Business

Cheryl A. LaFleur One of the most controversial issues facing the energy world today is how our electric sector will respond to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed Clean Power Plan

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) approved an electric security plan (ESP) for AEP Ohio—a unit of American Electric Power—on Feb. 25, but declined to adopt the company’s proposed power purchase agreement (PPA) as it relates to the Ohio Valley Electric Corp. (OVEC). The PPA rider was a point of contention with several groups […]

Google and rooftop solar company SolarCity announced on Feb. 26 that Google is contributing $300 million to an investment fund that is expected to finance $750 million in rooftop solar installations, the two companies said in a statement. The investment is structured as a tax equity deal that will allow Google to reduce its tax […]

France will look at all options in an attempt to overhaul its state-run nuclear industry, French Energy Minister Ségolène Royal told reporters on Monday, after AREVA reported a $5.6 billion loss for 2014.  The nuclear giant announced in a Feb. 23 statement that it expects a hefty €4.9 billion loss ($5.6 billion) for 2014. The […]

On Monday, the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC) approved the siting certificate for Moundsville Power LLC to construct a 549-MW combined cycle natural gas power plant in Marshall County. It will be the first to also burn ethane. The company is also touting the project’s role in helping to offset the effect of area […]

The sixth annual ARPA-E Summit wrapped up on Wednesday, and though there were too many sessions to cover in depth, here is a mini-summary by way of selected interesting comments. Speaker photos (where available) follow the comment. “Any disruptive technology will not fit an existing market.” —Brian Janous, Director of Energy Strategy, Microsoft “[The energy […]

Brine, the waste stream of the geothermal power production cycle, is usually considered a nuisance. High in corrosive minerals, even when reinjected, it’s challenging to manage. So when Simbol Inc. showed it had a way to turn this waste stream into a revenue stream by mining it for high-value minerals like lithium, a lot of […]

President Obama sent his 2016 budget request to Congress on Feb. 2, surely setting off a protracted battle with the new GOP majority over requests for increased spending on renewable energy initiatives and efforts to address climate change. It is certain that the budget will not become law in its current form, and it was […]

Although Peru has been one of the best-performing economies worldwide over the last decade, its energy sector is still small in absolute numbers. Consumption levels per capita are low, even by Latin American standards, and demand growth is highly dependent on new mining investments. Successive governments have kept energy prices low; and regional interconnection, which […]

Germany Approves Plan to Slash Carbon Emissions. Germany’s cabinet on Dec. 3 approved a new policy package to meet ambitious targets that would reduce the nation’s carbon emissions at least 40% by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. The plan proposes that 22 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions will be saved by power plants, […]

American Electric Power, one of the premier generating utilities in the U.S., is caught between a deregulated rock—wholesale competitive capacity markets that don’t, in the company’s opinion, value solid equipment over ephemeral demand response—and a regulatory hard place of increasing federal government rules that devalue on-the-ground coal-fired generation. Add the competitive challenge of cheap natural […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the availability of more than $59 million in funding to support solar energy innovation. Of that total, $45 million is intended “to quickly move innovative solar manufacturing technologies to market” and more than $14 million is designated for 15 new projects to help communities develop multi-year solar deployment […]

Persistently low prices on the wholesale electricity market are forcing RWE—the third-largest electricity provider in Europe, serving 16 million customers—to consider dismantling some gas-fired power plants and shipping them abroad, Dr. Rolf Martin Schmitz, RWE’s COO, told Reuters in an interview. The German-based company has been struggling for awhile. In August 2014, RWE announced that […]

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 […]

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced a series of deals designed to eliminate a costly utility rate payment in the state’s Upper Peninsula (UP), while providing long-term, cost-effective energy reliability for the region. The solution was developed through four principle agreements. In one, the electric utility businesses now owned by We Energies and Integrys (doing business […]

Düsseldorf, Germany–based energy supplier E.ON announced on Jan. 12 that it would sell its Italian coal and gas generation assets to Energetický a Průmyslový Holding (EPH), a Czech energy company. E.ON has been looking for a suitor for the Italian operations since at least Nov. 30 when it announced it was embarking on a new […]

Two giants in the power industry—Westinghouse Electric Co. and Bechtel Corp.—have formed an alliance to provide decontamination, decommissioning, and remediation services to U.S. commercial nuclear power plants. The alliance is expected to provide a full range of services, including pre-shutdown planning, characterization, decontamination, licensing, project development and management, dismantling, demolition, waste handling, and site closeout. […]

According to a story first reported by Amanda Levin of TheStreet.com, American Electric Power Co. (AEP) has retained the services of Goldman, Sachs & Co. in an effort to unload its 7,923-MW merchant generation fleet. AEP—headquartered in Columbus, Ohio—is one of the largest electric utilities in the U.S., serving over five million customers in 11 […]

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 controversial Cape Wind power project planned for development off Nantucket Island in Massachusetts has suffered what may be a fatal blow, The Boston Globe reported today. According to the newspaper and several other independent reports, the two local utilities that had contracts to buy power from the offshore wind farm terminated their contracts as […]

Over the last few years, it has become increasingly clear that a massive cyber-attack on the North American electric grid represents a serious threat to U.S. national security. Over time, a string of senior

Energy market dynamics in the U.S. continue to evolve. Regulatory developments, advancements in power plant technology, and fuel dynamics are transforming the industry. Although the outcome of these

“When pigs fly” is a figure of speech used to express disbelief that a particular situation will ever come to pass. For the power industry, several recent and emerging developments are the equivalent of

The power generation market continues to evolve due to fundamental changes in market forces. Ongoing opportunities exist to partner with utilities to support this evolutionary process. Leadership Is Key for

In 2013 the Mexican government passed historic reforms that eliminated the state’s monopoly on the energy sector in an effort to attract private investment. In the electricity sector, reform was sold on the

The rate of introduction of new gas turbine products has accelerated, and the speed of change creates challenges for engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors who are also coping with a

In mid-November, members of the POWER Generating Company Advisory Team responded via email to the following set of questions. Their comments have been edited for style. POWER: What changes in your fleet’s

The urge to merge, a key feature of the power industry for the past 20 years or so, showed no signs of slowing in 2014. Major players sought to beef up their asset portfolios and diversify their generating