Business

With the ink barely dry on Version 4 of NERC’s critical infrastructure protection (CIP) standards, a new iteration is on the way, bringing with it some major changes in the way the standards will work.

The potential of offshore wind generation in the U.S. is being held back by a regulatory no-man’s-land.

The experience of telecommunications giant Verizon shows why taglines that promise clear, relevant benefits to customers can be invaluable, as long as the company follows through.

Far from precipitating a crisis in high-tech manufacturing, the Chinese attempt to corner the market on rare earth minerals has instead inspired some healthy competition and adaptation.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week proposed a rule that it says could strengthen cybersecurity for the bulk electric system. The rule intended to improve the security posture of responsible entities was submitted in January 2013 by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC), and it constitutes version 5 of the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Reliability Standards.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week voted 21-1 to approve the nomination of Dr. Ernest Moniz to be Secretary of Energy. Moniz, a physicist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is expected to win full Senate approval this week—with some minor hurdles.

Revisions proposed on Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to technology-based effluent limitations guidelines and standards could set the first federal limits on the levels of toxic metals in wastewater discharges from steam electric power plants. The proposed rule would help reduce pollutants in U.S. waterways from coal ash, air pollution control waste, and other power plant waste, but they could come at a cost of between $185.2 million to nearly $1 billion a year, the agency said.

The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) last week approved the construction and operation of a 1-GW transmission line that could stretch 330 miles from the Canadian border to Astoria, Queens, through Lake Champlain and the Hudson River.

Reform—and the possible partial or total sale—of Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the federally owned and operated but self-financed 80-year-old corporation, as proposed by the White House in its fiscal year 2014 budget, was reportedly unexpected and has been criticized by varied entities.

The carbon intensity of the global energy supply has barely budged in more than two decades despite otherwise successful efforts in deploying renewable energy, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warns in an annual report submitted to the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) on Wednesday.

The proposed 2014 federal budget that President Obama submitted to Congress on Wednesday includes increases for the Department of Energy in general and for DOE-sponsored research and development (R&D) in particular. It also shows a slight decrease in funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The increasing cost of natural gas relative to coal is expected to increase coal’s share of total generation from 37.4% in 2012 to 39.9% in 2013, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) April release of its Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). Though that would leave coal’s percentage below its 42.3% share in 2011, it indicates that gas may not be on an inevitable path to overtake a significantly greater share of the generation pie.

The Wyoming state Industrial Siting Council has approved an amended permit for the $800 million, 300-MW Two Elk coal-fired power plant, which was first proposed in 1996 but has yet to break ground.

In its 2013 report on the state of U.S. infrastructure, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gives the energy sector a grade just shy of failure. In its previous report, in 2009, the ASCE also gave energy a D+.

Apparently, deciding that half a loaf is better than none, Southern California Edison (SCE) on Monday submitted a draft proposal for a voluntary license amendment to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for the troubled San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), in hopes of salvaging its plan for a five-month limited-power restart test. The move appeared to be in response to pressure from local groups seeking to keep the reactor shut down.

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) canceled plans to buy power from two planned BrightSource Energy Inc. 250-MW solar thermal plants on the same day that BrightSource asked regulators to suspended permitting for the $2.7 billion project in California’s Inyo County.

Southern Co. has withdrawn plans to seek a $1.5 billion federal loan guarantee for the 582-MW lignite-fired integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant its Mississippi Power Co. unit is building in Kemper County.

Nevada power company NV Energy Inc. has proposed a plan to accelerate the retirement of its coal-fired generating facilities and the construction of natural gas and renewable power plants.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is made up of seven emirates, yet two dominate the demographic, economic, and geopolitical landscape. Download the report.

Protests in more than 20 cities by tens of thousands of Bulgarians over January electricity bills that averaged more than €100 ($130) forced the country’s prime minister, Boyko Borissov, and his center-right government to resign in mid-February.

Government decisions to subsidize renewable power to increase its capacity for environmental and security reasons have spurred investments but also increased cross-border tensions. Increasingly, legal actions that seek to settle international trade disputes allege unfair subsidization.

Undergoing a NERC CIP audit is an ordeal, particularly when the ground rules are not clearly spelled out in advance. An experienced NERC CIP auditor lays out a comprehensive five-step plan that will show you how to prepare for a successful audit.

The power and gas industries may be joined at the hip, but judging from the talk at a recent conference, not everyone is excited about future directions.

With the increasing interdependency of the natural gas and electricity, the number of economic and regulatory factors than can shift the future direction of both industries is growing substantially.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) last week directed San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) to procure up to 298 MW of local generation beginning in 2018, and authorized the utility to enter into a purchase power tolling agreement with Wellheads’ Escondido Energy Center. It declined, however, to let the utility enter into similar agreements with two gas generators, because they were bound to be delayed.

NuScale on Wednesday announced it would seek federal funding to accelerate deployment of the company’s small modular reactor technology, saying it would submit a letter of intent in response to a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) announced by the Department of Energy (DOE) earlier this month.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) on Tuesday rejected challenges by environmental groups to Progress Energy’s application to license two new nuclear plants in Levy County, Fla.

On Monday, the Department of Energy issued a new funding opportunity announcement designed to help U.S. industry design and certify innovative small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). This follow-on solicitation to the cost-share agreement with Babcock & Wilcox for its mPower SMR technology, announced in November 2012, is open to other companies and manufacturers and is focused on furthering SMR efficiency, operations, and design.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates final regulations curbing greenhouse gas (GHG), mercury, and air toxics emissions from new sources could appear in the Federal Register over the next six weeks. Also forthcoming are final cooling water intake rules and proposed effluent guidelines. The coal ash rule, which has no target date for a final rule, may not be issued this year, the agency said.