Sonal Patel is a national award-winning multimedia journalist and senior editor at POWER magazine with nearly two decades of experience delivering technically rigorous reporting across power generation, transmission, distribution, policy, and infrastructure worldwide.
Dan Utech has replaced Heather Zichal as Director for Energy and Climate Change at the White House Domestic Policy Council. Zichal filled the role for more than five years and was a trusted advisor to President Obama. She crafted his energy and climate change agenda in 2008, and was a strong advocate for policies that […]
By 2035, renewables will hold a 30% share of the global power mix but just 1% of the world’s fossil fuel–fired power plants will be equipped with carbon capture and storage (CCS), reports the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its newly released World Energy Outlook (WEO-2013). The annual report presents a central scenario in which global […]
Legislative efforts to establish a federal renewable electricity standard (RES) kicked up last week with the separate introduction of two bills by Senate Democrats. Sens. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) on Oct. 29 introduced the Renewable Electricity Standard Act of 2013 (S.1595), a bill that would create a national standard of 25% renewable energy […]
Eighteen carbon capture projects across the U.S. have been chosen to receive $84 million in federal funding to help improve the efficiency and drive down costs of carbon capture processes for new and existing coal power plants. The Department of Energy (DOE), which announced selection of the projects today, said funded research will focus on […]
An executive order signed by President Obama today requires federal agencies to promote the “dual goals” of a greater resilience to climate change and a removal of barriers to carbon-curbing measures, including carbon sequestration. Climate change impacts that include “prolonged periods of excessively high temperatures, more heavy downpours, an increase in wildfires, more severe droughts, permafrost thawing, […]
The total costs of Mississippi Power’s Kemper County integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant—the nation’s only large-scale integrated carbon capture and sequestration project (CCS) under construction—have now almost doubled to $4.02 billion. A review of the Kemper facility’s construction schedule and costs completed this month by Mississippi Power management prompted the company to push back […]
A revised technical guidance released by the U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday to bolster a key facet of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) declares an end to U.S. support for multilateral development bank (MDB) funding for new overseas coal projects except in “narrowly defined circumstances.” The updated guidance document is designed to be incorporated […]
Norwegian energy company Statoil last week canceled its $120 million project to put four 3-MW wind turbines on floating spar-buoy structures 12 miles offshore of Maine’s Boothbay Harbor. The Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) had in January 2013 approved terms of Statoil’s proposed Hywind Maine project, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management last year […]
NRG Energy will buy nearly 8,000 MW of generation capacity across the U.S. from bankrupt power firm Edison Mission Energy (EME) for $2.6 billion. The company entered into a plan sponsor agreement to acquire almost all EME’s assets, including EME’s generation portfolio and Edison Mission Marketing and Trading, a proprietary trading and asset management platform. […]
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today unanimously established an energy storage target of 1,325 MW that California’s largest investor-owned utilities, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas & Electric, must meet by 2020. The decision will help California optimize the grid with measure such as peak reduction, contribute to […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]