News

American Electric Power (AEP) has sold four competitive natural gas and coal power plants‚ a total of 5.2 GW, and plans to invest the proceeds from the sale in its regulated business. AEP completed the sale of the plants to Lightstone Generation LLC, a joint venture of Blackstone and an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners […]

The board of French utility EDF has approved a compensation package for the closure of France’s oldest nuclear reactor, the 39-year-old Fessenheim nuclear plant, but it delayed making a final decision on the closure until after the presidential election this spring. Closure of the 1,800-MW Fessenheim plant in northeastern France, near the German border, has […]

Having been denied a request for an extended schedule, petitioners in an ongoing lawsuit challenging the merits of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for coal-fired power plants late on January 23 filed a series of briefs with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The briefs filed […]

A crane boom collapsed under heavy winds at the Takahama nuclear power plant in Japan, landing on the Unit 2 reactor building and fuel handling building at around 9:50 p.m. local time on January 20. Plant operator, Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO), reported that no injuries and no adverse environmental effects resulted from the accident. […]

As part of its ongoing drive to exit competitive power markets, FirstEnergy Corp. said on January 23 that it has agreed to sell four natural gas–fired power plants in Pennsylvania and its competitive share of a pumped-storage hydroelectric plant in Virginia to private equity firm LS Power Equity Partners III. FirstEnergy announced last year that […]

The Trump administration will scrap executive actions to curb U.S. carbon pollution from power plants and other climate measures outlined in the Obama administration’s landmark Climate Action Plan, according to an “energy plan” published by President Donald Trump’s White House minutes after he was inaugurated January 20. Under the White House’s plan, the Trump administration […]

While admitting no wrongdoing or liability, Duke Energy reached an agreement with the U.S. government to resolve a lawsuit related to its acquisition of a Florida gas-fired power plant. The plant in question—Osprey Energy Center (Figure 1)—is a 537-MW two-unit combined cycle facility located in Auburndale, Fla., that Duke Energy purchased from Calpine Construction Finance […]

As France’s grid operator Réseau de Transport d’Électricité (RTE) warned the public that they need to start taking measures to conserve energy as temperatures plummet or face rolling blackouts, the nation’s nuclear watchdog, the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN), has given the go-ahead to restart all but three of the 12 nuclear reactors that have […]

China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) has ordered the cessation or postponement of 104 coal-fired power projects in 13 provinces scattered around the country. The body responsible for formulating and implementing energy development plans and industrial policies issued the order on January 16 to achieve goals to cap national installed coal capacity at 1,100 GW as […]

Amazon’s latest wind farm in coastal North Carolina has completed construction and is weeks from beginning operations—and state legislators have just asked the incoming Trump administration to shut it down. The $400 million, 208-MW, 104-turbine project, built by Apex Renewables near Elizabeth City and backed by financing from Iberdrola Renewables, is supposed to power Amazon’s […]

Homer City Generation, operator of a three-unit, 1,884-MW coal-fired generating station about 45 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, Pa., has initiated a voluntary, pre-packaged Chapter 11 case in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The financial restructuring process is expected to eliminate more than $600 million in existing secured debt from Homer City’s […]

A bill to protect the U.S. power grid from cyber-attacks reintroduced by members of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee urges a “retro” approach to cybersecurity using a novel analog “disrupter” technology to guard computer-connected operating systems. U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Angus King (I-Maine) on January 10 renewed their support of the Securing Energy […]

Although AREVA recently disclosed that 17 U.S. nuclear power plant units have installed components that were forged at the Le Creusot facility in France—a forge that has been under scrutiny due to questionable quality assurance documentation and carbon segregation irregularities in some parts manufactured at the site—the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) does not consider the […]

Non-utility generators urge FERC to overturn state actions in New York and Illinois that the generators claim distort FERC’s wholesale electricity markets.

NuScale will submit the nation’s first application for design certification of a small modular reactor (SMR) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Thursday. The Corvallis, Ore.–based company, which is majority owned by the Fluor Corp., has been developing its light-water reactor nuclear technology for more than 15 years. Development of the NuScale power module […]

An incident at J.M. Stuart Station—a 2,318-MW coal and diesel generating facility operated by Dayton Power and Light Co. (DP&L)—resulted in six people being treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Several media outlets referred to the event as an explosion, citing nearby residents’ accounts of the incident. At least a few people said they heard and felt […]

For the third straight year, renewable generation accounted for the majority of new utility-scale capacity additions in the U.S. during 2016, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on January 10. The EIA estimated that the U.S. added 24 GW of new utility-scale generation in 2016, of which 63% was renewables, almost all of it wind […]

Petra Nova—a commercial-scale post-combustion carbon capture project designed to remove more than 90% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) from a 240-MW slipstream of flue gas off of the W.A. Parish generating station in Fort Bend County, Texas—has been completed, according to project partners NRG Energy Inc. and JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corp. The […]

Beyond major reliability events that have prompted regional blackouts in the past, the U.S. grid faces “imminent danger from cyber attacks,” warns the second installation of the Obama administration’s Quadrennial Energy Review (QER). Here are other key trends outlined in the comprehensive study of the nation’s electricity system. The QER, available on the DOE web site, identifies the threats, […]

Entergy Corp. and the state of New York have reached an agreement that will see the Indian Point nuclear power plant retired by 2021. “Key considerations in our decision to shut down Indian Point ahead of schedule include sustained low current and projected wholesale energy prices that have reduced revenues, as well as increased operating […]

The U.S. took a big step toward becoming a major exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2016 as Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass export terminal in Louisiana came online early last year and upgrades to the Panama Canal that opened in June made shipments to the Pacific region considerably easier. Data from the Department of […]

If the Clean Power Plan is scrapped or weakened, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may be forced to regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted by existing power plant with wider repercussions under its National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) program, experts have warned. While President-Elect Donald Trump promised to “scrap” the Clean Power Plan during his […]

The 2,250-MW Navajo Generating Station near Page, Ariz., and the associated Kayenta coal mine may close in 2017.

China rolled out its latest five-year energy development plan, detailing the country’s aim of investing about 2.5 trillion yuan (more than $363 billion) through 2020 in the development of renewable energy resources. Yang Li Zhe, deputy director of China’s National Energy Board, explained the country’s vision during a press conference held in Beijing on January […]

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has submitted documents that suggest its plan to permanently store low-level and intermediate-level nuclear waste close to its Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Kincardine, at an underground site near the eastern shore of Lake Huron, is the best option for disposal. Responding to a February 2016 request for information by the […]

The past year saw an astonishing number of mergers, acquisitions, and business reconfigurations of electricity and energy companies, without any obvious organizing theory. Is it possible to make sense of the activity, or is it just business Brownian motion—aka, random behavior?  Gas companies spun off power generating assets. Power companies sold offshore businesses. Independent generators […]

If broad policy commitments announced by various countries are implemented, coal will not only lose its rank as the dominant fuel for power generation to renewables by 2040, but the world’s coal fleet will be significantly transformed by technology advances, the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) newly released World Energy Outlook (WEO-2016) forecasts. Under a baseline […]

A tumultuous election year that was marked by market turmoil, the events of 2016 clearly showed that big change is afoot for the power sector. Many of POWER‘s bold predictions for 2016, such as that the near-simultaneous surge in U.S. natural gas production and recent enactment of environmental rules would reshape the U.S. power sector, […]

POWER‘s monthly infographic sheds light on power sector trends globally, and in 2016, it highlighted water issues, future coal fleet technologies, U.S. power plant retirements, energy storage technologies, China’s power glut, global emissions limits, and more. January 2016: Future Coal Fleet What the world’s future coal fleet will look like by technology. February 2016: GHG […]

Some of the U.S. coal market’s own product wound up in its stocking this Christmas season. Despite hope from the election of Donald Trump and a potential shift toward more coal-friendly energy policies, coal plant owners across the country continued the trend toward shutdowns and reduced operations that have marked the past few years. Coal […]