legislature failed last week to pass S.B. 722, a bill that would have required all utilities to obtain at least 33% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The bill passed the Assembly, but the State Senate ran out of time before the legislative session ended on Aug. 31.

Electricity generation around the world was 20,181 TWh in 2008 and has soared nearly 230% since 1973, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) newly released Key World Energy Statistics. The 2010 edition of the booklet that addresses global energy facts and figures also shows that although the world’s coal/peat shares for power generation increased just 3% during that timeframe, nuclear and gas generation jumped about 10%, while oil generation plunged almost 20%.

Germany’s largest electricity producer, RWE Power, last week said efforts to test a new technology for separating carbon dioxide from flue gas in a pilot plant at its Niederaussem power station had resulted in a “breakthrough.” The technology, which captures carbon dioxide by means of unnamed chemical solvents, could reduce energy input by 20%, RWE and project partners BASF and the Linde Group claim.

The DOE on Tuesday announced it would grant $575 million in Recovery Act funds to 22 projects in 15 states to accelerate carbon capture and storage (CCS) research and development. The projects are expected to complement industrial demonstration projects already being funded by the Recovery Act, but most have power plant applications.

Nevada Geothermal’s 49.5-MW Blue Mountain “Faulkner 1” geothermal project in northwestern Nevada has been awarded a $98.5 million partial loan guarantee by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., Sept. 7, 2010 — The time has come for all of us to abandon the sterile, and now futile, brawl over massive federal legislation to deal with the alleged problem of global warming. For the advocates of measures such as carbon taxes, cap-and-trade (a second-best tax), or Environmental Protection Agency […]

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., Sept. 3, 2010 – Look for significant changes in the way Congress addresses energy policy and legislation when the 112th Congress convenes in January 2011. By most expert accounts, Democrats are going to suffer major losses at the polls in November, with many pundits predicting a Republican takeover of the […]

Dealing with whistleblowers can be human relations quicksand, where unseen errors that could cost a company millions lay in the path to resolution of employee complaints. Recent legislation makes dealing with whistleblowers an even bigger challenge.

The State Grid Corp. of China (SGCC) in July put into operation the world’s first ultra-high-voltage direct current (UHVDC) superhighway when it commissioned the Xiangjiaba-Shanghai link. The ±800 kV project, completed in 30 months—a year ahead of schedule—has the capacity to transmit up to 7,200 MW from the Xiangjiaba hydropower plant in southwest China to Shanghai, the country’s leading industrial and commercial center, about 2,000 kilometers (km) away.

Summer peaks are still with us, and every unit on your system must be prepared to operate at a moment’s notice. Spot power prices are so high that you expect phone calls asking for a few more megawatts from your units. Then your plant chemistry lab calls to report a condenser tube leak. Your options are few: Shut down immediately and get charged with a forced outage, ignore the leak and keeping running until fall, or schedule a maintenance outage next weekend and hope the leak can be found and fixed. In Part I, we examine what you need to know in order to make an informed decision. In Part II, we’ll explore the actual damage mechanisms.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday upheld the Energy Facilities Siting Board’s authority to overrule community opposition and allow permits for the controversial Cape Wind offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound. The case is being viewed as the last major legal hurdle facing the 130-turbine project.

Imagine, a tablet computer than can surf the web, run word processing, take and send pictures, and run on sunlight. That’s what the government of India says it can produce…for $35 each. Imagine all the things your organization could do with computers that are essentially commodities.

At the end of June, Xcel Energy fired up a demonstration project that integrates a 4-MW parabolic trough solar technology with an existing 44-MW coal-fired power plant.

Most countries are trying to increase the percentage of their electricity supply that comes from renewable sources. But because capital costs for renewable generation still, in most cases, are higher per kilowatt-hour than for fossil-fueled power, governments are looking at all options for encouraging the development of greater renewable capacity. Feed-in tariffs (FITs) are one policy tool that has been used, most notably in Europe. Now North America is testing FITs as well.