POWER

The National Security Agency is launching a program to protect the grid from cyber attack, along with other civilian and military critical infrastructure, while a new Department of Energy report highlights grid vulnerabilities.

Cap and trade officially died on July 22 when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced at a news conference that the Democratic Caucus was unable to reach a consensus on any form of energy bill, even a recent short-lived version that proposed reducing carbon emissions from only the utility sector. I predict that carbon cap and trade is now dead for at least a decade, maybe longer.

Now that the 412-MW Timelkam Power Plant has replaced a 47-year-old coal-fired power plant located in the Vöcklabruck District, northern Austrians can bid auf wiedersehen (goodbye) to high levels of air pollution. Compared to its predecessor, the new gas-fired combined-cycle plant has dramatically cut CO₂ and NO_x emissions and produces seven times more energy.

Courtesy: Platts Data source: POWERmap All rights reserved. No reproduction allowed.

The nuclear renaissance has been in play for several years yet not a shovel of dirt has been turned. Why should anyone believe that Nuclear 2.0 will be an improvement?

What’s in a name? Would coal ash labeled as “special” hazardous waste be as easily recycled as that labeled nonhazardous waste?

The 3,600-MW West County Energy Center, with two recently commissioned power blocks and a third just entering start-up, is the first “greenfield” combined-cycle plant constructed by FPL since the 1970s. Thanks to FPL’s long history with repowering projects, the project team commissioned Unit 2 seven months early, with no operator errors during start-up. At just over $600/kW, the cost of the plant was a bargain.

Feed-in-tariffs (FITs)—above-retail rates paid for renewable power that producers "feed" into the grid—are gaining momentum all over the world as a means of driving project growth. Here are some of those established and proposed FITs.

As state regulators examine whether the smart grid benefits consumers, a federal agency is looking at what information consumers need to take advantage of the technology.

The enforcement mechanisms of the environmental statutes in the 1960s were both cumbersome and ineffective.

Renewable electricity generation has many environmental advantages, but adding large amounts of far-flung renewable resources to a grid requires increased operating flexibility from dispatchable generators when the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine. One promising option: A combined-cycle plant based on Alstom’s GT24/GT26 combustion turbine can be “parked” at approximately 20% plant load while producing emissions comparable to those during baseload operation—with little loss in thermal efficiency. When demand returns, the combined cycle can return to baseload within minutes.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) last week released a report that deemed the mixed oxide (MOX) fuel facility at the Savannah River site near Aiken, S.C., safe. The 568-page document essentially allows licensing to proceed for the plant to make nuclear reactor fuel from plutonium waste.

Federal public utility Tennessee Valley Authority on Tuesday said it would idle nine coal-fired power units totaling nearly 1 GW at three power plants starting in 2011. Utility officials said the plans were part of a strategy to replace older and less-efficient coal-fired units with “low-carbon” and “carbon-free” generation.

A bill signed on Thursday by New Jersey’s Governor Chris Christie seeks to meet targets established in the state’s Energy Master Plan for the development of 3,000 MW of offshore wind by 2020.

Florida Power & Light this weekend demolished the most visible structures at its 42-acre Cape Canaveral Power Plant. A video shows the implosion of the 45-year-old plant’s red-and-white stacks. The company said it is preparing to build the Cape Canaveral Next Generation Clean Energy Center—a natural gas plant—which will open in 2013.

Oregon and Washington failed to pass bills before the end of their legislative sessions that would implement the Western Climate Initiative (WCI). That leaves only two U.S. states and three Canadian provinces to participate in the regional greenhouse gas (GHG) cap-and-trade program when it begins in 2012.

Turkey will reportedly start privatizing power generation plants by the end of this month or in early September. Some of the first few plants up for sale include the Hamitabat power station, a 1,120-MW thermal plant that produces 7% of the country’s total electricity output.

The Department of Energy, the state of Illinois, and parties affiliated with FutureGen 2.0 on Thursday outlined plans for the revamped Illinois carbon capture and storage project.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., Aug. 23, 2010 — It’s time to stop fretting about climate change and start worrying about space weather. In an opinion article in the Aug. 15, 2010 New York Times, journalist Lawrence E. Joseph raises the issue of the havoc a major solar storm could have on modern electric power […]

A rule proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday would certify that 13 states lack the authority to apply Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permits to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under their State Implementation Plans. A second rulemaking action, also issued last week, proposes a federal implementation plan (FIP) under which the EPA would assume the authority to issue PSD permits for GHG emissions in states that lack the authority to do so.

An interagency task force on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) established by President Obama this February delivered a series of recommendations  on overcoming barriers to the widespread, cost-effective deployment of CCS within 10 years.

FirstEnergy Corp. last week said it would cut back operations or idle 1,620-MW of coal-fired capacity in Ohio for up to a year to reduce operating costs, while Xcel Energy announced plans to shut down nearly 900-MW of coal-fired capacity to generate a savings of nearly $225 million. Reasons for the cutbacks included the continued slow economy, lower demand in electricity, and uncertainty related to proposed new federal environmental regulations.

The Shaw Group on Monday announced it has signed an initial contract for two new AP1000 units at the Xianning nuclear power plant project in Hubei province with a subsidiary of China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corp. (SNPTC).

French company GDF Suez formally announced last week it will merge its international business with UK company International Power. The new firm, New International Power, is expected to have over 66 GW in gross operation capacity and 22 GW in the pipeline.

Houston-based Dynegy is to be acquired by an affiliate of private equity firm Blackstone Group in a $542 million deal that includes billions in debt assumption. Under a separate agreement between Blackstone and NRG Energy, NRG Energy could acquire four natural gas-fired assets owned by Dynegy for about $1.36 billion.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on Thursday cited three construction companies and 14 site contractors for 371 alleged workplace safety violations, and issued a total of $16.6 million in penalties. The fines follow an investigation into the causes of February’s deadly natural gas explosion at the Kleen Energy power plant construction site in Middletown, Conn. The explosion killed six workers and injured 50 others.

An Indiana state agency representing utility ratepayer interests in cases before regulatory commissions said it has “serious concerns” regarding cost overruns at Duke Energy’s 618-MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) facility at Edwardsport.

Xcel Energy claims that preliminary tests of a 1-MW battery-storage technology system shows the technology works. The company announced on August 3 that its wind-to-battery project showed it was possible to reduce the need to compensate for the variability of wind generation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency filed suit against Michigan’s largest energy company, DTE Energy, for alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act at that company’s  coal-fired Monroe Power Plant in Michigan.

California-based BrightSource Energy in the past week received two key approvals for its 392-MW Ivanpah concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in the Mojave Desert. The California Energy Commission’s (CEC’s) siting committee issued a proposed decision recommending approval, and on Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the project.