News

A former chairman of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) who was embroiled in an ethics scandal over helping a former agency counsel apply for a job at Duke Energy while participating in proceedings involving the utility’s costly Edwardsport integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant was indicted on Monday by a grand jury in Marion County.

The Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO) on Thursday approved 215 new transmission infrastructure projects as part of the grid operator’s Transmission Expansion Plan 2011 (MTEP11). The projects include 17 transmission line projects that are estimated to cost as much as $5.2 billion to manage a “severe drop in planning reserve margins” that MISO has forecast could occur in the next years if pending environmental regulations proceed as planned.

An agreement reached between LS Power and environmental groups on Monday ends a decade-long legal battle, but it will force the company to ditch plans to build the 1,200-MW coal-fired Longleaf Energy Station near Blakey, Ga.; shelve plans for at least five years to build the 665-MW Plum Point II coal-fired plant near Osceola, Ark.; and limit pollution from the 900-MW pulverized Sandy Creek plant in Riesel, Texas.

Rules proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that could require operators of new and existing boilers burning coal, oil, natural gas, and biomass to install a “maximum achievable control technology (MACT)” and limit air pollutants were revised on Friday to offer more flexibility.

Days after the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) warned in a new assessment that new federal air quality rules could stress the nation’s power grid, the Department of Energy (DOE) released its own report examining the potential impact of two standards on electricity reliability. Those rules would prompt the closure of 29 GW of coal-fired capacity, but they should not create resource adequacy issues or unmanageable reliability challenges, the DOE finds.

A Texas District Court today dismissed two appeals challenging air quality permits granted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) last December for the 600-MW coal-fired Tenaska Trailblazer Energy Center under development near Sweetwater in Nolan County.

CMS Energy Corp.’s Consumers Energy, which has the oldest fleet of coal plants in the nation, with an average age of 50 years, on Friday said it was immediately abandoning plans to build a $2 billion, 830-MW clean coal plant project near Bay City, Mich., and was planning to suspend operations at seven smaller coal-fired units in 2015.

Texas will be short 2,600 MW during the summer 2012 peak, and reserve margins will dip to 12% owing to decisions to mothball some generation units, several delays in planned generation, and a higher load forecast, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said on Thursday.

A report unveiled on Monday by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on the future of the smart grid over the next two decades finds that the U.S. grid can stand up to the challenge of integrating electric vehicles as well as new sources of distributed and intermittent power generation—as long as certain policy changes are made.

Last week, as Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) announced he would propose a federal Clean Energy Standard (CES) bill early next year, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released an impact analysis that examines how such a policy would affect the nation’s power profile and carbon emissions.

Germany’s government has decided to shutter all 17 of its nuclear plants (23 reactors); eight plants are now closed for business, six more will be closed by 2021, and the final three will close by 2022. What is lacking is an honest discussion of the rising cost Germans will pay for electricity for what The Economist describes as “the greatest change of political course since unification.”

Sierra Instruments has introduced a new lineup of its popular transit-time ultrasonic flow meters, which now include improved next-generation Innova-Sonic 203, 205i, and portable 210i models. The Innova-Sonic 205i is Sierra’s highest performing dedicated clamp-on instrument. It incorporates the latest developments in digital signal processing to offer excellent accuracy and repeatability for a wide variety […]

Hendrix Wire & Cable, a provider of overhead and underground power distribution products, introduced its Spacer Cable Systems, a “green” solution for overhead distribution circuits. Because Spacer Cable is more compact and can withstand temporary contact with branches without causing outages, Hendrix Spacer Cable Systems can help reduce the amount of vegetation that must be […]

Oil Eater Naturals is a new line of eco-friendly absorbent pads made of natural plant by-products. Featuring woven construction, the pads are designed to provide a safer and cleaner workplace and help users meet OSHA and EPA requirements. The line includes Oil-Only Pads and Rolls that soak up oil and repel water; Universal Pads and […]

Harrington Hoists launched the RHN Series, a new line of electric wire rope hoists, offered in two configurations: the deck/base-mounted hoist in 2–20 metric tons and ultra-low-headroom trolley hoist in 2–15 metric tons. Both versions are dual speed. The deck/base-mounted hoist features a compact, modular design that is perfect for stationary applications or combined with […]

Ashcroft A2, A2X, and A4 pressure transmitters answer the call for an accurate, rugged, and reliable heavy-duty sensor. Available in accuracies up to +/-0.25% full scale, the A2 is offered with a wide variety of electrical connections, analog output signals, and pressure ports to meet the requirements of most any industrial application. The A2X (explosion/flame proof) […]

Advanced graphical interface technology provider DiSTI Corp. unveiled Replic8, a new software tool to effortlessly create interactive virtual training content from Autodesk’s 3D Studio Max. Replic8 allows users to easily produce compelling 3-D interactive training content through a simplified development process. (The image is a Relic8-generated 3-D Cummins 855 Diesel Engine.) The software tool works […]

Illinois’ Senate on Tuesday revived Tenaska’s plan to build its $3.5 billion Taylorville Energy Center (TEC), a 602-MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plant designed to capture more than 50% of its carbon emissions.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) earlier this month issued a proposal to revise the methodology for calculating rental rates for the use of government lands by hydropower projects. Under the proposal, FERC-regulated hydropower licensees must compensate the federal government for the use of federal lands, significantly increasing annual charges for many hydropower projects occupying federal lands.

Google, the Internet search giant that has invested millions in solar power technology, last week quietly abandoned a four-year-old project to make renewable power cheaper than coal-fired power. The company, which cited the recent dramatic decline of photovoltaic panel prices and design limitations, said other institutions were “better positioned” to take research to the “next level.”

SolarCity Corp., a solar power company that lost a $344 million conditional loan guarantee from the Department of Energy (DOE) in the political rumpus following the Solyndra’s failure, today announced it would move ahead with an ambitious five-year plan to build more than $1 billion in solar power projects for privatized U.S. military housing communities across the country.

The cumulative impact of rules proposed and finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could, over the next six years, stress the nation’s power grid "in ways never before experienced," the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) warns in a new report.

The FutureGen Alliance, a nonprofit coalition of coal producers, coal users, and coal equipment suppliers, on Monday said it was negotiating an option to buy portions of the Meredosia Energy Center in Illinois from Ameren Corp. to continue development of the FutureGen 2.0 carbon capture and storage project, an initiative begun in 2003.

Power costs from onshore wind turbines are expected to plunge 12% over the next five years due to the availability of lower-cost equipment and gains in output efficiency—and, in areas offering fair wind conditions, this could make wind power “fully competitive” with power produced from combined cycle gas turbines by 2016, new research from Bloomberg New Energy Finance shows.

Dominion Virginia Power on Friday began the restart of North Anna Power Station after garnering the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) permission and more than two months of inspections, testing and engineering, and seismic analysis to investigate effects of the Aug. 23 5.8-magnitude quake whose epicenter was only about 11 miles away from the company’s twin-reactor station in Mineral, Va.

A survey of 50 energy experts released on Tuesday by economists at The Brattle Group reveals that energy efficiency is likely to cause a drop of 5% to 15% in U.S. electricity consumption by the year 2020, relative to forecast trends. Electric peak demand is likely to drop by 7.5% to 15% and natural gas consumption is expected to drop by 5% to 10% compared to forecast trends.

A plan to build a controversial $4.7 billion coal-fired power plant in Scotland’s Ayrshire County that would have been fitted with experimental carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology was last week thrown out by the North Ayrshire Council, and citizens lodged more than 20,000 objections with the legislative body.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday blocked two key bills proposed by Republicans that would have thwarted the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from promulgating rules they say are unrealistic and would harm the economy. One measure was Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) resolution to disapprove the EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), and the other was Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) bill that would have required agencies to get congressional approval for federal rules that cost more than $100 million.

A Minnesota administrative judge on Thursday backed a $489 million plan to retrofit the 36-year-old coal-fired Big Stone power plant in South Dakota with an air quality control system (AQCS) rather than scrap the plant.

The California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC’s) approval on Thursday of Abengoa Solar’s 250-MW Mojave Solar concentrating solar power (CSP) parabolic trough facility in San Bernardino County—the second “overpriced renewable contract” approved by the CPUC in recent weeks—was disappointing, the regulatory commission’s Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA) said in a statement.