Business

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

The revolution that has toppled coal from the top of the generating queue in the U.S. has not reached the rest of the world, according to the “BP Statistical Review of World Energy.” While natural gas may have supplanted coal as king of the hill in the U.S. electric generating mix, the solid mineral—geographically the […]

Linde Group, an international industrial gases firm based in Munich with a U.S. home in New Jersey, is an unusual beneficiary of the U.S. shale gas revolution. The company has developed technology using the industrial gases it can produce in copious quantities, to reduce some of the environmental objections to developing shale gas wells. Linde […]

Looking Out for Shale Gas Labor Issues The Houston Chronicle reports that the U.S. Department of Labor is closely watching how shale gas producers protect their laborers from workplace accidents and injuries. They suspect violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act on hours of work and overtime pay. The gas industry’s critiques say the companies […]

In a welcome development almost no one saw coming, America’s greenhouse gas emissions have fallen to 1992 levels and are expected to continue to decline, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA). In addition to a sluggish economy and more fuel efficient cars, “fracking” has been a big driver of this trend. “Fracking” is shorthand for […]

The shale gas revolution has so far been a U.S. phenomenon. But hydrocarbon-containing Devonian shale formations are far from a U.S. or even North American phenomenon. Geologic forces didn’t follow political boundaries in the Devonian period 400 million to 300 million years ago. Indeed, the continents then were not where they are today by large […]

Duke Energy will retire four coal units and possibly two oil-fired units under terms of a settlement reached between the company and four citizen and environmental groups over outstanding air permits for the company’s Edwardsport Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) project. The agreement resolves a long-standing dispute over air permits for the now-operational IGCC plant […]

  If you’ve seen U.S. coal industry executives casting wistful glances across the Atlantic recently, there’s a reason. In the U.S., natural gas is enjoying a boom unseen in decades, perhaps ever. New production from shale should make the country a net exporter within a decade. New gas-fired plants are starting up almost as fast […]

  As environmental regulations continue their forward march and gas prices remain low compared to historic rates due to increased domestic supply, the number of power plants changing their primary fuel source to natural gas has increased dramatically. In 2011 and 2012, just more than 5.5 GW of power plant capacity switched to burning primarily […]

Despite frail demand for natural gas in Europe and difficulties in upstream production growth in the Middle East and Africa, the “Golden Age” of natural gas will remain in full swing until at least 2018, recent projections from the International Energy Agency (IEA) show. A medium-term outlook released by the Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organization in […]

In his climate change speech earlier this summer, President Obama announced a major policy shift: The U.S. government will end financing for virtually all new coal power plants oversees. In the wake of that

Mexico Creates Council to Meet Clean Energy Target. The Mexican Energy Secretariat on July 5 announced creation of the Renewable Energy Council , a body designed to spearhead eight initiatives outlined in a

When Gary Leonard, General Electric’s global technology director for aero-thermal and mechanical systems technologies, spoke with POWER Contributing Editor Mark Axford at this year’s Gulf Coast Power

HDE’s Quick-Check Transformer & Capacitor Testers provide a quick and easy test of the primary and secondary sides of de-energized transformers and capacitors for opens or shorts. The Quick-Check

New Mexico could host the nation’s first buried long-distance high voltage direct current (HVDC) electric transmission network if an ambitious project proposed by Tres Amigas LLC gains traction. The merchant transmission entity whose mission it is to unite the nation’s three power grids to achieve its renewable energy goals unveiled the 2,000-MW New Mexico Express […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has fully allocated funds to support Babcock & Wilcox’s (B&W’s) initial project period for its mPower small modular reactor (SMR) technology. The North Carolina–based company was the only winner selected in November 2012 of the DOE’s competitively bid SMR Licensing Technical Support Program, an initiative designed to boost the accelerated […]

Two federally sponsored reports submitted to the Eastern Interconnection States’ Planning Council (EISPC) suggest that the rapid expansion of natural gas could force the closure of between 35 GW and 60 GW of U.S. coal power capacity over the next five years and weaken market forces that now bolster existing nuclear plants. An Energy Department–funded […]

Oklahoma will seek a rehearing of its regional haze case against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) before the full 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, state Attorney General Scott Pruitt confirmed on Wednesday. On July 19, a divided three-judge panel threw out the state’s claims  that the EPA had “impermissibly rejected” a State Implementation Plan (SIP) […]

An enforcement action filed in federal district court by the Department of Justice last week alleges Luminant Generating Co. made unauthorized changes to its Big Brown and Martin Lake coal-fired power plants in Texas that violated the Clean Air Act. The case filed under seal in the Northern District of Texas (Dallas division) follows a […]

Europe’s Gas Power Plant Carnage Intensifies Another 1.2 GW of gas-fired generation has been idled in Germany as utilities scramble to rein losses that are pegged to falling wholesale electricity prices and a surge in renewable power generation. Norwegian power company Statkraft put into “wet reserve” the 800-MW Knapsack 1 and 417-MW Herdecke power plants, […]

Courtesy: Pemex Rapid growth in U.S. gas exports to Mexico already is having profound effects north of the border, and things will only get more interesting. Gas producers in the Eagle Ford and other Texas shale plays are finding the new buyers they need. But gas consumers in the Southwest—caught with a losing hand of […]

A technology developed by the University of Delaware (UD) and NRG Energy that provides a two-way interface between electric vehicles and the power grid earlier this year became an official paid resource on PJM Interconnection’s regional grid (Figure 4). One of the first of its kind, the project proves the so-called “vehicle-to-grid” (V2G) concept can sell electricity from electric vehicles.

UN Report on Global Renewable Energy Investment. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) released its report Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2013 on June 11, finding that renewable energy investment at the global level was $244 billion in 2012. However, global investments in renewable energy fell 12% compared to 2011 due to dramatically lower […]

A municipal utility in the South may not be where you’d expect to find an exemplary smart grid implementation, but that’s just fine with EPB Chattanooga. Its leaders are raking in the kudos—including POWER’s 2013 Smart Grid Award—and their community is attracting new businesses in response to a fiber-optic-based system that has helped raise the profile of their city and bolster the sustainability of their utility.

Although nearly all energy experts agree that demand for electric energy in Texas will outstrip supply in the coming years, developers of new power generation facilities are facing significant headwinds. The cause of the problems is a unique mix of circumstances.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Tuesday unanimously approved a bipartisan bill that bolsters efforts by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to craft a cybersecurity framework.

The Senate last week confirmed Gina McCarthy as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a bipartisan vote of 59–40.