Business

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on Tuesday unveiled five pillars on which U.S. energy policy should be built and discussed how the nation should tackle climate risks and grid threats.  The lawmaker told attendees at the Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2014 Energy Conference that the nation’s new era […]

Uncertainties about leadership at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) were resolved on Tuesday, as the U.S. Senate voted separately to confirm Norman Bay as chair and Cheryl LaFleur to a second term at the regulatory body.  The Senate approved Bay’s nomination by a 52–45 vote, despite claims by Republicans and some Democrats who say […]

Over the past week, the Department of Energy (DOE) made available $4 billion in additional loan guarantees for U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency projects as it slashed application fees by more than a third for its $8 billion Advanced Fossil Energy Projects Loan Guarantee Solicitation.  The agency on July 3 issued a loan solicitation to […]

The battle over Sunflower Electric Cooperative’s plans to build an 895-MW coal-fired power plant in Holcomb, Kan., returned to court on Friday. The Sierra Club, represented by Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit challenging a new air pollution permit recently issued by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to Sunflower to build its proposed Holcomb […]

British Columbia (BC) has long enjoyed some of the lowest electricity costs in North America, but when in August 2013, a draft of the BC Rates Plan which proposed a 26% rate increase by 2016, was leaked, this was met with such a backlash of protest that the government was forced to reconsider the proposal. […]

The decommissioning of nuclear plants has developed into a mature industry in the U.S. It started in the 1960s with the dismantling of low-power prototype and test reactors originally built to demonstrate

RWE AG is Europe’s third-largest electricity and fifth-largest gas marketer, with holdings in upstream oil and gas production, power grids, and energy trading. Its German power subsidiary has been the utility poster child for the effects of the Energiewende, the transformation of the Germany power system away from nuclear and coal toward renewable energy and […]

At the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) annual meeting this week in Las Vegas, the tone was one of collaboration with partners from Washington to distributed generation companies. Those partnerships will be needed as the investor-owned utility (IOU) industry fights not so much a war on coal as a war for mindshare and wallet share in […]

Economic and population booms forecast for several countries in the oil- and gas-rich Middle East are forcing a reassessment of those countries’ historic reliance on fossil fuels and a new focus on securing sustainable electricity and water supplies.  The Middle East is a region of extremes. While some countries enjoy opulent wealth, others are some […]

Temporary power may be the most widely distributed “distributed” generation worldwide, and its distribution is spreading, thanks to its ability to quickly meet urgent needs not only for event, construction, and post-disaster emergency power but also for fast-growing economies and stressed grids. That’s making it a serious competitor for “permanent” power in some situations. When […]