Gas

For deploying a novel, groundbreaking gas-battery hybrid technology along with environmentally significant upgrades within a tight installment window, and despite logistical hurdles, Southern California

Xcel Energy on August 29 said it wants to retire 660 MW of coal-fired generation capacity as part of a “Colorado Energy Plan” that also includes adding as much as 1,700 MW of renewable energy and 700 MW of natural gas-fired power generation to its portfolio in the state. A key element of the proposal […]

A Houston-based microgrid company has used its on-site generators and underground natural gas pipeline system to enable H-E-B grocery stores in the Houston area to remain open despite power outages and massive flooding during and in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Texas utilities have reported more than 300,000 customers have been without power at various […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) new grid study is based on analyses of federal government data collected between 2002 and 2017, a period it notes fostered critical developments in the nation’s power sector. Here are some of report’s most thought-provoking charts. [gss ids=”109885,109881,109883,109877,109865,109867,109869,109875,109873,109871″] For an in-depth analysis about the DOE’s grid study, see: DOE Grid Study Points Finger […]

In a long-awaited study of electricity markets and grid reliability, the Department of Energy has called out natural gas as the No. 1 reason for retirements of coal and nuclear plants, breaking from the Trump administration’s prior talking point blaming regulations and renewables for the nation’s shrinking coal and nuclear fleets. The report attributes four […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) much-anticipated study on grid resilience and reliability elicited immediate chatter from a variety of industry stakeholders, from power generators and trade groups to environmental and clean energy advocates. The 187-page study essentially notes that unprecedented changes are transforming the electricity industry. Over the past 15 years, market forces—namely, cheap natural […]

Nine states in New England and the Mid-Atlantic region have said they will cut emissions from power plants by 65% below 2020 levels by 2030, expanding a cap-and-trade program designed to reduce carbon output usually associated with power plants. States in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) agreed to increase emissions cuts by an additional […]

A settlement Mississippi Power reached on August 21 with stakeholders of the Kemper County facility will ensure customers won’t be subjected to rate increases associated with the now-abandoned gasification portion of the project. While that will affect revenues, the resolution could soften controversy surrounding the project and avoid protracted legal and financial turmoil, the company […]

Houston-based Calpine Corp., which confirmed in July it was looking for a buyer, announced August 18 it has agreed to be bought by Energy Capital Partners (ECP) in a $5.6 billion deal. ECP is a private equity firm that focuses on investments in North American energy infrastructure. The purchasing group also includes a consortium of […]

Final rules issued by Massachusetts agencies to help the state meet its stringent climate goals will require 21 in-state power plants to tamp down their carbon emissions annually. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) last week published a set of six rules designed to complement an […]

Exelon could begin construction as soon as next week on an expansion of its 135-MW West Medway oil-fired peaking plant in West Medway, Massachusetts. The company’s plan to add two units and 200 MW of generation to the existing three-unit facility was deliberated for 29 months by state and local officials before a state board […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) again has a working quorum after the U.S. Senate confirmed Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson as new members August 3. FERC had been without a quorum since February 2017 when Commissioner Norman Bay resigned, and with only one member after Collette Honorable left the agency at the end of […]

DTE Energy has filed plans with the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) to build a 1,100-MW natural gas-fired power plant on about 100 acres east of the existing Belle River Power Plant, northeast of Detroit near the Canadian border. The August 1 filing confirms the proposal that DTE discussed with local officials last fall for […]

Today’s construction boom in the combined cycle/cogeneration sector is great news for suppliers of gas turbines (GTs), heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs), and engineer-procure-construct (EPC) services. But before this boom advances from artist’s sketches (Figure 1) to first fires, the designers of all those next-generation combined cycles should pause to reflect on the lessons learned […]

If you’ve been paying attention to the power markets in recent years, you know that merchant coal and nuclear power plants are struggling to compete against natural gas-fired generation and renewable

Three major firms want to evaluate the possibility of converting a natural gas–fired power plant in the Netherlands into a hydrogen-powered plant to possibly capture its carbon emissions.  Statoil

Iran on July 12 began operating its first combined heat and power (CHP) plant, a 14.4-MW facility in the Yazd Province in central Iran. The managing director of Yazd Regional Electricity Co., Mohammad Hassan

The Glenarm Power Plant has been keeping the lights on around Pasadena, California, for more than 110 years. The historic site has expanded over time and has included a total of 17 different power generation

The microgrid installation at the Ameren Illinois Technology Applications Center (TAC) near the University of Illinois campus in Champaign—designed, engineered, and constructed by S&C Electric Co. of

Self-contained, small islands of electric generation, storage and distribution inside the existing grid–microgrids–could be the next big thing in electricity. But some argue they may be just another

Several factors favor natural gas when it comes to the future of U.S. power generation. But other forces, such as power demand, energy efficiency, and the impact of renewables, make it a complex fray. Let’s

The rise of some sources of alternative energy such as renewables, storage, energy efficiency, and demand response, and decline in others—specifically nuclear—will continue to impact regional gas and

A group representing several energy companies and ratepayers said it would appeal a federal judge’s ruling that upholds New York’s plan to subsidize nuclear power plants in the state. U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni on July 25 in Manhattan ruled that federal law does not preempt the state and its Public Service Commission (PSC) from […]

The Trump administration wants to revitalize the coal industry, but they will not do so by imposing regulation on the natural gas industry, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry told reporters July 18 at a joint press conference with International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol. “Would the Department of Energy (DOE) be a participant in […]

Dynegy this week announced it will sell three more power plants to reduce debt as it works to satisfy an agreement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reached after the company’s $3.3 billion purchase of French energy giant Engie’s U.S.-based assets earlier this year. Houston, Texas-based Dynegy said it has agreed to sell its […]

NRG Energy said it will sell as much as $4 billion in assets as it seeks to lower its debt and cut costs after a revolt by activist investors unhappy with the company’s direction. Shares of the company jumped 29% to a two-year high on July 12 after NRG announced the moves as part of […]

A federal appeals court has ruled the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) should not have denied a 2012 proposal by PJM in which the regional power operator sought to revise its minimum offer price rule (MOPR). The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 7 said FERC went beyond its “passive and reactive role” under […]

Florida regulators next week will consider whether to support an exemption to a state rule, a move that could speed the approval process for a new 1,163-MW natural gas-fired power plant on the state’s Atlantic coast. Florida Power & Light (FPL), the nation’s third-largest electric utility, has proposed the $888 million power plant for Broward […]

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) earlier this year reported that the power sector was poised to add 11.2 GW of new natural gas–fired capacity in 2017. If that forecast proves accurate, it

A number of baseload generators across Europe have decried the fall in average European wholesale power prices, which some peg to additions of subsidized low-marginal-cost renewable generation to an already