The UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on Thursday approved a 900-MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station in Spalding, Lincolnshire, in an effort to boost the nation’s energy security. The consent was given on the condition that the plant reserves enough space to allow for a future retrofit of carbon capture technology.

Exelon plans to invest nearly $5 billion in what it called “cost-effective, clean energy projects” starting this year. The investment will pay for energy efficiency and smart grid programs and renewable energy projects, though a majority of funds—up to $3 billion—will be spent on increasing output at the company’s nuclear plants.

The Department of Interior on Monday gave its approval to Solar Millennium’s 500-MW Amargosa Farm Road Solar Project, the second large-scale solar power project on U.S. public lands in Nevada.

Policymakers must focus more on developing new energy storage technologies as they consider a national renewable electricity standard, recommends the American Physical Society’s (APS) Panel on Public Affairs (POPA) in a new report that examines scientific and business perspectives on how to best integrate renewables into the U.S. grid.

The demolition of a 275-foot smokestack at Springfield’s former Mad River Power Plant went awry last week as the tower collapsed in the wrong direction. Instead of landing in an empty clearing in the east, the tower fell southeast, knocking out 12,500-volt power lines and smashing a building that held backup generators.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., Nov. 11, 2010 — Pardon my cynicism, but I don’t for a minute believe that the Republican electoral sweep earlier this month will result in significant cuts in federal spending anytime soon. Am I charging that Republican electoral doctrine is a tissue of hypocrisy? Yes, I am, and we will […]

Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) is to buy Southern California Edison’s (SCE’s) 48% stake in Units 4 and 5 of the coal-fired Four Corners Power Plant near Farmington, N.M, if state and federal regulators agree. Arizona’s largest utility said on Monday that if the deal goes through, it would also shut down the plant’s “older, less efficient” Units 1, 2, and 3, and install more emission controls on the remaining units at the 2,040-MW five-unit power plant.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), a body that controls the Outer Continental Shelf, on Monday invited bids to put up wind turbines off Maryland’s coast.

Days after Entergy Corp. announced it was considering selling its 605-MW Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt., the New Orleans–based company on Sunday temporarily shut down the plant after discovering a leak of radioactive water.

This week brought some important news about carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology from around the world. Canada’s province of Alberta is considering a bill that would allow it to accept long-term liability for injected carbon dioxide; a key project to capture the greenhouse gas in Barendrecht, the Netherlands was shelved mostly due to public opposition; and a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) field test shows it is possible to store carbon dioxide in unmineable lignite seams.

Alberta Proposes to Take Up CCS Liability | Key CCS Project Shelved in The Netherlands | Field Tests Suggest Carbon Storage Possible in Lignite Seams