The UK’s Liberal Democrats—a party long-opposed to nuclear power—last week said it would abstain from voting against construction of new nuclear power plants in that country, as long as they are privately funded.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the State of California on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to coordinate procedures and schedules for review of hydrokinetic energy projects off the California coast.

The Arkansas Supreme Court last week upheld a state appellate court decision that had previously overturned, on technical grounds, a permit authorizing construction of Southwestern Electric Power Co.’s (SWEPCO’s) 600-MW John W. Turk Jr. coal-fired power plant in Hempstead County. The decision could pose a serious setback for the project—the nation’s first ultrasupercritical plant—that is under construction and almost a third complete.

By Kennedy Maize Washington, D.C., May 16, 2010 — Will Happer, noted Princeton physicist, and a veteran of Washington’s bureaucratic wars, has an intriguing suggestion about how to reconcile the views of raving advocates for climate controls with the objections of skeptics, when both sides are populated by reputable scientists. He wants the government to […]

The U.S. Energy Department on Friday announced it would grant $62 million to 13 concentrating solar power (CSP) projects. The funds are expected to support improvements in CSP systems, components, and thermal energy storage and accelerate the market-readiness of the renewable energy technology.

An evaluation of Powerspan Corp.’s ECO₂ post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO₂) capture technology by global engineering firm WorleyParsons Group at FirstEnergy Generation Corp.’s R.E. Burger Plant near Shadyside, Ohio, concludes that the 1-MW pilot test facility is well-designed and instrumented. The results can be reliably used to design, build, and predict performance of a larger, commercial size plant, the group reportedly said.

Researchers at Spain’s Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, ICMAB-CSIC, and Spanish firms Labein Tecnalia and Nexans, and Endesa, have constructed a 30-meter superconducting electric cable that they say could reduce energy loss by 50% and even 70% in some parts of the distribution network.

Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) today rolled out a draft of the American Power Act, long-awaited climate and energy legislation developed with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). The 1,000-page-plus bill covers a variety of issues, from a mandatory cap on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to expanded nuclear power and boosts for carbon capture and sequestration.

Barely three months after Nuclear Innovation North America (NINA) and CPS Energy negotiated a $1 billion settlement that reduced the San Antonio municipal utility’s share in the proposed nuclear expansion of the South Texas Project (STP), Japan’s Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said on Monday it would take a 9.24% stake in the Bay City project.

UK-based National Grid on Friday agreed to buy power from the $1 billion Nantucket Sound Cape Wind project, a 468-MW offshore wind farm expected to be operational in 2012 that had garnered approval from the U.S. Interior Department just nine days earlier.