News

Germany Approves Plan to Slash Carbon Emissions. Germany’s cabinet on Dec. 3 approved a new policy package to meet ambitious targets that would reduce the nation’s carbon emissions at least 40% by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. The plan proposes that 22 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions will be saved by power plants, […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the availability of more than $59 million in funding to support solar energy innovation. Of that total, $45 million is intended “to quickly move innovative solar manufacturing technologies to market” and more than $14 million is designated for 15 new projects to help communities develop multi-year solar deployment […]

More than six and a half years after the Department of Energy (DOE) submitted its license application seeking authorization to build a geologic repository, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff published the final two volumes of the safety evaluation report (SER) on the Yucca Mountain site. Released on Jan. 29, Volume 2 covers repository safety before […]

According to a study funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers, a smaller portion of carbon dioxide (CO2) that is injected into the ground may be converted into rock than was previously presumed. The team, working in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and […]

A powerful blizzard packing hurricane-strength winds that hit the northeast U.S. yesterday and dropped as much as two feet of snow in some areas forced the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station offline after the distribution lines taking its electricity failed. According to a spokesperson with Entergy, Pilgrim’s owner, the plant shut down safely around 4 a.m. […]

The U.S. and India announced on Jan. 25 that negotiators had reached an agreement resolving the impasse over India’s nuclear liability law that had prevented U.S. companies from supplying reactors to India out of fear of potentially unlimited liability in the case of an accident. Details of the agreement, which would create a government-sponsored insurance […]

In a dramatic move that passed the state Legislature with little debate and almost no opposition, West Virginia lawmakers on Jan. 22 voted to repeal the state’s 2009 alternative energy standard, which requires utilities to get 25% of their power from alternative sources by 2025. The repeal bill passed the state Senate unanimously and the […]

Answering questions in a video produced by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), new chairman Stephen G. Burns says safety and security are the top priorities for the agency, but that being agile and nimble when things change is also important. Burns said one of the biggest challenges confronting the agency is the level of resources […]

Persistently low prices on the wholesale electricity market are forcing RWE—the third-largest electricity provider in Europe, serving 16 million customers—to consider dismantling some gas-fired power plants and shipping them abroad, Dr. Rolf Martin Schmitz, RWE’s COO, told Reuters in an interview. The German-based company has been struggling for awhile. In August 2014, RWE announced that […]

President Obama’s State of the Union (SOTU) address on Tuesday night held no surprises about energy issues. The word “energy” only appeared twice in the president’s speech—once in mention of the nation’s “booming energy production” and once with regard to how we produce and use energy. The word “power” came up twice with respect to […]

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) is considering a proposal for a stimulus package that would allocate ¥93 billion (about $779 million) to support installations of energy storage systems by industrial, commercial, and residential customers, as well as a variety of energy efficiency measures, according to a report in Bloomberg. The METI […]

Continuing a drive to reduce its energy intensity 16% between 2010 and 2015, China’s State Council announced on Jan. 20 that the country had managed a 4.8% reduction in 2014, beating the target of 3.9%. Energy intensity is a measure of a nation’s efficiency in using energy to drive growth in gross domestic product (GDP). […]

On Jan. 14, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) report for 2013 showing that electric utilities have cut toxic releases to the environment 49% since 2003. The drop was driven by a 73% decline in on-site toxic air releases as a result of a decrease in hazardous air pollutants (HAP) […]

The 550-MW Desert Sunlight solar photovoltaic (PV) plant near Riverside, Calif., which matches MidAmerican’s Topaz Solar project for the largest solar plant in the world, began commercial operations in December, according to the California Independent System Operator. Developed and built by First Solar, and owned by NextEra, GE Energy Financial Services, and Sumitomo, Desert Sunlight […]

The dramatic collapse in the price of oil—currently flirting with sub-$40/barrel levels—has naturally produced an explosion of commentary on its short- and long-term effects. One curious, though predictable, narrative is starting to emerge from the environmental left: The price collapse is the death knell to shale oil, and the U.S. oil boom—which was never a […]

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder announced a series of deals designed to eliminate a costly utility rate payment in the state’s Upper Peninsula (UP), while providing long-term, cost-effective energy reliability for the region. The solution was developed through four principle agreements. In one, the electric utility businesses now owned by We Energies and Integrys (doing business […]

Düsseldorf, Germany–based energy supplier E.ON announced on Jan. 12 that it would sell its Italian coal and gas generation assets to Energetický a Průmyslový Holding (EPH), a Czech energy company. E.ON has been looking for a suitor for the Italian operations since at least Nov. 30 when it announced it was embarking on a new […]

The U.S. could get nearly 50% of its generation from renewable sources by 2030 with existing technologies and the right policies and investments, according to a report released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) on Jan. 12. The report is one of the first in IRENA’s Remap 2030 series, which explores how to double […]

Moving natural gas through long-distance pipelines requires substantial energy, and much of that energy is lost when the gas must be reduced in pressure before it reaches end users. But a new project may demonstrate a way for gas transmission companies to recapture some of that energy and improve the efficiency of the letdown process, […]

Two giants in the power industry—Westinghouse Electric Co. and Bechtel Corp.—have formed an alliance to provide decontamination, decommissioning, and remediation services to U.S. commercial nuclear power plants. The alliance is expected to provide a full range of services, including pre-shutdown planning, characterization, decontamination, licensing, project development and management, dismantling, demolition, waste handling, and site closeout. […]

According to a story first reported by Amanda Levin of TheStreet.com, American Electric Power Co. (AEP) has retained the services of Goldman, Sachs & Co. in an effort to unload its 7,923-MW merchant generation fleet. AEP—headquartered in Columbus, Ohio—is one of the largest electric utilities in the U.S., serving over five million customers in 11 […]

Exelon’s R.E. Ginna Power Station in western New York may be the next U.S. nuclear plant to shut down in the face of competitive pressures if the company cannot get approval to substantially increase the rates it charges for the plant’s electricity. Ginna had a power purchase agreement with Rochester Gas & Electric that expired […]

The breathtaking collapse in crude oil prices this past fall, which has seen benchmark prices drop from over $110 a barrel last year to under $50 this past week, has had little effect on U.S. natural gas production, which continues to set records. According to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. dry natural […]

With California already on track to meet its goal of getting 33% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020, Gov. Jerry Brown announced on Jan. 5 that he would seek to raise the renewables portfolio standard (RPS) target to 50% by 2030. In his inaugural speech opening his fourth term (he previously served from […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said today that a delay in issuing final rules affecting carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants, which were due this week, will help the agency release a set of more coordinated rules covering new, existing, and modified plants. The carbon dioxide rule for new plants—issued under Section 111(b) […]

The controversial Cape Wind power project planned for development off Nantucket Island in Massachusetts has suffered what may be a fatal blow, The Boston Globe reported today. According to the newspaper and several other independent reports, the two local utilities that had contracts to buy power from the offshore wind farm terminated their contracts as […]

Operators at Entergy’s Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (VY) took the plant offline permanently on Dec. 29 at 12:12 p.m. EST, ending a 42-year operational history. The shutdown is the first step in what is expected to be a decades-long decommissioning process for the plant. VY follows several other nuclear plants that have begun the […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced on Dec. 23 that Stephen G. Burns will replace Allison Macfarlane as chairman, effective Jan. 1, 2015. Burns, a 33-year veteran of the agency—became a commissioner in November. He began his career at the NRC as an attorney in the Regional Operations and Enforcement division in 1978, later serving […]

A major U.S. solar manufacturer will shutter a manufacturing plant in Tennessee in part due to ongoing challenges presented by global trade disputes.  Polycrystalline silicon–maker Hemlock Semiconductor, a company majority owned by Dow Corning Corp., on Dec. 17 said it would close a facility in Clarksville, Tenn., owing to “sustained adverse market conditions.” “As difficult […]

The Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) on Dec. 18 approved Florida Power & Light’s (FPL’s) request to invest in natural gas wells in Oklahoma. NextEra subsidiary FPL, one of the largest natural gas consumers in the country—it burns more gas than any other electric utility, about 2 Bcf/d—filed the request this past June. The plan […]