POWER

By Kennedy Maize Companies that offer health insurance plans to their employees – and that covers most power companies – need to pay close attention to the Washington debate on national health insurance plans now current in Congress. So far, most of the sound and fury over the Obama (and congressional) plans are bogus, kicked […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday proposed to throw out three aspects of the Texas clean air permitting program because they do not meet requirements of the federal Clean Air Act. Rejections could include the state’s flexible permit system, which allows power plants, factories, refineries, and other industrial plants to exceed emission limits in certain areas as long as they stay within overall limits.

Dominion Virginia Power said last week that a state air permit relating to mercury emissions for its Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center had been amended, and that the permit was now compliant with an order from the Richmond Circuit Court.

Japanese electronics company Toshiba Corp. could reportedly bid for French state-owned AREVA’s lucrative transmission and distribution (T&D) business. Toshiba, which acquired U.S. nuclear reactor maker Westinghouse Electric Co. in 2006, will likely enter a $5 billion bid, vying against a Chinese sovereign fund and other companies.

Last week saw several important developments concerning coal plants in Germany, Michigan, and Canada.

Two companies have announced setbacks to demonstration projects seeking to develop and commercialize enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) technology. California-based AltaRock Energy shelved a project for which it had secured $36 million from the U.S Energy Department and had the backing of several large venture capital firms, citing “geologic anomalies.” Geodynamics Ltd., meanwhile, encountered a new set of technical difficulties and is reevaluating a 1-MW pilot project in the Australian outback.

By Kennedy Maize Look out, the political wobbles are beginning for Senate climate legislation. The wheels could come off anytime soon now. The Energy Daily reported that the Senate’s schedule for taking up climate legislation won’t begin on Sept. 8, as originally announced. Instead, said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Environment and […]

Reports from the past week allege that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson is readying to release a formal “endangerment finding” that could regulate carbon dioxide emissions from motor vehicles—as well as from power plants and other stationary sources. These have prompted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to urge the EPA to hold a public hearing on the evidence—or face litigation.

The federal government and the state of Illinois on Thursday filed a suit against Midwest Generation, alleging that the company violated the Clean Air Act by making “major modifications” to six coal-fired power plants without installing required pollution control equipment.

NRG Energy is the latest power generator to solicit government funding for a proposed carbon capture demonstration unit. It is also the newest member of the Energy Department’s National Carbon Capture Center (NCCC), an industry-based cleaner coal technology research center.

Delays plaguing Europe’s first EPR nuclear power plant, the Olkiluoto 3 in Finland, could cost AREVA €2.3 billion, and the French state-owned nuclear engineering firm now says that it will only complete the plant’s construction if the plant’s buyer, Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO), agrees to the company’s hardball proposals.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) last week issued an Early Site Permit (ESP) and Limited Work Authorization (LWA) to Southern Nuclear Operating Co. for its two proposed Plant Vogtle units in Waynesboro, Ga. The ESP, valid for 20 years, is the fourth issued by federal regulators—but the first based on a specific technology, the Westinghouse AP1000.

The U.S. Energy and Treasury Departments on Tuesday announced stimulus fund awards worth $502 million to energy companies to spur investments in renewable projects and provide “cash assistance” in lieu of earned federal tax credits.

The FutureGen Alliance on Tuesday said it had signed a $17.3 million cooperative agreement with the Department of Energy that covers preliminary design activities through the end of 2009, allowing for the continued development of the Illinois gasified coal power plant and carbon capture initiative.

“Engagement” was once the buzzword for employee satisfaction. That was then, say some HR gurus, but these authors argue that engagment is as important as ever.

Midwest Energy has a history of thinking and acting independently, especially since breaking away from the Rural Utilities Service almost 15 years ago. Two years ago, when its board of directors grappled with finding a balance between purchasing and generating electricity, it decided to construct its first power plant in 37 years. A matched set of nine 8.4-MW gas engines at Goodman Energy Center now provides efficient peaking electricity, improved overall system reliability, and backstop capacity for a 325-MW electrical system that features 16% wind power generation.

The new Ashcroft Type 5503 differential pressure (D/P) gauge provides reliable low – differential pressure measurement in high-static, wet-wet pressure applications. Equipped with wetted materials of 316SS, Monel, or Hastelloy C, the rugged Type 5503 D/P pressure gauge is specifically designed to monitor a wide variety of caustic liquids and gases. Four-inch and 6-inch dial […]

The world’s war on carbon emissions isn’t going well. In just six months, the UN sponsored Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change will seek to launch a worldwide anti-carbon strategy with teeth. Billed by alarmists as “the last chance to save our planet,” all the signs are that Michael Jackson has a better chance of recording new material than Copenhagen has of delivering a meaningful international accord.

Northern Italians are enjoying la dolce vita (the sweet life) even more today than they have historically, thanks to the additional electrical capacity provided by the new Livorno Ferraris power plant. Well-received by locals due to its environmentally progressive operations and low-profile appearance, the 800-MW plant is powered by combined-cycle units that burn natural gas. The plant, which generates more than 5 million kWh per year, is part of a comprehensive renewal of the Italian energy sector and will make an important contribution toward ensuring that the country’s power supply is more secure.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has of late gained steam as the best way to mitigate emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) from fossil fuel power plants, despite evidence that the approach would require much energy and increase the fuel needs of a coal-fired plant by more than 25%. A new study from […]

Congress should push for nuclear energy as a climate and energy solution—now.

Construction of the Portlands Energy Centre was a logistical dream: A mothballed power plant next door had an active switchyard, natural gas pipeline, and cooling water structure. The new facility put peak power into the Ontario Power Authority’s grid from its two combustion turbines only two years after collecting the necessary permits. The entire plant entered commercial service on April 23, 2009 — six weeks early.

Recent months brought several developments in Europe’s much-touted "nuclear renaissance." Spain Extends Life of Nation’s Oldest Reactor Spain’s government on July 2 granted a four-year extension to the operating permit of the 466-MW Santa María de Garoña nuclear power plant (Figure 3). The decision follows a nonbinding recommendation by Spain’s nuclear regulator in June to […]

There’s been a lot of attention on “cellulosic” ethanol, but that could be a nasty dead end, according to this analysis from a well-respected Washington environmental think tank.

Xcel Energy has completed the third and final project required by its 2003 Metropolitan Emissions Reduction Project agreement: repowering the Riverside Plant with a gas-fired 2 x 1 combined-cycle plant and tearing down the old coal-fired plant. Saved from demolition was the Unit 7 steam turbine system that now serves the new plant. Xcel staff expertly managed the project to an on-time start-up and accepted many important construction tasks, harkening back to the days when utilities took a more active role in the design and construction of projects.

The first aircraft designed to fly day and night propelled solely by solar energy was unveiled at Dübendorf airfield, Switzerland, in late June. The Solar Impulse has the wingspan of a Boeing 747-400 and the weight of an average family car (1,600 kg) (Figure 4). More than 12,000 solar cells mounted onto the wings will […]

U.S. wind power appears becalmed, partially stymied by transmission constraints, and also by financing difficulties in the current recession. Read the details.

At Royal Pride Holland’s commercial tomato greenhouse, green thumbs and green energy go hand in hand. With a total energy utilization of 95% in this application, GE’s new Jenbacher J624 natural gas – fired engines offer the innovative greenhouse an economical supply of on-site electrical and thermal power, as well as CO₂ fertilization, to support its operations.

In late June, Scotland officially opened the Glendoe Hydro Scheme, a 100-MW project whose construction near Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands was the region’s biggest civil engineering project in recent times. Planning for the project began in 2001, and it took three years to build. Today, the project has the highest head — the […]