Environmental

The governors of 17 U.S. states on February 16 signed a landmark agreement to cooperate on expanding clean energy, energy efficiency, and modernizing energy infrastructure. The Governors’ Accord For A New Energy Future makes the case that “new energy solutions” can “provide more durable and resilient infrastructure, and enable economic growth, while protecting the health […]

Dealing a major blow to the Obama administration’s climate agenda, the U.S. Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote stayed implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan (CPP) pending a decision on its legality in the D.C Circuit Court of Appeals. The one-page order gives no explanation for the court’s action, but issuance […]

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) issued a $6.6 million fine to Duke Energy on February 8 for environmental violations related to the February 2014 coal ash spill from the Dan River power plant near Eden, N.C. Although the fine is not insignificant, it pales in comparison to the $102 million the company […]

Mississippi Power’s lignite-fired Kemper County integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant is seeing yet another delay and $110 million in new costs, a filing with state regulators shows. The company’s December 2015 monthly status report for the nation’s first commercial power plant that will capture and store carbon dioxide anticipates that it will now […]

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) acting administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation, and the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) head of clean coal and carbon management gave upbeat assessments of the Obama administration’s regulatory agenda and power sector priorities speaking at the EUEC 2016 conference in San Diego on February 3. Janet McCabe of […]

The identification and containment of coal ash has risen to the top of the priority list for plant managers across the U.S. after inadvertent releases of coal ash into unintended areas resulted in adverse

Since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its “new source performance standard” on August 3, 2015, requiring new coal power plants in the U.S. to emit no more than 636 kg (1,400 lb) of

Advances in firing biomass, including bagasse, in Cuban sugarcane operations.

A summary of POWER’s legal affairs conference on power industry regulations.

When it comes to a transition away from coal, TransAlta Corp. is playing political defense. The Canadian province of Alberta contains among the richest fossil energy resources in the world, including oil (and

The historic winter storm that buried the Eastern U.S. in snow over the weekend shut the lights off for more than a million customers from Arkansas to Massachusetts as it downed power lines and hampered operations at some power plants. According to the Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, at one […]

Following the D.C. Circuit’s denial of motions for stay, 26 states have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to immediately block the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) contentious Clean Power Plan from taking effect. The January 26 application, directed to Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., notes that the states filed petitions for review of the carbon rule […]

Congressional efforts to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) contentious rule asserting federal authority over small bodies of water were derailed on Jan. 21. Senate Republicans voted 52–40, failing to override the president’s veto of the so-called “Clean Water Rule”—also “Waters of the United States” (or WOTUS) well short of the 60 necessary votes. Clean […]

Silicon Valley Power (SVP)—Santa Clara, Calif.’s municipal electric utility—has decided to stop importing out-of-state electricity from the San Juan Generating Station, completely eliminating coal from its power supply. San Juan is a 1,646-MW four-unit coal-fired power plant located in Waterflow, N.M., and operated by PNM. SVP owns an interest in San Juan through its participation […]

State renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) provide around $7.4 billion in annual economic benefits and substantial reductions in water withdrawals and consumption, according to a new study from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and National Renewable Energy Laboratory released on Jan. 6. The study, “A Retrospective Analysis of the Benefits and Impacts of […]

In mid-November, current members of POWER’ s Generating Company Advisory Team responded by email to a set of questions about their concerns, challenges, and new initiatives as they plan for the year ahead

A significant transformation of the global power mix is under way, noted the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its newly released World Energy Outlook (WEO-2015). Renewables are getting subsidized boosts

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the final version of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) on Oct. 23, 2015, and within hours more than two dozen challenges were filed

From issuance of the final Clean Power Plan to mammoth mergers, 2015 will be remembered as a tumultuous year. Twelve months ago, as folks were emerging from an eventful 2014, POWER made some bold predictions, including that fuel economics will drive 2015 U.S. power markets, and the labor crunch will complicate the gas turbine arms […]

POWER‘s monthly infographic sheds light on power sector trends globally, and in 2015, it highlighted changes in plant retirements, sector revenues, rule costs, workforce, emissions technologies, and electricity costs, among other subjects. January 2015: Baseload Retirements How coal plant retirements compare with retirements of other baseload generation sources. February 2015: Power Revenues How revenues for fossil power […]

A status update and forecast for solar photovoltaic power in Greece, Croatia, and Italy.

As expected, President Obama vetoed two resolutions on Dec. 18 that would have blocked the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) rules on CO2 emissions and halted the administration’s Clean Power Plan. Senate Joint Res. 23 was Congress’ attempt to nullify the EPA’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for new, modified, and reconstructed power plants, while Senate […]

North America’s reserve margins are trending downward, even though electricity demand has generally fallen, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) warned in a new report. The international regulatory authority established to gauge and improve the reliability of North America’s bulk power system (BPS) said in its annual long-term report that electricity demand has dropped […]

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) will remain in effect as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) works on a final cost finding, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered on Dec. 15. The court noted in a two-page order that the EPA “has represented that it is on track to issue […]

Coal ash utilization, which had stalled between 2009 and 2013 as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prepared a final federal coal ash rule, increased significantly in 2014. According to the American Coal Ash Association’s (ACAA’s) most recent “Production and Use Survey,” 62.4 million tons of coal combustion products were beneficially used in 2014—up from 51.4 […]

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a decision concluding that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) use of Thunderclap—a crowd-speaking social media platform that allows a single message to be mass-shared, flash-mob style—constituted “covert propaganda,” in violation of the publicity or propaganda prohibition. The decision was issued in response to a request from Sen. James […]

Delegates of 195 nations, including the U.S., on Dec. 12 reached a landmark deal at the Paris COP21 conference that commits the world to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in an effort to combat the effects of climate change. Though scientists have said global temperature increases need to kept below 2 degrees C to avoid […]

American Electric Power (AEP), one of the biggest coal generators in the U.S., is withdrawing funds and staff resources from heavy lobbying efforts against the Clean Power Plan, sinking them instead into preparations for compliance with the controversial climate rule. The company has informed the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) that it will not be […]

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan (CPP) is likely to be complicated at least as much by political and legal opposition as by technological challenges in reducing carbon emissions, several speakers at POWER magazine’s inaugural conference on legal issues in the generation industry noted on Dec. 7 in Las Vegas. “Navigating Legal Implications of […]