Offers of nuclear loan guarantees are pending, construction permit applications are at an industry high, and the political stars seem to be properly aligned. However, there remains one obstacle in the development path of the next-generation of nuclear plants: How will these plants be financed?

Mexico’s federal government retains almost total control over who builds and owns what electricity infrastructure. But if you know how to work within the strict constraints, it is possible to engage in profitable projects.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., April 28, 2001 — Having spent decades as a Washington reporter, I’ve read more government reports that I can count. Paper is policy currency in D.C. But this week’s interagency report – A Human Health Perspective on Climate Change – is the loopiest I can recall. This report, honchoed by […]

The long-awaited Kerry-Graham-Lieberman bill saw more delays this week as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) abandoned efforts to work with Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) on the legislation, citing frustration with reports that indicated congressional leadership and the administration were prioritizing immigration over climate and energy legislation.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week sent its final so-called “Tailoring Rule” to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The move signals that the rule, which could require power plants and other entities to obtain operating permits to emit greenhouse gases, is close to finalization.

Utah is the latest state to announce that it will not participate in the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) when the regional cap-and-trade program begins in January 2012. Republican governor Gary Herbert’s office told reporters that the state would not entirely quit the initiative, even though the governor disagreed with some principles favored by it.

The Australian government has reportedly shelved controversial plans for a national carbon trading program until at least 2013, citing political and public opposition to the proposal. The world’s biggest coal exporter was proposing to reduce greenhouse gases by 5% to 15% of 2000 levels via a carbon trading system similar to Europe’s within the next decade.

Last week brought news of several more proposed coal-fired plant closures from Canada, Georgia, Colorado, and Washington State.

The Department of Energy on Earth Day last week announced it would invest more than $200 million over five years to accelerate the development and commercialization of solar and water power technologies. Investments include initiatives to spur photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing, to develop the PV supply chain, and to accelerate marine and hydrokinetic technologies.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) today gave its approval to the first U.S. offshore wind farm, a long-disputed and much-delayed project on federal submerged lands in Nantucket Sound. The approval comes with conditions, however, including requiring the developer of the $1 billion wind farm to agree to additional binding measures to minimize the potential adverse impact of construction and operation of the facility.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., April 25, 2010 — The Senate has again failed to kick off debate on energy/climate legislation.  A bipartisan group — Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts (D), Joe Lieberman of Connecticut (I-D), and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina (R) — have been laboring for a year to create a bill that […]

The U.S. Department of Energy announced on April 15 a series of partnerships and other initiatives to address clean energy and energy security in the Western Hemisphere as part of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA). Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced new projects focused on clean energy cooperation, technical assistance and financing, renewable energy, and electricity infrastructure and earthquake preparedness.

OSRAM SYLVANIA is marking the 25th birthday of the modern compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulb. Born on April 17, 1985 in Hannover, Germany, the CFL arrived a full eight inches tall, consuming 20 watts of energy. The stick-shaped CFL was the first screw-in, energy-saving replacement for a standard incandescent light bulb that featured an integrated electronic ballast.

Demand for electricity in the U.S. dropped by 4.2% in 2009—the greatest decline in a single year in at least 60 years, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) found in its annual State of the Markets Report, released last week.

The scale and complexity of Duke Energy’s Edwardsport coal gasification plant under construction in southwest Indiana has added about $530 million to project costs—a 23% increase—company officials told state regulators last week. The integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant slated to begin operation in 2012 is now estimated to cost $2.88 billion. The total project, […]

Last week, as news emerged that the Kerry, Graham, and Lieberman draft bill is expected to be released on April 26—and it could hit Senate floor before July 4—the Institute for Policy Integrity hailed the Cantwell-Collins CLEAR Act. Meanwhile, the EPA received a two-week extension to a legally imposed deadline for proposing boiler standards.

Tenaska on Monday signed an agreement with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to limit water use and capture at least 85% of carbon dioxide produced by a proposed advanced coal plant under development near Sweetwater, Texas, if the environmental group drops legal opposition to the plant.

Despite the recession, reports from U.S. renewable industry groups show that the nation’s solar energy industry enjoyed a 36% increase in revenue and overall 5% increase in installations in 2009, while geothermal projects under development grew more than 26%.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the 15th annual U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory report, which shows a drop in overall emissions of 2.9% from 2007 to 2008. The downward trend is attributed to a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions associated with fuel and electricity consumption.

Three nations participating in the Nuclear Security Summit hosted by the Obama Administration in Washington, D.C. this week have agreed to turn over highly enriched uranium (HEU), likely to the U.S. As a result, Ukraine and Mexico will be switching from power plants fueled by HEU to ones fueled by low-enriched uranium (LEU). These commitments follow a secret and at times challenging effort to convey HEU from Chile to the U.S. that was complicated by the earthquake there in February.

The Electrification Coalition (EC) released on Thursday a long-term macroeconomic analysis of the policy proposals put forward in its November 2009 Electrification Roadmap. The paper finds that the U.S. economy would benefit substantially over the long term from implementation of the EC policy package.

On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced that the Department of Energy was awarding a total of nearly $100 million for 54 smart grid workforce training programs.

Nearly 90 business, labor, environmental, and government organizations urged Congress on Monday to adopt new tax policies to enhance industrial energy efficiency in order to simultaneously increase manufacturing competitiveness, create jobs, and reduce pollution.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced last Wednesday that it has asked the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to perform a state-of-the-art study on cancer risk for populations surrounding nuclear power facilities. The NRC and the NAS will finalize administrative details through the spring so that the study can begin this summer.

Power4Georgians LLC announced on Thursday that the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) has issued final permits for the operation of Plant Washington, an 850-MW coal-fired energy facility in Washington County, Georgia, in the eastern part of the state about halfway between Macon and Augusta, and approximately 125 miles southeast of Atlanta.

Green2V plans to manufacture solar cells and their frames as well as design, install, operate, and finance the systems, said company CEO Bill Sheppard last Wednesday. By controlling the entire value chain, the company expects to reduce the cost of solar energy.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, April 7, 2010 — The coal mine disaster at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia rips at my heart. The 25 miners who died, and that’s likely to be 29, are the kind of folks I grew up with and lived with a major portion of my life. […]

Suniva, a U.S. manufacturer of high-efficiency monocrystalline silicon solar cells and modules, announced on Thursday that it has been selected for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program under the DOE’s Innovative Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy and Advanced Transmission and Distribution Technologies Solicitation.

Portland General Electric (PGE) said on Friday it had submitted a proposal to Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to close its coal-fired Boardman Power Plant by 2020.

Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) said on March 31 that meeting state-mandated energy conservation goals could cost the typical 1,000-kilowatt-hour customer an additional $2 to $3 a month.