The Department of Energy (DOE) has reportedly dropped Luminant’s Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant’s expansion planned in Texas from its list of new nuclear projects being considered for the first round of federal loan guarantee. Four projects now remain on the DOE shortlist. New reactors at Southern Co.’s Vogtle plant in Georgia, Scana Corp.’s Summer […]

As IEEE celebrates its 125th anniversary on May 13, it is also addressing the challenges ahead. The Center for Energy Workforce Development estimates that 45% of engineers in electric utilities will be eligible for retirement, or may leave for other reasons, in the next five years. What’s more, the educators of new engineers are also […]

The Kansas Senate last week approved by a 37–2 vote an energy bill that will allow Sunflower Electric Power Corp. to build a long-delayed coal-fired power plant near Holcombe. The bill’s approval comes days after Kansas’ new governor, Mark Parkinson, and Sunflower Electric Power Corp. reached a compromise that would scale down the company’s plans […]

Saskatchewan and Montana officials last week said they would partner on the development of one of the largest international carbon capture and storage demonstration projects in the world. Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on the construction of a “technology neutral CO2 plant at […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday signed an enforceable agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to oversee the removal of coal ash at the TVA Kingston Fossil Fuel Plant in Roane County, Tenn., where more than 5 million cubic yards of coal ash spilled last December. Under the Administrative Order and Agreement […]

UK energy regulator Ofgem last week said it would temporarily relax the rules governing the nation’s electricity networks to speed up connections for low-carbon power generators. The temporary relaxation applies to rules for connection to and use of the high-voltage electricity networks. It means any generator (renewable or thermal) wanting to seek an earlier connection […]

President Obama’s $26.4 billion Department of Energy (DOE) budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2010 substantially increases new cash for the development of renewable energies, energy efficiency, and for measures to curb carbon dioxide emissions, but it cuts funding to coal and nuclear programs—fuels that produce 70% of the nation’s electricity. The proposed FY 2010 […]

By Kennedy Maize Here’s an interesting set of ironies. The Republican majority on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has taken a position that, at least formally, blocks new nuclear reactors in the U.S., while the sole Democrat on the commission, Chairman Greg Jaczko, widely viewed as opposed to the agenda of the nuclear industry, has […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is committed to issuing proposed regulations for the management of coal combustion waste by utilities by the year’s end, a senior agency official told the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee Thursday. Rules could include tightened restrictions on contaminants in wet scrubber wastewater streams.

LS Power has abandoned a proposed 750-MW pulverized coal power project in Midland, Mich., citing economic and regulatory uncertainties.