News

The drop in world oil prices, given added impetus by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC’s) decision on Nov. 27 not to cut production, may pose a threat to shale gas production in the U.S. Crude oil prices have fallen substantially since reaching a peak of around $110/barrel this past July, hitting a low […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday proposed to revise the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone to a range of 65 to 70 parts per billion (ppb) and sought comments on a level as strict as 60 ppb. The proposed level applies to primary (health-based) and secondary (welfare-based) ozone standards, but […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) have been seen by many in the coal-fired power industry as potentially more expensive and onerous than its Clean Power Plan, which addresses greenhouse gases. On Nov. 25, the Supreme Court agreed to review a consolidated case that could potentially prevent the MATS […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday finalized changes to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), applying to periods of startup and shutdown at new and existing coal- and oil-fired power plants nationwide.  As published in the Federal Register on Nov. 19, the final action on the EPA’s reconsideration of the startup and shutdown […]

China on Wednesday issued a key energy strategy that sets obligatory 2020 targets for renewables and nuclear power use and urges increased natural gas consumption—but which also caps coal consumption.  The State Council’s Energy Development Strategy Action Plan covers the period between 2014 and 2020. It caps annual energy primary consumption at 4.8 billion metric […]

State renewable energy standards (RPSs) may be threatened by the expiration of federal tax credits, according to research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBL). Lab scientist Galen Barbose, speaking at the annual meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC) in San Francisco, presented the results of a joint study between LBL and […]

Power system demands are changing to put a premium on flexible grid operations, and gas-fired power is the best choice for increasing flexibility. Such was the sense of a panel presentation to utility regulators at the 126th annual meeting of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) in San Francisco this week. “The electric […]

The U.S. Census Bureau released data on Nov. 18 showing that revenues for electric power generation industries that use renewable energy resources grew 49% from 2007 to 2012, while fossil fuel electric power generation industry revenues decreased 6.7% during the same time period. Fossil fuel revenues continued to dwarf renewable totals, bringing in $79.7 billion […]

The Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan could result in the retirement of between 3.3 GW and 8.7 GW of coal-fired capacity in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid and jeopardize electric reliability for the state that is already power strapped, the independent system operator (ISO) says in a new analysis.  The Environmental Protection Agency’s […]

Panda Power Funds awarded the engineering, procurement, and construction contract for a 778-MW combined cycle power plant to a turnkey consortium of Bechtel and Siemens Energy Inc. The Panda Stonewall generating station will be located in Loudoun County, Va., on a 101-acre site about four miles southeast of Leesburg. It is the sixth order awarded […]

The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) informed the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on Nov. 10 that it intends to bring suit under the Clean Water Act to stop the release of coal ash pollutants it says are leaking from the TVA’s Gallatin coal ash ponds into the Cumberland River. Gallatin Fossil Plant is a four-unit […]

Events over the past year—turmoil in the oil-rich Middle East and the Russian-Ukraine gas crisis—along with uncertainty for nuclear power and pervading energy poverty worldwide show that the energy system is “under stress,” the International Energy Agency (IEA) says in its freshly released World Energy Outlook 2014 (WEO-2014). Despite technology and efficiency improvements, without actions […]

Reaching an unexpected climate breakthrough, the U.S. and China in a joint statement on Wednesday each announced new targets to slash carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.  President Barack Obama set a new target to cut U.S. carbon emissions between 26% and 28% below 2005 levels by 2025. Chinese leader Xi Jinping, meanwhile, said his country […]

A couple of recently released reports offer some hope for the future of nuclear power plants operating on the fringe of profitability. Moody’s Investors Service suggests that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan “could increase the value of nuclear power as a non-carbon emitting generation source.” In its report, “Environmental Mandates and […]

On Nov. 5, The Babcock & Wilcox Co. (B&W) announced that its board of directors has unanimously approved a plan for the tax-free spin-off of the company’s power generation business to B&W’s shareholders, in the process forming two independently traded companies. In its third-quarter earnings call the following day, company executives emphasized that the two […]

A collapse of Bangladesh’s national power grid over the weekend turned out the lights for about 60% of the nation of 160 million people for more than 10 hours.  The interruption reportedly occurred at about 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 1 at a substation in Kushtia district, western Bangladesh, which knocked out a 400-kV transmission line […]

South African utility Eskom was forced to implement rolling blackouts for the second time this year after a coal silo supplying a 4.1-GW coal-fired power plant collapsed on Nov. 1. A crack was observed in one of the three 1994-built coal storage silos serving the 13-year-old Majuba Power Station in Mpumalanga Province at about 12:30 […]

The Republicans seized full control of Congress on Tuesday, bagging the six seats necessary to snatch the Senate away from the Democrats—and leaving several Obama administration energy-related initiatives in a fog.  With most election results in, Republicans have control of at least 52 Senate seats, snaring key seats in Iowa, North Carolina, Colorado, Arkansas, South […]

Great River Energy’s (GRE’s) Spiritwood Station began commercial operation on Nov. 1. The plant—located about 10 miles east of Jamestown, N.D.—is a combined-heat-and-power plant that can generate up to 99 MW of electricity, depending on the amount of steam being supplied to its partner facilities. The station is expected to be about 60% efficient while […]

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) completed an evaluation of a plan to export power to Mexico from the Frontera Generation Station, located in Mission, Texas. Although the results indicated that the power system could operate effectively during normal conditions without Frontera’s capacity, ERCOT says it has concerns with power supply sufficiency and transmission […]

Finland Rejects Permit Extension for Olkiluoto Reactor. Finland’s government on Sept. 25 rejected an application from utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) to extend a permit for its proposed Olkiluoto 4 reactor for five years. TVO requested the extension in light of delays from its Olkiluoto 3 EPR project, which is being built by an AREVA-Siemens […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced five awards to a total of five companies that are designed to help advance key nuclear energy research and development projects supporting advanced reactor technologies. The awards were framed as being part of the administration’s Climate Action Plan and are part of a DOE program launched in […]

Cost estimates for the Kemper County Integrated Coal Gasification Combined Cycle project (IGCC) have surged another $330 million since August, mostly owing to delays that have shifted the plant’s in-service date to the first half of 2016.  Plant owner Mississippi Power’s latest monthly report submitted to the Mississippi Public Service Commission shows that the project’s total […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released a notice of data availability (NODA)—making additional information and ideas available for public comment—and it has also proposed carbon goals for areas in Indian Country and U.S. territories. Janet McCabe, acting assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, explained the two actions related to […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) final rule governing long-term spent nuclear fuel storage onsite at U.S. power plants is illegal and should be overturned, the attorneys general of New York, Connecticut, and Vermont claim in a legal challenge filed on Monday.   In a petition filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. […]

The AREVA-Siemens consortium that is building the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor in Finland, and the plant’s owner, Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO), have again increased claims and counterclaims for billions of dollars in costs and losses, which they say are caused by delays afflicting the world’s first EPR project. At the end of 2003, TVO […]

Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, Oct. 23–24, the European Council (EC) agreed on the 2030 climate and energy policy framework for the European Union (EU), calling on all countries to come forward with ambitious targets and policies. The EC endorsed a binding EU target of at least a 40% reduction in domestic greenhouse gas emissions by […]

Compliance cost estimates for a revised ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) soon to be proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “will be little better than guesses,” the Congressional Research Service (CRS) says in a recent document.  The NAAQS does not directly impose emission controls on industry, “but it sets in motion a process […]

Allison M. Macfarlane, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), announced on Oct. 21 that she will leave the NRC effective Jan. 1, 2015, to take a position at George Washington University. Macfarlane took over the chair in July 2012—completing the last year of Dr. Gregory Jaczko’s term—and was confirmed for a second term in […]

Decommissioning the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant will cost up to $1.24 billion, owner Entergy Corp. said in a study submitted to Vermont regulators on Friday.  Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee (ENVY) plans to shutter the reactor in late 2014. The decision to close the plant stems from a settlement agreement negotiated by several Vermont state agencies […]