The Dayton Power and Light Co. (DP&L), a subsidiary of The AES Corporation, filed its latest Electric Security Plan (ESP) with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) on February 22. DP&L’s plan is designed to protect customers from volatility in energy prices while promoting economic development by allowing its power plants to continue operations. The […]

Mexico’s ongoing energy reform is a “paradigm shift” in the way the country obtains, transforms, and exploits its energy resources, President Enrique Peña Nieto told attendees at IHS CERAWeek on February 22. The reform allows the state to maintain ownership of hydrocarbons underground, but it also encourages private participation in the entire hydrocarbon value chain […]

In the week since the highest court in the U.S. issued an unprecedented ruling to stay the Clean Power Plan—as at least two states suspended compliance efforts—the passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia may have boosted the odds that the Obama administration’s efforts to stem power plant carbon emissions will pass judicial review. The […]

Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide A Rollercoaster Week for the Clean Power Plan A week since the highest court in the U.S. issued an unprecedented ruling to stay the Clean Power Plan—as at least two states suspended compliance efforts—the passing of Supreme Court Justice […]

Wisconsin’s Senate has voted to lift a longstanding ban on building new nuclear plants unless a federal site exists to store the waste and it can be shown to benefit ratepayers. The Senate voted 23–9 for Senate Bill 384, with several Democrats joining Republicans in voting for the measure. The bill now heads to the […]

Closure of Exelon’s 614-MW R.E. Ginna and Entergy’s 882-MW James A. FitzPatrick nuclear plants will leave New York with a statewide power deficiency starting in 2019, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) has concluded. A generator deactivation assessment issued on February 11 that is focused on reliability impacts stemming from the deactivation of the FitzPatrick […]

Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide Electric Co-ops Launch “Community Storage” Initiative Electric cooperatives are poised to increase their use of electric water heaters as a demand response (DR) and energy storage tool in their service territories.&hellips; Read More   Advertisement Over 150 Million Tubes […]

A national action plan issued by the White House seeks to take near-term actions to enhance cybersecurity awareness and protections, including investing more than $19 billion in resources for cybersecurity. The Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP) announced on February 9 is the “capstone” of more than seven years of efforts by the Obama administration to tackle […]

Duke Energy is considering the sale of all or most of its international power plants, about 4,400 MW dispersed throughout Central and South America. The company’s international business segment, Duke Energy International (DEI), was forced to make the disclosure in light of a required statement from its Brazilian subsidiary, Duke Energy International, Geração Paranapanema S.A. […]

Canadian utility Fortis wants to acquire ITC Holdings Corp., the largest independent electric transmission company in the U.S., to benefit from “low-risk” regulated power markets. The deal valued at about $11.3 billion will allow Fortis to enter the U.S. regulated power market overseen by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), providing a “unique, highly diversified, […]

Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide EPA, DOE Experts Upbeat on Regulatory Agenda The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) acting administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation, and the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) head of clean coal and carbon management gave upbeat assessments of the […]

Mississippi Power’s lignite-fired Kemper County integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant is seeing yet another delay and $110 million in new costs, a filing with state regulators shows. The company’s December 2015 monthly status report for the nation’s first commercial power plant that will capture and store carbon dioxide anticipates that it will now […]

Following rigorous safety checks, Kansai Electric Power Co. on February 1 restarted a unit that uses a uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel at its Takahama nuclear plant in Japan’s Fukui prefecture. The unit is the third restarted in Japan since the country’s Nuclear Regulation Agency (NRA) idled all reactors and began safety checks in the […]

The New York State Public Service Commission on January 21 approved a 10-year, $5 billion Clean Energy Fund that is expected to address climate change and strengthen resiliency in the face of extreme weather. It will also bolster Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s aggressive Clean Energy Standard, which calls for the state to meet 50% of its […]

The historic winter storm that buried the Eastern U.S. in snow over the weekend shut the lights off for more than a million customers from Arkansas to Massachusetts as it downed power lines and hampered operations at some power plants. According to the Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, at one […]

Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide Halt the EPA’s Clean Power Plan Now, 26 States Urge Supreme Court Following the D.C. Circuit's denial of motions for stay, 26 states, a number of trade associations, and a coalition of utilities have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court […]

Following the D.C. Circuit’s denial of motions for stay, 26 states have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to immediately block the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) contentious Clean Power Plan from taking effect. The January 26 application, directed to Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., notes that the states filed petitions for review of the carbon rule […]

Congressional efforts to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) contentious rule asserting federal authority over small bodies of water were derailed on Jan. 21. Senate Republicans voted 52–40, failing to override the president’s veto of the so-called “Clean Water Rule”—also “Waters of the United States” (or WOTUS) well short of the 60 necessary votes. Clean […]

A federal court has denied the motions for stay requested by 27 states and numerous industry groups to block the Clean Power Plan from taking effect. “Petitioners have not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review,” the court said in its two-page order on January 21. The court also ordered that consideration of the […]

Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide Calpine to Take Uneconomic CCGT Plant Offline in Calif.  Calpine Corp. will idle a 578-MW natural gas–fired combined cycle (CCGT) power plant in northern California for likely the remainder of the year. The Houston-headquartered company told POWER on January […]

Entergy has asked a federal court to invalidate a November 6 New York state (NYS) objection to a certification needed for the 20-year license extension of its Indian Point nuclear facilities by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The state’s Department of State (DOS) claimed in its decision that Entergy’s twin nuclear reactors, which supply nearly 25% […]

Calpine Corp. will idle a 578-MW natural gas–fired combined cycle (CCGT) power plant in northern California for likely the remainder of the year. The Houston-headquartered company told POWER on January 15 that it will put the 2001-built Sutter Energy Center in Yuba City in “cold layup.” That means that while will the plant will not […]

A new grid modernization blueprint released by the Department of Energy (DOE) on January 14 seeks to integrate conventional and renewable power sources with energy storage and efficiency measures, while ensuring the grid is resilient against cyberattacks and climate change threats. The DOE said that the plan will help “frame new grid architecture design elements, […]

Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide Terrorist Drones Could Pose Threat to Nuclear Plants Advanced drones capable of carrying sophisticated imaging equipment and significant payloads pose a serious threat to nuclear power plants and other high-profile targets, says a report released on Jan. 11 by […]

Wholesale power prices across the nation plunged between 27% and 37% at major trading hubs last year compared to 2014, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported. The agency said on January 11 that the drop was driven largely by lower natural gas prices. Natural gas spot prices in 2015 at the Henry Hub averaged $2.61 […]

Energy and environment issues have figured prominently in past State of the Union (SOTU) addresses. Here’s a look back at President Obama’s previous speeches. See what Obama said in his final SOTU speech on January 12. 2010: Nuclear Gets the Spotlight In his very first State of the Union address, President Obama called for incentives […]

In his final State of the Union (SOTU) address on January 12, and arguably less so than in any other address he has given over the last seven years, President Obama made sparse mention of energy and climate change. The president dedicated most of the energy references in his address to “clean” energy, encapsulating wind […]

Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide Vogtle Expansion Owners, Contractors, Settle All Claims Georgia Power (GP) announced on Jan. 4 that the owners of the expansion project at the Vogtle nuclear power plant (GP, Oglethorpe Power Corp., the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, and Dalton […]

Malware has apparently been used for the first time to prompt a large-scale power blackout. An attack was tied to a Dec. 23 blackout affecting about 1.4 million Ukrainians living in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, reported Ukrainian news media outlet TSN. However, Slovakian information security firm ESET later confirmed that the reported case “was not an […]

From issuance of the final Clean Power Plan to mammoth mergers, 2015 will be remembered as a tumultuous year. Twelve months ago, as folks were emerging from an eventful 2014, POWER made some bold predictions, including that fuel economics will drive 2015 U.S. power markets, and the labor crunch will complicate the gas turbine arms […]