News

The Commissioners of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) voted unanimously on Tuesday to grant the air quality permits necessary for the Tenaska Trailblazer Energy Center under development near Sweetwater, Texas, to begin construction. Trailblazer will be the first new-build carbon-capturing coal plant in Texas to receive an air quality permit—a critical approval that opens the door for future construction of the energy center.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear challenges from five major power companies on a federal appeals court decision that ruled they could be sued, under a federal “public nuisance” law, to curb greenhouse gas emissions, which allegedly cause entity-harming climate changes. Industry experts say the case will likely be heard by the high court next April, and a decision could be made as early as June.

More than 52 GW—16%—of the existing U.S. coal-fired generation fleet will be retired rather than face the cost of compliance with pending air quality regulations between 2015 and 2020, engineering and consulting firm Black & Veatch predicted in its end-of-year Energy Market Forecast.

India’s Atomic Energy Commission and its state-owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India Limited (NPCIL) on Monday signed major agreements with France’s AREVA for the construction of two EPR reactors—the first of a series of 6—at Jaitapur in the western state of Maharashtra.

Dominion Virginia Power last week struck a deal with the National Park Service and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to close a 74-MW West Virginia coal-fired plant as part of plans to build a new 1,300-MW natural gas–fired power station in northwestern Virginia.

Ten European Union (EU) countries last week signed a memorandum of understanding  to develop an offshore energy grid linking renewable wind energy sources in the North Sea and put it into operation by 2020. The nations also committed to working together to overcome the regulatory, legal, market, planning, and technical issues involved in creating a North Sea grid.

PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission organization that ensures the reliability of eastern U.S. high-voltage grids, last week approved $1.25 billion in transmission improvements, including a capacity improvement project to rebuild one of the most heavily used transmission lines in PJM.

In a long-term energy plan released last week, Ontario’s government reiterated its commitment to phase out coal power in the province by 2014 while increasing nuclear capacity.

India’s Union Ministry of Environments and Forests on Tuesday granted environmental clearance to a 9,900-MW nuclear power plant proposed for construction by state-owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd. (NPCIL) in collaboration with French firm AREVA.

A 1,650-MW EPR reactor under construction in Finland will begin operation during the latter half of 2013, AREVA said in a press release last week, denying rumors that the project had been delayed again.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s proposal to extend the operational lifespan of the country’s 17 nuclear reactors by an average of 12 years was passed in Germany’s Bundesrat, the upper house of parliament, on Friday.

Renewable energy advocates hailed recent poll results as unquestionably demonstrating the public’s support of renewable energy resources. However, answers to follow-up questions showed that the public’s willingness to pay for increased renewable energy is lukewarm at best.

Electro Static Technology’s AEGIS WTG wind turbine grounding ring seeks to prevent bearing damage that could otherwise cause generator failure by safely channeling harmful shaft currents away from bearings to the ground. Maintenance-free, effective at any wind turbine speed, and available for any-size generator, the ring is designed for OEM installation or easy up-tower retrofit. […]

Neptune Mixer Co., a division of Neptune Chemical Pump Co., announced that its Series HGL mixers are now available in both electric and air-driven models. The Series HGL mixers are ideal for intermediate bulk container (IBC) and poly tote applications found within the wastewater treatment and chemical industries. Explosion-proof models are also available. Neptune’s HGL […]

New Pig Corp. recently introduced PIG Transformer Containment Bags, carriers designed exclusively for the safe transport of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and mineral oils. The bags feature high-capacity straps to ensure safe lifting of up to 4,800 pounds for transport on diamond-plate truck beds without rips or wear. To provide ultimate weather, puncture, and tear protection […]

Spirax Sarco released a new control valve range, SPIRA-TROL, in 6- and 8-inch sizes and with more control options. The company says the valves are easy to maintain and do not require any special tooling due to the “clamp-in-seat” design, resulting in reduced downtime and cost of ownership. Valve size ranges have been extended due […]

Boltight has developed a fast and accurate device for measuring bolt load and bolt elongation that uses the latest ultrasonic technology. Called the Boltight Echometer, the device is used for monitoring critical bolting applications either during the installation of a new plant or while carrying out routine maintenance. The Echometer works by measuring the time […]

An updated HydroSwage Tube Expansion System featuring new ease-of-use and data collection features is being offered by Haskel International. The compact Mark V system provides high accuracy, speed, and repeatability by expanding heat exchanger tubes into tube sheets through the direct application of high internal hydraulic pressure. It is designed for use in fabricating heat […]

German company MWM introduced the new MWM container, which it says is a highly efficient and economic distributed generation system designed for natural gas and biogas applications. The package, which includes a biogas genset, a standard container, and biogas processing, are aligned with special requirements of biogas operation. For example, it uses specially designed exhaust […]

Economic and environmental developments markedly affected electricity markets in 2009, driving generation down 4.1% to 3,950 million MWh from 4,119 million MWh in 2008—the lowest level since 2003 and the largest decline in six decades, the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) said in its recently released “Electric Power Annual” report.

The Illinois House on Tuesday approved plans to build Tenaska’s $3.5 billion proposed integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant with carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Taylorville, Ill. The state Senate is expected to vote on the 602-MW plant later today.

FirstEnergy Corp. today announced it would permanently shut down units 4 and 5 at its R.E. Burger Plant in Shadyside, Ohio, by Dec. 31, abandoning plans to repower the coal units with biomass. The Akron-based company cited a significant plunge in market prices of electricity, saying that they “no longer support a repowered Burger Plant.”

The UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on Thursday approved a 900-MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power station in Spalding, Lincolnshire, in an effort to boost the nation’s energy security. The consent was given on the condition that the plant reserves enough space to allow for a future retrofit of carbon capture technology.

Exelon plans to invest nearly $5 billion in what it called “cost-effective, clean energy projects” starting this year. The investment will pay for energy efficiency and smart grid programs and renewable energy projects, though a majority of funds—up to $3 billion—will be spent on increasing output at the company’s nuclear plants.

The Department of Interior on Monday gave its approval to Solar Millennium’s 500-MW Amargosa Farm Road Solar Project, the second large-scale solar power project on U.S. public lands in Nevada.

Policymakers must focus more on developing new energy storage technologies as they consider a national renewable electricity standard, recommends the American Physical Society’s (APS) Panel on Public Affairs (POPA) in a new report that examines scientific and business perspectives on how to best integrate renewables into the U.S. grid.

The demolition of a 275-foot smokestack at Springfield’s former Mad River Power Plant went awry last week as the tower collapsed in the wrong direction. Instead of landing in an empty clearing in the east, the tower fell southeast, knocking out 12,500-volt power lines and smashing a building that held backup generators.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week issued a long-awaited document that provides policy guidance to state agencies on how to start issuing permits to power plants and other stationary sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) when the rules take effect on Jan. 2. The document also provides technical information on how to implement the “Best Available Control Technology” (BACT) requirement for GHG sources applying to Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permits under the Clean Air Act—though it stops short of prescribing BACTs.

Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) is to buy Southern California Edison’s (SCE’s) 48% stake in Units 4 and 5 of the coal-fired Four Corners Power Plant near Farmington, N.M, if state and federal regulators agree. Arizona’s largest utility said on Monday that if the deal goes through, it would also shut down the plant’s “older, less efficient” Units 1, 2, and 3, and install more emission controls on the remaining units at the 2,040-MW five-unit power plant.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), a body that controls the Outer Continental Shelf, on Monday invited bids to put up wind turbines off Maryland’s coast.