South Korea in the past week indicted 100 people—including officials from the state-run nuclear power plant operator—of corruption in a scandal over forged nuclear safety certifications. It is now also considering freezing ambitions to maintain nuclear’s 29% share in its total power mix—which means scrapping a previous goal to increase it to 41% by 2035. The scandal […]

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a narrow challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) authority to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from stationary sources, including power plants. In a mixed bag for groups fighting the EPA’s GHG regulation, the high court on Tuesday accepted for review six petitions—which were consolidated for oral […]

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Though a stalemate on the federal budget endures in Congress, and the federal government continues to be partially shut down, the Supreme Court began its new term on Oct. 7 by announcing that it had accepted two cases seeking a review of the invalidated Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). The two CSAPR cases, EPA, […]

The Supreme Court of the state of Kansas last week invalidated a controversial air pollution permit granted in 2010 by state regulators to Sunflower Electric Power Corp.’s proposed 895-MW coal-fired Holcomb 2 plant. The court ruled in favor of environmental group the Sierra Club, which claimed that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) erroneously […]

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A federal court on Monday said it would issue a memorandum opinion by the end of this month on a lawsuit filed by several environmental groups to force the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promulgate a final coal ash rule. At least 11 environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the Southern Alliance for Clean […]

“Abnormally wet weather” and “lower-than-planned construction labor productivity” have forced Mississippi Power to push back commercial startup of its integrated coal gasification combined cycle (IGCC) project in Kemper County, Miss., to later in 2014 from the originally scheduled in-service date of May 2014. The company said in a stock filing on Tuesday that it would […]

A report issued on Friday, Sept. 27 by a working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) essentially confirms the conclusions drawn by previous reports that human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels, are largely responsible for climate change. Working Group 1’s “Contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report Climate Change 2013: […]

A federation of Germany’s biggest companies last week called for urgent reforms to the country’s renewable energy strategy within the first 100 days of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s newly elected government, including abolishing feed-in-tariffs (FITs) that they say have sent power prices in the country soaring. Key points of the 19-page reform proposal submitted by the […]

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American Electric Power (AEP) last week said it would retire the 500-MW coal-fired Unit 4 along with other generating units at its Tanners Creek plant in Lawrenceburg, Ind. AEP subsidiary Indiana Michigan Power had announced its decision to retire Tanners Creek Units 1­–3 (495 MW) by mid-2015 in June 2011. A modified settlement reached this […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday allowed owners of the Navajo Generating Station near Page, Ariz. to consider a third option to curb nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions that was put forth by a coalition of the plant’s stakeholders—and which proposes to keep the plant open until at lest 2020. The 2.3-GW coal-fired power plant […]

A compromise offered by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) on Monday to resolve a worsening trade dispute between U.S. and Chinese solar industries proposes the creation of a Chinese fund to help grow the U.S. market and safeguards to offset surges of Chinese solar modules. The move comes as Chinese provisional anti-subsidy duties on […]

Norway’s government on Friday terminated a full-scale project to capture carbon dioxide at the Mongstad refinery on the country’s western coast, citing high risks connected to the facility. It will be replaced with a carbon capture and storage (CCS) program that is designed to “realize” other full-scale CCS projects in the country. Norwegian energy firm […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday issued a revised proposal to curb carbon emissions from new power plants that sets separate standards for new gas-fired and coal-fired power plants. The agency also revealed it is developing new carbon standards for existing power plants. Separate Standards for Coal and Gas and Forthcoming Existing Plant Standards […]

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About $30 million will be spent on the development of new tools and technologies to strengthen protection of the nation’s electric grid and oil and gas infrastructure from cyber attack, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced today. The funds will go to 11 projects undertaken by energy sector organizations in California, Georgia, New Jersey, North […]

Republicans in the House and the Senate introduced a new bill on Wednesday that would place new restrictions on the power of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Reorganization Plan Codification and Complements Act (NRC Reorganization Act) would guide the NRC’s policy and rulemaking actions and “clarify” the role and scope of […]

An unusual extreme heat wave spanning two days this week combined with local equipment issues in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania forced regional grid operator PJM Interconnection to take localized emergency measures to avoid the possibility of an uncontrolled blackout over a larger area. Soaring temperatures on Tuesday (Sept. 11) and Wednesday (Sept. 12) pushed […]

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Solar trade remedies set by U.S. Department of Commerce determinations are weakened by Chinese solar producers who fail to show they are “free of Chinese government control,” Oregon-based SolarWorld argues in an appeal filed in an international trade court last week. The move is the latest development in an escalating trade war between the U.S. […]

China’s historical solar photovoltaic (PV) price advantage is driven by economies of scale and supply chain development—not direct government subsidies or low labor costs, as is the prevailing belief—suggests a new study from the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The study recently published in the […]

An explosion on Tuesday morning at CPS Energy’s 420-MW Deely 1 power plant that left one worker with minor injuries has damaged the coal-fired unit’s cascade building, the San Antonio municipal utility said. The blast that occurred shortly before 11 a.m. at a 7,500-acre site in southeast Bexar County prompted officials to evacuate the building […]

Nearly 100 renewable energy and environmental groups and businesses have asked the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to reevaluate renewable energy forecasts, alleging the agency’s projections don’t reflect “the current status and recent, real-world growth rates of renewables.” In a Sept. 10 letter to EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski, the coalition says the agency’s estimates in past […]

The Department of Energy on Wednesday conditionally authorized Dominion Cove Point LNG, LP to export domestically produced liquefied natural gas (LNG) to countries that do not have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), marking the fourth order allowing non-FTA LNG exports. The orders authorizes Dominion Cove Point LNG to export 0.77 billion cubic feet of natural […]

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy on Tuesday pushed top officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to act immediately to restart the Yucca Mountain repository licensing process. Only two witnesses testified at the hearing on how the Obama administration intends to […]

A failure in one of the Venezuelan national grid’s transmission lines reportedly cut power to nearly half of the oil-rich country, including in much of its capital, Caracas, on Tuesday. The widespread blackouts reportedly affected the Capital District and 12 of Venezuela’s 23 states at about 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, cutting the lights in the […]

Dominion Virginia Power is the provisional winner of the Interior Department’s second competitive lease sale of federal land off the coast of Virginia to develop an offshore wind farm. The company bid $1.6 million to win the lease for 112,800 acres. In a statement on Wednesday, the Dominion subsidiary said it will use the land […]