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Nuclear
DOE Approves Service Agreement Between Westinghouse and Georgia Power on Vogtle Expansion—With Conditions
The Department of Energy (DOE) has approved a new service agreement finalized by Westinghouse and Georgia Power for the Vogtle AP1000 units under construction in Georgia, though the agency reached a separate deal with Georgia Power on a loan guarantee agreement that will require the Southern Co. company to provide it with a solid cost […]
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POWERnews—July 6, 2017
Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide Trump Administration Swats at Texas in Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository Legal Fight Citing its backing for the long-stalled Yucca Mountain permanent spent nuclear waste repository in Nevada, the Trump administration has asked a federal court to reject a petition […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Massachusetts Sets Energy Storage Target, Issues Offshore Wind Proposals
The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) has set the commonwealth’s much-anticipated energy storage target at 200 MWh to be achieved by January 1, 2020. Last week, it also issued a joint request for proposals for 400 MW of offshore wind energy. The announcements made this week follow an energy bill signed into law by […]
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Nuclear
Trump Administration Swats at Texas in Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository Legal Fight
Citing its backing for the long-stalled Yucca Mountain permanent spent nuclear waste repository in Nevada, the Trump administration has asked a federal court to reject a petition filed by Texas in which the state sought a court-supervised process to take over administrative proceedings so as to guarantee licensing and eventual construction of project. Texas filed […]
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POWERnews—June 29, 2017
Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide Billions Over Budget, Kemper Facility Gasification Portion Is Suspended Operations and start-up of the lignite gasification portion of the Kemper County Energy Facility, marred by exorbitant delays and cost overruns, and will be suspended immediately, Mississippi Power announced on […]
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Nuclear
Court Dismisses Westinghouse Claim for $2B Recovery from CB&I
More grim news emerged for financially strapped Westinghouse after the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a chancery court decision that the company was counting on to recoup $2 billion from an acquisition dispute with Chicago Bridge & Iron (CB&I). The court rejected Westinghouse’s contention of CB&I’s calculations of its final purchase price—even though it paid […]
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Coal
Billions Over Budget, Kemper Facility Gasification Portion Is Suspended
Operations and start-up of the lignite gasification portion of the Kemper County Energy Facility, marred by exorbitant delays and cost overruns, will be suspended immediately, Mississippi Power announced on June 28. The Southern Co. subsidiary plans to continue running a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant that was completed as part of the $7.5 […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Agencies Propose to Rescind Contentious WOTUS Rule, but It May Not Be Over Yet
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Army, and Army Corps of Engineers have proposed a rule to rescind the controversial Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule, which asserts federal authority over small bodies of water. The rule, also known as the “Clean Water Rule,” was promulgated by the EPA and the U.S. Army […]
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Nuclear
SCANA, Santee Cooper Buy More Time for V.C. Summer Decision
SCANA Corp. subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. (SCG&E) and Santee Cooper—owners of the two-unit expansion of the V.C. Summer nuclear plant—have extended an interim assessment agreement with Westinghouse to allow the project’s owners to “continue to make progress on the site.” The companies on June 26 extended the agreement to August 10, but it […]
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POWERnews—June 22, 2017
Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide Mississippi PSC: Kemper Facility Should Operate Using Only Natural Gas The Mississippi Public Service Commission (MPSC) at an open meeting on June 21 unanimously passed a motion instructing its counsel to prepare an order pursuing potential solutions regarding the […]
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Nuclear
House Passes PTC Extension for New Nuclear Facilities
A bipartisan bill extending a production tax credit (PTC) for advanced nuclear power facilities passed the U.S. House on a voice vote on June 20. The bill, introduced by Congressman Tom Rice (R-S.C.), seeks to give facilities that use novel nuclear power technologies more investment certainty. The nuclear PTC was established under the Energy Policy […]
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POWERnews—June 15, 2017
Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide Bankrupt GenOn to Officially Split from NRG Energy GenOn has begun its transition back into a standalone power generation company after NRG Energy—which acquired it in a $1.7 billion deal just five years ago—struck a comprehensive restructuring agreement with […]
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Renewables
Wind and Solar Cross 10% U.S. Generation Share as Prices for Solar Keep Falling
Marking a significant milestone, power generation from the combined utility-scale and small-scale wind and solar installations in the U.S. surpassed 10% of the nation’s total power generation in March, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The news comes on the heels of an announcement last week by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) that […]
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Coal
Bankrupt GenOn to Officially Split from NRG Energy
GenOn has begun its transition back into a standalone power generation company after NRG Energy—which acquired it in a $1.7 billion deal just five years ago—struck a comprehensive restructuring agreement with GenOn’s creditors, and GenOn filed for Chapter 11 protection. A June 14 financial filing confirms that NRG, GenOn, and an ad hoc group of […]
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GAS POWER—June 14, 2017
Gas Power Direct Current Issue | Find a Job | Post a Job SCE, GE Debut Battery-Gas Turbine Hybrid System Southern California Edison (SCE) put online the world’s first battery–gas turbine hybrid system on March 30 in Norwalk, Calif., pioneering a new direction in the way power could be generated and stored. Read More […]
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POWERnews—June 8, 2017
Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide KCP&L Will Retire Five Coal-Fired Units and One Unit Recently Converted to Gas Kansas City Power & Light Co. (KCP&L) plans to retire five coal-fired generating units at two stations by the end of next year. It will also […]
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Legal & Regulatory
EPA Extends Deadline for 2015 Ozone NAAQS Area Designations
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is giving states an extra year to develop air quality plans related to the 2015-National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone. In a June 6 letter sent to U.S. governors, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that the extended deadline for promulgating initial area designations for the rule issued […]
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Coal
Kemper, Now Slated to Start in Late June, Will Need Costly Post In-Service Improvement Projects
Mississippi Power’s Kemper County integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) project is now expected to be in service by the end of June, but the company expects it will need post in-service improvements. It also said timing of when it will file a case to address the recovery of costs not currently reflected in rates is uncertain. […]
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Renewables
Dominion to Reassess Plans for Millstone’s Continued Operation after Connecticut Nuclear Support Bill Thwarted
Dominion Energy told POWER it will begin a “strategic reassessment” of its plans for the 2,111-MW Millstone Nuclear Power Station in Connecticut after state legislators effectively blocked a bill that would have provided it a mechanism to bid for state contracts reserved for renewables. Dominion waged a tough campaign to push the bill through the […]
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Coal
Southern Co. to File Rate Case for Kemper IGCC, Already Economically Unviable in Face of Cheap Gas
Southern Co. announced yet another lag beyond a new in-service date for its Kemper County integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) project. Along with concerns about delays and mounting cost increases afflicting the plant’s coal gasification component are how it will be used in the face of cheap gas prices. The company’s subsidiary Mississippi Power last […]
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POWERnews—June 1, 2017
Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide [UPDATE]Trump to Pull U.S. Out of Paris Agreement President Donald Trump will pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, making the nation one of only three in the world not a party to the agreement, […]
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Wind
Six Things You Didn’t Know About the Offshore Wind Power Sector
The world’s offshore wind sector, which has been at near-standstill in the U.S. owing to high costs and technical limitations, is poised to see a fierce developmental gust that can be attributed to several factors. While much of the enthusiasm at the American Wind Energy Association’s (AWEA’s) WINDPOWER 2017 annual event in Anaheim, Calif., was […]
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Nuclear
NRC to Issue Construction and Operating License for Dominion’s North Anna ESBWR
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has given its staff the green light to license Dominion Energy’s Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) proposed for construction at its North Anna site in Virginia. It also approved an uprate at Energy Northwest’s Columbia Generating Station in Washington. The NRC said it authorized issuance of the combined construction and […]
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POWERnews—May 25, 2017
Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide Southern Company Could Delay Plant Vogtle Decision Until Late Summer CEO Tom Fanning told Southern Co.'s shareholders attending the company’s annual meeting on May 24 that a decision on how to proceed with the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion could take […]
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Business
NRG Poised to Relinquish Debt-Laden GenOn to Creditors
Under a proposed restructuring agreement, NRG Energy will hand over 100% equity of GenOn Energy, a wholesale generation company it acquired in a $1.7 billion deal in 2012, to the company’s bondholders once GenOn emerges from voluntary Chapter 11 restructuring. NRG, GenOn, and an ad hoc group of GenOn noteholders reached a mutual cooperation agreement […]
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Renewables
PJM Auction Signals Trouble for Nuclear, Coal, and Even Renewables
Two nuclear plants owned by Exelon Corp. in Illinois and Pennsylvania failed to clear PJM Interconnection’s latest annual capacity auction, putting one of those financially crippled units at risk of early retirement. Meanwhile, procurements for solar, wind, and demand response fell dramatically compared to last year, and drastic price declines could roil the market for […]
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POWERnews—May 18, 2017
Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide Senate Committee Takes on Regulatory Reform The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs May 17 advanced a number of bills that could have significant impacts on the future of energy regulation in the future. Four of the […]
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Energy Storage
Wärtsilä Acquires Major Energy Storage Player
Finnish technology firm Wärtsilä has acquired Greensmith Energy Management Systems, a firm that specializes in energy storage optimization and integration software, for an undisclosed amount. Greensmith, which has designed and deployed more than 180 MW of energy storage at 50 sites globally, has developed a software platform, GEMS, which optimizes the performance of energy […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Virginia Governor Orders Power Plant Carbon Regulations
Virginia’s governor has directed the commonwealth’s environmental quality agency to establish regulations to curb its carbon emissions from power plants via a carbon trading scheme by the end of this year. Executive Directive 11 signed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) on May 16 instructs the Department of Environmental Quality to develop a proposed rule to […]
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Nuclear
India Approves 10 New Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor Nuclear Units
India’s government has given the state-owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd. (NPCIL) the green light to develop 10 new domestically designed pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs). The approval means that NPCIL, the entity that owns and operates India’s 22 nuclear reactors—a total of 6.2 GW—can begin to site and build 10 more 700-MW PHWR […]