Kansas’ new governor, Mark Parkinson, and Sunflower Electric Power Corp. have reached a compromise that would allow that company to build an 895-MW coal plant in the western part of the state in exchange for Republican support for a state bill that encourages production of more renewable energy.

Legislation introduced last week by members of the House of Representatives and the Senate could spur development of U.S. marine and hydrokinetic energy resources—a sector in which the U.S. has lagged behind other countries.

Ramped-up concerns about the security of the U.S. power grid and media reports that said cyberspies had infiltrated it have prompted the introduction of a congressional bill that would increase the authority of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to help reduce the grid’s vulnerability.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has renewed the first ever 40-year-operating license of a nuclear facility in the U.S., granting it to AREVA NP’s nuclear fabrication facility in Richland, Wash.

The Department of Energy (DOE) last week said it would provide $93 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to support further development of wind energy in the U.S., as well $100 million from the act for facility and infrastructure improvements at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

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.

Dozens of institutional investors in U.S. renewable energy projects pulled out of the market when the nation’s liquidity reserves dried up late last year. Some left the renewable market sector in search of more lucrative investment opportunities. Others found themselves unable to take advantage of the attractive tax credits because they themselves lacked profits against which to use the credits. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, approved February 13, changed the investor ground rules — again.

Swiss power technology group ABB, which pioneered gas-insulated switchgear 50 years ago, in April announced it had commissioned switchgear rated to handle 1,100 kV. The development marks the biggest leap in capacity and efficiency of AC power transmission in more than two decades.

The Duplex Pump Unit (FRS 660-11-DPU-UL) from RCI Technologies is the newest addition to that company’s line of diesel fuel purifiers and fuel recirculating systems (FRSs). Designed to automatically circulate and clean the fuel in customers’ fuel storage tanks on a preprogrammed schedule, the DPU features two fuel pumps, which operate alternately to circulate fuel through the system. Whereas RCI’s other FRS units utilize a single pump, the duplex pump offers backup in the event of a primary system failure. All FRS units employ filter-less technology. The control system is housed in a weatherproof, NEMA 4, key-lockable cabinet, and the system is equipped with alarms to alert the user in the event of pump failure, purifier high water level, system high pressure, or fuel catch basin leak. (www.rcitechnologies.com)

Gas hydrates, a form of natural gas that forms when methane from the decomposition of organic material comes into contact with water at low temperatures and high pressures, could play a role — even if a small one — in future fuel supplies, researchers attending a March meeting organized by the American Chemical Society suggested.