News

The Mississippi Public Service Commission (PSC) on Wednesday voted 2–1 to approve Mississippi Power’s $2.4 billion integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) project proposed for Kemper County, saying it continued to find that the 582-MW project was the “best alternative” to meet the state’s future power demand. The state’s Supreme Court had reversed the PSC’s previous approval of the plant in March, ruling that it did not cite detailed evidence for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) on Wednesday approved primary contract terms of power purchase agreements (PPAs) for Ocean Renewable Power Co.’s (ORPC’s) 4-MW Maine Tidal Energy Project in Washington County and directed three investor-owned utilities to negotiate 20-year PPAs with ORPC. Those deals could be the first long-term PPAs for tidal energy in the U.S.

During the Clean Energy Ministerial in London over the next few days, the U.S. and the UK will agree to collaborate in the development of floating wind technology designed to generate power in deep waters currently off limits to conventional turbines, but where the wind is much stronger, the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced this week.

PPL Montana on Monday filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to block it from releasing information about its 2,094-MW coal-fired Colstrip power plant to environmental groups that had requested the data via the federal Freedom of Information Act.

An agreement reached on Tuesday by Public Service Co. of Oklahoma (PSO) and the Environmental Protection Agency, Oklahoma State, and the Sierra Club will force the American Electric Power (AEP) subsidiary to eventually retire two coal-fired generating units at its Northeastern Station in Oologah, Okla.

About 46% of power company executives in Europe and North America recently surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) predict an increased risk of blackouts up until 2030, citing worries about the affordability and the pace of infrastructure investment, and future energy security.

Passage of the a federal Clean Energy Standard (CES) or Renewable Energy Standard (RES) in the near future is highly unlikely given the current political climate and upcoming election cycle, an analysis from research consulting firm Wood Mackenzie shows.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) final Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) quietly took effect on Monday, kicking off the three-year compliance period mandated under the Clean Air Act. Several more groups filed suit before the filing deadline for legal challenges on April 16, including the Utility Air Regulatory Group (UARG), Colorado’s Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, and the American Public Power Association (APPA).

A three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday heard oral arguments in a case challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). A decision in the case—which stayed implementation of the first phase of the rule on Jan. 1—is expected as early as June or July.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday finalized the first federal standards that will curb smog-forming chemicals and other substances that may be released into the air during fracking, the increasingly popular drilling technique that promises to revolutionize natural gas production.

In a move that has been seen as the first step toward partially re-regulating Maryland’s power market, state regulators last week ordered CPV Maryland to build a new $500 million gas-fired power plant in the Charles County town of Waldorf and directed three of the state’s largest power companies to buy power produced from the plant.

Last week saw the release of three reports from influential wind industry groups. The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) foresaw annual global market growth rates of about 8% for the next five years, though it cautioned of a “substantial dip” in 2013. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) urged congressional renewal of wind tax credits, and the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) called for more binding post-2020 policies to ensure sector growth in the European Union.

More than 2,500 dams in the U.S. provide 78 GW of conventional and 22 GW of pumped-storage hydropower. But the nation also has more than 80,000 dams that do not produce electricity—facilities that, if outfitted with hydroelectric power plants, could generate an estimated 12 GW and increase existing U.S. conventional hydropower capacity by roughly 15%, the Department of Energy (DOE) says in a new report,

Southern California faces a grim summer with electrical generation capacity stretched to the limit, as any prospects for a quick restart of the idled San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) now appear all but dead.

Completion of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) second Watts Bar reactor will cost nearly double the $2.49 billion price estimated in 2007 and take much longer than the projected 60-month completion timeframe, a construction review undertaken by the federally owned corporation has revealed. TVA management pointed to mismanagement and faulty execution as reasons for the discrepancy.

Under a settlement agreement reached between environmental groups on Tuesday and Power4Georgians, the consortium of four electric membership cooperatives (EMCs) in Georgia will continue development of its $2.1 billion coal-fired Plant Washington but will shelve plans for its proposed 850-MW supercritical Ben Hill plant.

Oklahoma’s Attorney General Scott Pruitt last week filed a motion with a federal appeals court on behalf of the state, Oklahoma’s largest generator Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E), and Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers to stay the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) regional haze rule.

A new joint venture between American Electric Power (AEP) and Kansas City–based Great Plains Energy seeks to reap advantages from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) Order 1000 and develop competitive transmission projects in the PJM Interconnection, Southwest Power Pool (SPP), and Midwest ISO transmission regions.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Wednesday announced a $30 million research competition intended to improve the performance and safety of energy storage devices, including hybrid energy storage modules being developed by the Department of Defense for military applications.

A report released by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) on Tuesday examining the underlying technical factors leading to the loss of critical systems at the Fukushima Daiichi reactors concludes parameters set for tsunami flood protection were inadequate and that this led to the eventual loss of all practical cooling paths for the reactors.

China’s state-owned China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) on Monday announced it had fully completed and commissioned the fourth unit of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Phase II expansion nearly 60 days ahead of schedule.  The domestically engineered unit is China’s 15th operating nuclear power reactor.

A rare presidential directive issued on Tuesday by India’s government orders national coal supplier Coal India to sign fuel supply agreements (FSAs) with power producers, imposing penalties if supplies dip below 80% of the commitments. The directive responds to concerns from the nation’s coal generators, which say chronic coal shortages are stalling plans to build new plants.

Plunging prices for solar panels, overcapacity, and a recent, substantial slash of government subsidies for solar power in Germany have prompted a rash of major solar firms to declare bankruptcy. Solar Millennium AG’s U.S. subsidiaries—including Solar Trust of America—filed for Chapter 11 insolvency proceedings in a concerted action on Monday, while giant solar cell–maker Q-Cells filed for insolvency in a German court.

In a 4-1 vote, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Friday approved an application for two combined construction and operating licenses (COLs) for new Generation III+ reactors at V.C. Summer Station in Jenkinsville, S.C. The project has been proposed by South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. (SCE&G), principal subsidiary of SCANA Corp., and Santee Cooper, South Carolina’s state-owned electric and water utility.

A bipartisan group of U.S. House of Representatives members last week introduced a bill that would absolve companies that generate or transmit power under a federal emergency directive from violation of environmental rules or civil and criminal liability suits. The bill also directs the Department of Energy to minimize adverse environmental impacts in its emergency order.

A federal appeals court last week vacated the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Sept. 15, 2010 disapproval of Texas’ State Implementation Plan (SIP), saying the federal agency overreached in its interpretation of portions of Texas state rules used to implement the Clean Air Act.

German utilities RWE and E.ON, parent companies of the Horizon joint venture, last week said they would not proceed with key plans to develop two new reactors in the UK. The decision could put the UK’s plans to stake its energy future on nuclear power in disarray.

Days after the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed an order by the Mississippi Public Service Commission (PSC) granting a key permit to Mississippi Power’s 582-MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) Kemper power plant, the PSC voted to temporarily allow the Southern Co. subsidiary to continue construction of the plant in Kemper County, Miss.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by 10 federal agencies and the governors of Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania on Friday seeks to promote the efficient and orderly evaluation of offshore wind proposals for the Great Lakes.

Multi-disciplined engineering and consulting firm ENERCON received patents for a filter medium for strainers used in nuclear reactor emergency core cooling systems (ECCS). ENERCON’s Debris Bypass Eliminator was developed in response to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Generic Safety Issue, GSI-191, “Assessment of Debris Accumulation on PWR Sump Performance.” During long-term recirculation for cooling of the […]