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A final rule issued last week by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to foster competition and transparency in ancillary services markets creates new opportunities for energy storage technologies to help transmission customers self-supply their own Regulation and Frequency Response service requirements while opening up certain ancillary services markets to all generators selling at market-based rates.

Twelve attorneys general last week filed a lawsuit in federal court requesting for access to documents related to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) so-called "sue and settle" practice with advocacy groups.

Gina McCarthy moved closer to a Senate confirmation as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator after Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) confirmed he wouldn’t further block a long-delayed vote on her nomination.

A bill approved by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday could prevent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from finalizing new rules that cost more than $1 billion if the Energy Department determines they will hurt the economy.

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld an earlier district court decision that Clean Air Act liabilities do not transfer to new owners when a facility is sold, while the Third Circuit upheld an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule to limit sulfur dioxide emissions from a Pennsylvania coal-fired power plant on request of New Jersey, a downwind state.

A bipartisan Senate bill introduced on June 27 seeks to break gridlock over a permanent nuclear waste repository by establishing a new nuclear waste administration and creating a consent-based process for siting nuclear waste facilities.

Soaring power demand in New York, California, and Ontario over the past week forced grid authorities to institute conservation measures.

A recent report from the Congressional Budget Office confirms that a carbon tax would mean substantial revenues for the government. But the impacts would be many, varied—and unequal.

The legal turmoil surrounding the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) continues as a federal appeals court has struck down another pro-labor ruling by the board, while challenging its authority to act at all. At the same time, in a directly related matter, the membership of the board and whether it has a legal quorum continues, with Congress getting into the act.

A legal tax avoidance tool for small investors in the oil and gas industry is getting a lot of buzz among renewable energy financial gurus and advocates. But are “master limited partnerships” a path to new piles of money for green energy, or just a passing fancy? And should MLPs replace the current panoply of lucrative tax gimmicks available for renewables, or be available on top of such items as the production tax credit, investment tax credits, accelerated depreciation, and state and local renewable energy mandates?

The wrong words at the wrong time can cost a lot of money. But creative uses for the right words can create value in unexpected places.

MANAGING POWER talks to energy veteran and president of Resources for the Future Phil Sharp about the complexities of energy policy.

Despite a broad-based assault across the country, state renewable portfolio standards have survived this round, with a few seeing expansion.

The complexities of operating under a broad renewable portfolio standard require careful analysis of the options when planning a new power plant. Here’s how one generator in California navigated the sea of conflicting priorities when it was time to upgrade.

Sounding the call for new perspective, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. says it’s past time to formally consider gas availability and gas supply constraints when assessing the reliability of the bulk power system.

Though often cast as rivals for the same slice of the generation pie, gas and renewables, according to a new study of the ERCOT market, are natural allies for the long term.

Energy policy in the European Union (EU) is in upheaval as concerns mount over the impact of energy costs on the competitiveness of the power industry.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt Sign $1.6 Billion Agreement to Link Electricity Grids. Under an agreement signed on June 1, Saudi Arabia’s majority state-owned utility, Saudi Electricity Co., and Egypt’s state power company, Egyptian Electric Holding Co., will share the cost of building a 3,000-MW undersea transmission cable to link their electricity grids. The $1.6 billion […]

Beacon Power Corp. was founded in 1997 to develop flywheel-based energy storage technology. By 2007, the 100-kW/25-kWh Gen 4 flywheel system was commercialized and deployed in several projects. However, market conditions pushed the company into bankruptcy in late 2011. The company has since emerged, reinvigorated with new investment and a new name: Beacon Power LLC.

President Obama’s highly anticipated Climate Action Plan (CAP) released today outlines a wide variety of executive actions founded on three pillars: slashing U.S. carbon pollution through stringent rules for new and existing power plants while doubling renewables deployment and promoting fuel switching from coal to natural gas; preparing the U.S. for impacts of climate change; and leading international efforts to combat global climate change.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) last week indefinitely delayed new construction on its Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Alabama, saying it had slashed the project’s budget by 64% and would reduce staff by 75%.

The fiscal year 2014 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill released by the U.S. House Appropriations Committee this week slashes $1.4 billion in funding to Department of Energy renewable energy and scientific research programs, including an 80% spending cut on the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday advanced a set of four bills that it said would "improve" environmental regulations and increase state authority, including legislation that would task states—not the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—with the responsibility to set up coal ash disposal rules.

What if you could send a control message between two points on the electricity grid—say between a control room operator and a turbine or between a system operator and a generating plant—and know that there’s no way that message can be intercepted, altered, or spoofed to effect malicious ends? That possibility may be only a couple of years away.

Duke Energy’s long-awaited but controversial and cost-overrun-plagued integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) coal plant began commercial operation on June 7 in Knox County, Ind.

The European Commission (EC) last week imposed a provisional antidumping duty of 11.8% on imports of solar cells, wafers, and panels from China. Manufacturers have welcomed the controversial move, but installers and developers have decried it, saying it escalates a trade war that could drive up the cost of many solar technologies and undermine investment in the sector.

Several power companies, state commissions, and trade groups have filed briefs with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit challenging parts of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) Order 1000, a rule they argue will lead to high costs for consumers and diminish the authority of state and regional regulators. Meanwhile last week, the White House issued a memo directing federal agencies to improve siting and permitting process to help modernize the nation’s grid.

A much greater coal power burn is expected this summer in reaction to an anticipated rebound in natural gas prices, suggests a recent reliability assessment from staff at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Among other key aspects of the new report is that while electric reliability for the rest of the nation will be adequate, Texas could see a significant chance of an energy emergency.

A 660-MW underground and underwater transmission project linking Ridgefield, N.J., and Manhattan in New York City began operations on Monday.

Commissioner Philip Moeller of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission talks with Editor Thomas Overton about the progress of gas-electric harmonization, potential risks to reliability in the dash to gas, and the future of gas-fired power.