Legislative

 A draft law backed by the European Parliament on January 17 proposes to raise the European Union’s (EU’s) renewable targets to 35% by 2030—substantially higher than a 27% target proposed by the European Commission and EU Council. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted 492–88 (with 107 abstentions) to increase the share of renewable sources […]

New Jersey’s full Senate is scheduled on January 4 to vote on a bill to subsidize two of the state’s nuclear power plants. However, industry observers posit that the measure won’t clear the full Assembly before the state legislature’s lame-duck session ends on January 9. S.3560 was introduced on December 14 after a preliminary hearing earlier […]

SCANA Corp., a company reeling from a decision to abandon two half-built nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer project in South Carolina, is getting a lifeline from Dominion Energy, one of the nation’s largest utilities. The two companies on January 3 announced an agreement to combine in a stock-for-stock merger. The proposed deal is valued […]

There are challenges facing the power industry in 2018, but there are also a lot of exciting opportunities. Renewable energy and gas-fired generation are expected to continue growing, but changes in federal

The European Union (EU) is unequivocally continuing down a path of global climate and energy leadership while bringing online more carbon-neutral fuel systems throughout its 28 member states, closing in on the 2020 goal of a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from 1990 levels. Indeed, the newly released European Environment 
Agency’s (EEA’s) Trends […]

A bill backed by outgoing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) to subsidize the state’s nuclear power plants unanimously passed a joint committee on December 20 and now heads to the full legislature for a vote. S.3560, introduced on December 14, directs the Board of Public Utilities to issue Nuclear Diversity Certificates (NDCs) to nuclear power […]

It’s become a cliché that government would be better if it were only run by private-sector managers using standard business practices. However, there are significant differences between the private sector and government. This quiz is designed to test your knowledge of those differences. Create your own user feedback survey To learn 18 more differences, read “25 Differences Between […]

Energy Secretary Rick Perry has granted a 30-day extension sought by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Kevin McIntyre last week to give the regulatory agency more time before it acts on the controversial proposed Grid Resiliency Pricing Rule. In a strongly worded letter, however, he told FERC to act expeditiously to allay reliability threats to […]

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt told House lawmakers on December 7 that the agency will introduce a rule to replace the Obama administration’s legacy Clean Power Plan. Pruitt told Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.) in a brief exchange, during a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Environment held on Thursday […]

Kevin McIntyre was sworn in as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on December 7, just more than a month after his nomination to the post was approved by the Senate. He takes over from interim chair Neil Chatterjee, who will remain at FERC as a commissioner. The agency that regulates transmission and wholesale […]