POWER

An underdeveloped and costly CO2 capture technology, as well as regulatory and legal uncertainties over CO2 capture, injection, and storage, are the some of the more critical factors that impede carbon capture and storage (CCS) deployment in the U.S., the Government Accountability Office (GAO) — a congressional investigative arm — has reported. In its report, […]

The Galapagos Islands, home of the unusual flora and fauna that inspired naturalist Charles Darwin’s groundbreaking work on evolution, are striving to promote clean energy that protects the area’s unique biodiversity. Part of that effort is the 2.4-MW San Cristobal Wind Project, which displaces diesel-powered electricity generation. This new energy source will cut greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the risk of devastating diesel-fuel tanker spills in a highly protected environment.

UniStar Nuclear Energy announced on Oct. 8 that it had awarded an AREVA-Bechtel Power Corp. consortium a multi-year contract to complete detailed design engineering for a proposed AREVA U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor (U.S. EPR) adjacent to Constellation Energy’s Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power plant in Lusby, Md. The scope of work includes full plant specifications and […]

Geothermal energy projects are gaining steam in many parts of the western U.S., in large part because geothermal power has the advantage of being a renewable energy source that provides baseload power with no emissions and no waste by-products. One example of the latest developments in geothermal power generation is the recently completed 10-MW geothermal plant in rural Utah, which uses innovative modular power generation units.

News items of interest to power industry professionals. Economic slowdown delays Canadian IGCC plant, kills W.Va. coal-to-liquids plant. Canadian firm Alter NRG announced in late October that it would shift its corporate focus from internally led project development to technology sales, in response to the global economic slowdown and turbulent capital markets. Among the projects […]

Wind power is becoming a mainstream energy source that U.S. utilities are tapping into nationwide as a means of adding clean, domestically sourced energy to balance their generating portfolios. To identify where wind will take us,POWER’s senior editor talked to experts from diverse industry stakeholders about current and future developments.

For the power engineer, delivering an instantaneous and consistent power supply can be an elusive goal. Yet without it, grid frequency regulation is impossible. Today, frequency regulation is an ancillary service bought by the hour, the day prior to utilization, and dispensed on an as-needed basis by dispatch communiqués and provided by the ancillary service […]

The Steel Winds project in Lackawanna, New York, was selected as a POWER 2007 Top Plant because of its unusual location (a former steel mill and Superfund site) and because it was the first commercial deployment of the Clipper Windpower 2.5-MW turbine. That report was written just as the project entered commercial service but before a major gearbox problem was identified. For many new designs, it isn’t a question of if problems will occur but of how the manufacturer responds when problems inevitably do occur. For its handling of Liberty’s problem, Clipper Windpower gets an "A."

Courtesy: Platts Data source: Platts Energy Advantage and POWERmap. All rights reserved.

A recent ruling by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Appeals Board to block a permit that the agency last year granted the Deseret Power Electric Cooperative for a new coal-fired unit could have far-reaching implications for as many as 100 coal-fired power plants seeking air permits in the U.S. The Sierra Club had asked the […]

Two days after NRG Energy flatly rejected Exelon Corp.’s acquisition offer, saying the $6.2 billion proposal “grossly” undervalued the company, Exelon launched a hostile bid for the Princeton, N.J., company, taking its offer directly to NRG shareholders. The U.S. power giant has also filed suit against NRG’s directors, and it has reportedly threatened to expand […]

California’s Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday signed an executive order to clear the red tape for renewable projects and streamline permitting and siting of new plants and transmission lines. The order will speed up that state’s adoption of a mandate to supply 33% of its power from renewable sources by 2020, Schwarzenegger said. California already […]

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Thursday approved an agreement that allows a 1.2-mile portion of the controversial 37.2-mile transmission line proposed in that state by the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line Co. (TrAILCo). The commission stayed the rest of Allegheny’s proposal for further consideration. The regulatory body voted 4-1 to adopt a motion (PDF) that […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has granted the last of seven large-scale carbon sequestration project awards to the Big Sky Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership, an effort led by Montana State University-Bozeman. The $66.9 million award will allow the partnership to conduct a large-volume test in a Wyoming sandstone formation to demonstrate if it is possible […]

Citing high construction costs and carbon dioxide emissions, the Public Service Commission (PSC) of Wisconsin last week denied a plan by Alliant Energy Corp.’s Wisconsin Power and Light (WP&L) to build a new 300-MW coal-fired electric generation facility. The PSC unanimously decided that the $1.26 billion project was too costly when weighing it against other […]

By Kennedy Maize Shades of Tommy Gold. The U.S. Geological Survey this week said it has concluded that there are vast “technically recoverable” methane hydrate reserves trapped in the Arctic coastal plain that could provide some 85.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, a significant addition to U.S. natural gas reserves. Gas hydrates, also known […]

British Petroleum (BP) has reportedly withdrawn all plans to build wind farms and other renewable projects in the UK, and it has dropped out of a government competition to build a carbon capture and storage plant. The Guardian reports that the company will instead concentrate its $8 billion renewable program on the U.S., attracted to […]

Widespread efforts aimed at reducing carbon emissions and increasing the use of renewables for the generation of electricity will fundamentally determine the future course of electric reliability across North America, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) said in a recently released report. “We are concerned that, when viewed from a continent-wide perspective, current climate […]

After two years of review, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) last week approved a final air permit for the Southwest Electric Power Co.’s (SWEPCO) John W. Turk, Jr. Power Plant. With the permit, construction on the 600-MW coal-fired facility—one of the first U.S. coal plants to use ultrasupercritical technology—will begin immediately in Fulton, […]

If California adopts requirements recommended last month by state agencies to generate at least 33% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, it may cost the state $60 billion, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said in a report released Thursday. The regulatory agency, which had advocated the 33% renewable standard along with the […]

NRG Energy Inc. on Sunday rejected Exelon Corp.’s $6.08 billion acquisition offer—a merger deal that would have created the single largest power company in the U.S.—saying that the “opportunistically timed proposal grossly undervalues” the company. Stressing that the offer was unsolicited, the company’s board of directors unanimously agreed that Exelon’s Oct. 19 proposal significantly undervalued […]

Maryland’s Public Service Commission (PSC) has ordered the state’s utilities to find ways to generate more power to avoid shortfalls and possible brownouts or blackouts predicted to hit the state between 2011 and 2012. In 2007, and this past May 2008, PJM Interconnection, the region’s grid operator, told the PSC that Maryland could face electricity shortages—and […]

The Department of Energy is hoping to expand the capacity of the $90 billion Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada—a facility that President-elect Barack Obama has consistently said he opposes—instead of building a second repository, The New York Times reported last week. Edward F. Sproat III, director of the DOE’s Office of Civilian Radioactive […]

By Kennedy Maize Nothing fails like success. Already, Democrats in Congress are at each others’ throats about sharing the spoils from the Obama victory. The most serious fight so far pits Hollywood liberal Henry Waxman against the long-time chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Democrat John Dingell of Michigan. Waxman has launched a […]

Replacing existing, older-generation controlled-flow split-flame burners on Unit 1 at the Seminole Generating Station with Foster Wheeler’s new low-NO_x burners and overfire air additions reduced NO_x emissions. This case study provides all the details and post-installation test results.

Two types of mercury monitoring are required of coal-fired power plants: continuous emission monitoring and periodic Relative Accuracy Test Audit. One of the more attractive approaches for these analyses is provided by the Hydra-C Appendix K from Teledyne Leeman Labs.

In a sweeping climate change proposal that could serve as a model for the nation, two California agencies have proposed a comprehensive program for reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions that calls for aggressive improvements in energy efficiency, higher targets for renewable energy, and an innovative scheme for allocating emission allowances to electric utilities.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) study released in late September concludes that technological, legal, and regulatory uncertainties—compounded by the absence of a national strategy for combating global warming—are blocking deployment of crucial technology to capture and sequester carbon dioxide from coal-fired power plants.

As senior members of Congress lay the groundwork for a new legislative debate on climate change next year, a new proposal making the rounds of Capitol Hill offices would replace the cap-and-trade approach now in vogue with one in which all carbon permits are auctioned and all auction revenues are returned to consumers.

Roger Feldman
Proposed U.S. legislation appears likely to use carbon offsets or credits, although the details remain unclear. I wonder if these schemes adequately support the goal of global greenhouse gas emission reductions.