The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) is considering a proposal for a stimulus package that would allocate ¥93 billion (about $779 million) to support installations of energy storage systems by industrial, commercial, and residential customers, as well as a variety of energy efficiency measures, according to a report in Bloomberg. The METI […]

Continuing a drive to reduce its energy intensity 16% between 2010 and 2015, China’s State Council announced on Jan. 20 that the country had managed a 4.8% reduction in 2014, beating the target of 3.9%. Energy intensity is a measure of a nation’s efficiency in using energy to drive growth in gross domestic product (GDP). […]

The 550-MW Desert Sunlight solar photovoltaic (PV) plant near Riverside, Calif., which matches MidAmerican’s Topaz Solar project for the largest solar plant in the world, began commercial operations in December, according to the California Independent System Operator. Developed and built by First Solar, and owned by NextEra, GE Energy Financial Services, and Sumitomo, Desert Sunlight […]

The dramatic collapse in the price of oil—currently flirting with sub-$40/barrel levels—has naturally produced an explosion of commentary on its short- and long-term effects. One curious, though predictable, narrative is starting to emerge from the environmental left: The price collapse is the death knell to shale oil, and the U.S. oil boom—which was never a […]

Power News Don’t miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers’ Guide

The Obama administration announced on Jan. 14 that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will propose new regulations to cut emissions of methane from the oil and gas industry, as well as other measures, with a goal of reducing total U.S. methane emissions 40% to 45% by 2025. The proposed rule is expected this summer. Emissions […]

The nuclear renaissance has turned into a nuclear retirement party. As recently as 2012, the U.S. had 104 operating nuclear reactors. With the retirement of Entergy’s Vermont Yankee plant at the end of December, that number has now fallen under 100 for the first time since the 1970s.  Yet as rapid as that pullback has […]

Power News Current Issue | Find a Job | Post a Job

The U.S. could get nearly 50% of its generation from renewable sources by 2030 with existing technologies and the right policies and investments, according to a report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) on Jan. 12. The report is one of the first in IRENA’s Remap 2030 series, which explores how to double […]

Moving natural gas through long-distance pipelines requires substantial energy, and much of that energy is lost when the gas must be reduced in pressure before it reaches end users. But a new project may demonstrate a way for gas transmission companies to recapture some of that energy and improve the efficiency of the letdown process, […]

Power News Don’t miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers’ Guide

Exelon’s R.E. Ginna Power Station in western New York may be the next U.S. nuclear plant to shut down in the face of competitive pressures if the company cannot get approval to substantially increase the rates it charges for the plant’s electricity. Ginna had a power purchase agreement with Rochester Gas & Electric that expired […]

The breathtaking collapse in crude oil prices this past fall, which has seen benchmark prices drop from over $110 a barrel last year to under $50 this past week, has had little effect on U.S. natural gas production, which continues to set records. According to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. dry natural […]

With California already on track to meet its goal of getting 33% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, Gov. Jerry Brown announced on Jan. 5 that he would seek to raise the renewables portfolio standard (RPS) target to 50% by 2030. In his inaugural speech opening his fourth term (he previously served from […]

The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) on Dec. 18 approved Florida Power & Light’s (FPL’s) request to invest in natural gas wells in Oklahoma. NextEra subsidiary FPL, one of the largest natural gas consumers in the country—it burns more gas than any other electric utility, about 2 Bcf/d—filed the request this past June. The plan […]

The growth in natural gas–fired generation in the U.S. since 2007 has overwhelmingly displaced coal-fired generation, according to a report from the Breakthrough Institute released Dec. 15. Consistent with the impressions of power sector observers, but in contrast to previous claims by environmental groups that growth in gas is offsetting renewables and nuclear while coal […]

In one of its last actions for the year, Congress passed a bill extending a variety of tax breaks, including the Production Tax Credit (PTC) through the end of 2014. The PTC, along with many other tax breaks in the bill, had expired at the end of 2013. The extension will allow them to be […]

Said to be the largest such facility in Europe, a 6-MW/10-MWh lithium-ion battery storage project in Bedfordshire northwest of London in the U.K. officially began operations on Dec. 15. The £18.7 million Smarter Network Storage project, a collaboration between S&C Electric Europe, Samsung SDI, and Younicos, is installed at an electric substation in the town […]

The omnibus continuing resolution (popularly referred to as the “CROmnibus”) passed by Congress late in the evening on Dec. 13 to keep the U.S. government running through 2015, contains a number of provisions affecting the power generation sector. DOE. Executive branch agencies received a mix of cuts and expansions. The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) $10.2 […]

Power News Current Issue | Find a Job | Post a Job

Spurred by large utility-scale projects and healthy growth in residential installations, the U.S. added 1.3 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in the third quarter of 2014, according to the latest US Solar Market Insight Report published by the Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research. The 1,354 MW of utility, commercial, and residential PV […]

Unit 1 of India’s long-delayed Kudankulam nuclear power plant, which reached commercial operations after 26 years of development this summer only to be shut down in September after a turbine accident, was brought back online on Dec. 8. The two-unit project in Tamil Nadu, a 2014 POWER Top Plant, began development in 1988 but spent […]

The drop in world oil prices, given added impetus by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC’s) decision on Nov. 27 not to cut production, may pose a threat to shale gas production in the U.S. Crude oil prices have fallen substantially since reaching a peak of around $110/barrel this past July, hitting a low […]

State renewable energy standards (RPSs) may be threatened by the expiration of federal tax credits, according to research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBL). Lab scientist Galen Barbose, speaking at the annual meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC) in San Francisco, presented the results of a joint study between LBL and […]

Power system demands are changing to put a premium on flexible grid operations, and gas-fired power is the best choice for increasing flexibility. Such was the sense of a panel presentation to utility regulators at the 126th annual meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) in San Francisco this week. “The electric […]

After an array of New England’s largest utilities announced rate increases this fall, blaming seasonal natural gas shortages, the region is once again facing short-term gas price spikes as growing demand coupled with supply constraints roil the power market. National Grid, which supplies customers in New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, announced on Nov. 1 […]

Power News Current Issue | Find a Job | Post a Job

After a decade of negotiations, Russia and China have now closed two major gas supply agreements, with a memorandum of understanding for a second route west of the first being signed on Nov. 9. According to Russian media, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed on a deal to supply 30 billion […]

Texas utility Oncor announced this week that it will seek regulatory approval to spend up to $5.2 billion on 5 GW of energy storage resources to firm up its grid and improve reliability. Oncor owns the state’s largest electrical grid, and it hopes to deploy distributed storage batteries across its entire system beginning in 2018. […]

Southern California Edison (SCE) signed contracts for more than 260 MW of energy storage resources on Nov. 5, among them what will be the largest grid-connected battery system in the world, a 100-MW facility supplied by AES Energy Storage. Under its mandate from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), SCE was required to sign contracts […]