News

In a bid to encourage construction of new power plants in power-strapped Texas, the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC) last week voted to double the wholesale price cap for electricity prices by the summer of 2015.

The first quarterly update from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) reporting construction progress of the Watts Bar Unit 2 nuclear reactor suggests that the project is on track for completion between September and December of 2015 and is within its budgeted cost range of $4 billion to $4.5 billion.

A task force appointed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Monday released a plan that calls for 3,200 MW of new power generation and transmission capacity funded with up to $5.7 billion in private investments.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week proposed to require new standards addressing the impacts of a geomagnetic disturbance (GMD), saying that, though it recognized the strong disturbances that result in distortions to Earth’s magnetic field are infrequent, current mandatory reliability standards do not adequately address vulnerabilities.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) on Tuesday awarded NRG’s Delaware-based unit Bluewater Wind a lease for commercial development of a 450-MW offshore wind farm on 96,430 acres of federal waters about 11 nautical miles off the coast of Delaware. But NRG last year put that project on hold and has considered selling it.

A 750-MW coal gasification plant with carbon sequestration proposed to be built in in Linden, N.J., is no longer under development, owner SCS Energy says on its website. The company said it has moved the commercial structure and process design for the PurGen project to the Hydrogen Energy California project, a fossil fuel gasification plant with carbon storage proposed for Kern County, Calif.

Duke Energy last week said that testing was under way in preparation for commercial operation next year of its 630-MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) Edwardsport power plant in Knox County, Ind.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) extended until Nov. 29 an administrative stay of a federal implementation plan to address regional haze under the Clean Air Act at PNM Resources’ 1,800-MW San Juan Generating Station near Farmington, N.M. The agency’s action last week  gave the utility 45 more days to consider an alternative proposed by the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), but did  not extend the current September 2016 compliance date of the federal implementation plan.

The owner of one of Victoria’s largest coal-fired power stations announced on Wednesday it would cut output at the Gippsland-based Yallourn power station, saying the July 1-implemented carbon tax is driving up operating costs and that Australia’s renewable energy target is squashing wholesale power prices to uneconomic levels.

Louisville Gas and Electric Co. (LG&E) on Monday said it would shut down three coal units in Kentucky—a total capacity of 563 MW—eight months earlier than originally planned.

The Department of Interior on Friday finalized its Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), establishing an initial set of 17 solar energy zones totaling about 285,000 acres of public lands that will serve as priority areas for commercial-scale solar development. The initiative is part of the Obama administration’s goal to authorize 10,000 MW of renewable power on public lands.

Bruce Power on Tuesday synchronized its Bruce Power Unit 2 to Ontario’s grid, marking a milestone in its program to refurbish Units 1 and 2 at the Bruce A nuclear generating station. The company, which synchronized the 750 MW Bruce A Unit 1 with the grid on Sept. 19, said that first synchronization of Unit 2 will allow it to carry out final planned commissioning activities at the plant.

A bipartisan delegation of lawmakers from Pennsylvania on Monday urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consider creating a separate subcategory for power plants that convert coal refuse into energy in its final Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). Though waste coal plants made an important environmental contribution by reducing coal refuse piles, the hydrochloric acid (HCl) standard in the MATS rule could push them out of business, they said.

A123 Systems, maker of an advanced lithium iron phosphate battery and energy storage systems on Tuesday filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11, as Satcon, a provider of utility-grade power conversion solutions for the renewable energy sector, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Wednesday issued an air quality plan approval for a project to build the state’s first power plant to run at least partially on locally sourced Marcellus Shale gas. Moxie Energy’s proposed 936-MW plant in Asylum Township, Bradford County, uses two power blocks that will each consist of a combustion gas turbine and a steam turbine.

Czech utility ÄŒEZ on Wednesday told AREVA that a bid submitted to build two new EPR units at the Temelín Nuclear Power Plant—a site that already houses two VVER-1000 reactors built in 2000 and 2003—has been disqualified because it failed to fulfill “some other crucial criteria” defined in the tender. The decision, which AREVA said it would appeal, means only Westinghouse and an AtomStroyExport-led consortium remain as contenders for that project contract.

Global nuclear power capacity is expected to grow nearly 25% from current levels to 456 GW by 2030 according to low projections, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano told conference attendees in Kyoto, Japan, on Monday. The Fukushima Daiichi accident was a "big wake-up call" on nuclear safety, but it would not mean "the end of nuclear power," he said as he called on Japan to engage in dialogue about its stated policy to shut down all existing reactors by 2040.

Southern California Edison (SCE) last week outlined measures it had completed to correct issues identified in the steam generator tubes of its beleaguered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) Units 2 and 3, as requested by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). As part of a restart plan also submitted to regulators last week, the company proposed to restart Unit 2 at 70% power for a five-month trial period.

PPL Corp. on Friday said it was preparing to shut down Unit 1 of its two-reactor Susquehanna Nuclear Plant in northeastern Pennsylvania for additional turbine inspection and to confirm data provided by new instrumentation that could finalize a plan to resolve turbine blade cracking that has afflicted both reactors at the plant.

A bill introduced on Friday by a ranking member of the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee seeks to reform the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Science Advisory Board (SAB) and its sub-panels to deal with concerns about “balance, impartiality, independence, and public participation.”

California-based Sensorex has developed an industry-first mobile accessory for pH measurements. Compatible with Apple iPod, iPhone, and iPad devices, the PH-1 pH meter accessory measures and records pH values in the lab or field for use in environmental, education, and industrial applications. The patent-pending PH-1 accessory plugs into the standard Apple dock connector and uses […]

Sierra Instruments launched a new cryogenic version of its InnovaMass 240 multivariable mass vortex flow meter for advanced, more reliable measurement of liquefied gases, including liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen, liquefied natural gas, and liquefied petroleum gas, down to –330F. The InnovaMass contains no moving parts that will wear out or require service. This new meter […]

The Deltabar FMD72 Electronic Differential Pressure measurement system launched by Endress+Hauser uses two pressure sensor modules connected electronically to a single transmitter and eliminates the need for impulse lines or capillaries and their related issues of icing up, clogging, leaky taps, dry/wet leg inconsistencies, and problems with temperature changes. Ambient temperature changes cause measurement drift […]

Cato Institute senior fellows Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren in an Aug. 31 Forbes website blog suggest that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) carbon pollution standard for new coal-fired power plants (Standard) is a meaningless skirmish in President Obama’s “war on coal.” The Standard may have no tangible impact on the industry in the future, but it has great strategic benefit to the administration.

With the precarious descent of NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity into the Red Planet’s Gale Crater a success, NASA now plans to gather geological and environmental data from the Martian surface to determine whether the planet has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for life—and collect data for a manned mission.

A microbial fuel cell technology developed at Oregon State University (OSU) promises to produce 10 to 50 times more electricity per volume directly from wastewater than most other approaches using microbial fuel cells. The breakthrough could reportedly have significant implications for waste treatment plants by replacing the “activated sludge” process that has been widely used for almost a century. The new approach could produce significant amounts of electricity while effectively cleaning the wastewater, OSU researchers say.

Pepperl+Fuchs’ new KFU8-VCR-1 Transmitter Power Supply Signal Conditioners feature various inputs for standard voltage and current inputs. These 1-channel signal conditioners offer maximum installation flexibility to suit a wide range of application needs. Input and output signal ranges are selected by switches located on the front of the device. This enables fast, easy setup and […]

ABB says its newly introduced MNS-MCC motor control center is the first in the industry to address the causes of arc flash incidents while providing superior equipment and personnel protection. The product uniquely allows operators to remove a unit with the door closed, with no tools, and without disconnecting any wires. This easy “bucket removal” […]

New Rubber Disc Return Rollers from Elite Roller Manufacturing feature four tapered roller bearings (two in each hub) for smooth operation and a service life that is up to three times longer than traditional two-bearing roller designs. The patented “quad bearing” design also withstands more severe applications than traditional rollers, and it allows the reuse […]

Japan’s Cabinet on Wednesday refrained from endorsing a much-awaited, controversial recommendation made just days before by an advisory panel urging Japan to seek to close all its viable nuclear reactors by 2040 and increase its reliance on renewable energy, energy efficiency, and fossil fuels.