News

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 […]

A federal court has denied the motions for stay requested by 27 states and numerous industry groups to block the Clean Power Plan from taking effect. “Petitioners have not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review,” the court said in its two-page order on January 21. The court also ordered that consideration of the […]

Entergy has asked a federal court to invalidate a November 6 New York state (NYS) objection to a certification needed for the 20-year license extension of its Indian Point nuclear facilities by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The state’s Department of State (DOS) claimed in its decision that Entergy’s twin nuclear reactors, which supply nearly 25% […]

New energy technologies, decreasing renewable energy costs, and low natural gas prices are forcing changes in the way traditional power companies must plan for the future. “A fundamental rethink is now well underway about how energy gets produced, delivered, consumed, and managed in many parts of the world, including the U.S.,” said Ethan Zindler, head […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced on January 15 that it was awarding up to $40 million each in cost-shared funding to Southern Co. and X-Energy to “support work to address key technical challenges to the design, construction, and operation of next generation nuclear reactors.” It also announced on January 18 that it was awarding […]

Calpine Corp. will idle a 578-MW natural gas–fired combined cycle (CCGT) power plant in northern California for likely the remainder of the year. The Houston-headquartered company told POWER on January 15 that it will put the 2001-built Sutter Energy Center in Yuba City in “cold layup.” That means that while will the plant will not […]

Acting on President Obama’s desire to improve fossil fuel resource management and push the country toward a “clean energy” economy, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) announced on January 15 that it is launching a comprehensive review of the federal coal program. The review will be conducted in the form of a Programmatic Environmental […]

A new grid modernization blueprint released by the Department of Energy (DOE) on January 14 seeks to integrate conventional and renewable power sources with energy storage and efficiency measures, while ensuring the grid is resilient against cyberattacks and climate change threats. The DOE said that the plan will help “frame new grid architecture design elements, […]

In a voice vote on January 12, the Wisconsin Assembly passed AB 384, a bill that would repeal the statute currently preventing the state Public Service Commission (PSC) from authorizing construction of nuclear power plants in Wisconsin. Specifically, Wisconsin law states that construction of new facilities cannot commence until the PSC issues a “certificate of […]

The month-old agreements that seemed to provide a lifeline for an array of coal-fired and nuclear power plants in Ohio owned by American Electric Power (AEP) and FirstEnergy have come under attack by other generators who say they can meet the demand at a lower cost to state taxpayers. AEP reached an eight-year power-purchase agreement (PPA) […]

Wholesale power prices across the nation plunged between 27% and 37% at major trading hubs last year compared to 2014, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported. The agency said on January 11 that the drop was driven largely by lower natural gas prices. Natural gas spot prices in 2015 at the Henry Hub averaged $2.61 […]

Energy and environment issues have figured prominently in past State of the Union (SOTU) addresses. Here’s a look back at President Obama’s previous speeches. See what Obama said in his final SOTU speech on January 12. 2010: Nuclear Gets the Spotlight In his very first State of the Union address, President Obama called for incentives […]

In his final State of the Union (SOTU) address on January 12, and arguably less so than in any other address he has given over the last seven years, President Obama made sparse mention of energy and climate change. The president dedicated most of the energy references in his address to “clean” energy, encapsulating wind […]

Advanced drones capable of carrying sophisticated imaging equipment and significant payloads pose a serious threat to nuclear power plants and other high-profile targets, says a report released on Jan. 11 by The Remote Control Project. Analysts for Open Briefing, a London-based civil society intelligence agency, compiled the report. The group reviewed 202 commercially available drones […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has granted preemption authority to nuclear facilities in New York and California, allowing plant security forces to possess and use certain firearms and related devices despite local, state, or federal laws and regulations restricting their use. The action follows years of review. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 gave the […]

Florida regulators on Jan. 5 approved the 1,600-MW Okeechobee Clean Energy Center under development by NextEra Energy subsidiary Florida Power & Light (FPL) near Vero Beach. The plant will be the fifth advanced combined cycle power plant FPL has commissioned since 2009. The three-unit Okeechobee plant will join the 1,335-MW 3,750-MW [Ed.-Corrected 1/14/16] West County […]

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 […]

Malware has apparently been used for the first time to prompt a large-scale power blackout. An attack was tied to a Dec. 23 blackout affecting about 1.4 million Ukrainians living in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, reported Ukrainian news media outlet TSN. However, Slovakian information security firm ESET later confirmed that the reported case “was not an […]

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 […]

Georgia Power (GP) announced on Jan. 4 that the owners of the expansion project at the Vogtle nuclear power plant (GP, Oglethorpe Power Corp., the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, and Dalton Utilities) have settled all pending litigation with the original project contractors, Westinghouse and CB&I. According to GP, the settlement resolves “all claims currently […]

China Makes Nuclear Export Gains in Argentina, Romania. As it boosts its domestic nuclear power capacity, China is also snapping up lucrative contracts to build new reactors abroad. This November, China

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 […]

Ghana’s Ministry of Power released a statement on Dec. 30 proclaiming the end of the country’s load-shedding program. The news may not be welcomed by all of the nation’s residents however, as many Ghanaians were reportedly looking forward to the power minister’s self-promised resignation, if load shedding had not been terminated by year end. Citi […]

The Wylfa Nuclear Power Station—the last operating Magnox reactor in the world—came offline permanently on Dec. 30. Located in Anglesey, an island off the northwest coast of Wales in the UK, the plant entered service in 1971. Originally constructed with two 490-MW units, only Reactor 1 has been operating since 2012. The UK pioneered the […]

Texas is the latest state to file suit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its recently finalized standards for ozone. The state joins Arizona, Arkansas, Kentucky, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wisconsin, which have legally challenged the final version of the EPA’s National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone since its […]

Portland General Electric (PGE) assumed engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) responsibility for the Carty Generating Station on Dec. 18, following the original EPC contractor’s default on its construction agreement. Construction began on the Carty plant on Jan. 9, 2014. It is being built in Oregon next to PGE’s existing Boardman Plant, which is scheduled for […]

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

A slowing of the Chinese economy and the diversification of its power sector, combined with a worldwide trend toward policies that favor renewable energy and the retirement of older, less-efficient coal-fired facilities, trumped growth in India and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, resulting in a decline in coal consumption in 2014, which […]

Hackers believed to be connected to Iran infiltrated the control system of a small dam outside New York City in 2013, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The Bowman Avenue Dam in Rye Brook, about 20 miles northeast of the city, is small and used only for flood control. While the hackers […]