News

Électricité de France (EDF) is to acquire Constellation Energy’s 50% share in the companies’ joint venture, UniStar, for $140 million under an agreement reached on Tuesday.

The Department of Energy (DOE) teamed with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), and the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Tuesday to announce eight joint research awards totaling nearly $5 million to support siting and permitting of offshore energy facilities. The awards include projects harvesting power generated from offshore wind and waves, tides, currents, and ocean thermal gradients.

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Tuesday offered a $350 million conditional loan guarantee to develop the One Nevada Transmission Line (ON Line), a proposed 500-kV link that will run 235 miles and transmit 600 MW of mostly renewable energy. The project is the first transmission line to receive a federal loan guarantee.

A new $5 billion transmission project proposed by Trans-Elect and sponsored by Google, Good Energies, and Marubeni Corp. seeks to connect 6,000 MW from wind farms installed up to 20 miles off the Mid-Atlantic coast to the national grid.

Constellation Energy last week offered to sell its 50% stake in the UniStar joint venture to partner Électricité de France (EDF) for $1, plus $117 million in reimbursement costs—a price well below market value—in order to further the project and ensure future energy supplies for Maryland.

Nebraska-based Tenaska on Monday said it would sell a portion of interests in five power plants to Japanese energy firms Tyr Energy and Chubu Electric.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) on Thursday issued a recommendation to the electric power industry providing sensitive information about the so-called “AURORA vulnerability”—gaps in critical infrastructure protection concerning large motors and generators connected to the bulk power system.

The fight to keep the Yucca Mountain alive intensified last week as members of Congress demanded justification for an order by Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chair Gregory Jaczko that seeks to halt review of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) application to build the long-term nuclear waste repository in Nevada.

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) on Friday said it would conduct a legal and technical audit of cases concerning Duke Energy Indiana’s $3 billion Edwardsport gasification facility in which a former administrative law judge had presided.

Constellation Energy last week rejected a $7.5 billion conditional loan guarantee offer from the U.S. Department of Energy to build a new reactor at its Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant in Maryland with partner Électricité de France (EDF), saying the government’s proposed terms and conditions were “unworkable.”

Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy last week called for an evaluation of “alternative solutions” to execute a large-scale carbon capture plant whose construction is under way at the Mongstad refinery on the country’s western coast, after “theoretical studies” indicated health and environmental risks related to amine technology.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday reversed a May 2008 jury verdict finding that Cinergy Corp.—which merged with Duke Energy in 2006—violated New Source Review provisions of the Clean Air Act when it performed certain work on its coal-fired boiler units at several of its Indiana facilities without first obtaining a permit. The ruling allows Duke Energy to restart three Indiana coal-fired units that it had been ordered to shut down.

Solar installations in the U.S.—both photovoltaic and concentrating solar power (CSP) installations—grew 114% in 2009, and by the year’s end, they could surpass 1 GW, a new report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) says.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week proposed requiring the Four Corners Power Plant near Farmington, N.M., to install and operate selective catalytic reduction (SCR) controls on all five of the 2,040-MW coal-fired facility’s units. The measure would cut the plant’s nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter emissions by nearly 80%, the agency said.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a notice of violation to Portland Gas and Electric (PGE), alleging that the company’s coal-fired Boardman facility in Oregon violated the Clean Air Act, including New Source Performance Standards and operating permit requirements.

The Department of Energy (DOE) last week announced a conditional commitment to provide a partial guarantee for a $1.3 billion loan to the Caithness Shepherds Flat wind project, an 845-MW wind farm planned for eastern Oregon that it is calling “the world’s largest wind farm.”

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an arm of the Commerce Department designated by Congress to coordinate development of communication protocols, last week told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) it had identified five “foundational” sets of standards for smart grid interoperability and cybersecurity.

U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Small Business & Entrepreneurship Committee Ranking Member Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) on Monday introduced a comprehensive package of advanced energy tax incentives for clean renewable energy, energy efficiency, and carbon mitigation.

U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday approved the first large-scale solar energy plants ever to be built on U.S. public lands, and today he signed the nation’s first lease for commercial wind energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

UK energy regulator Ofgem on Monday warned that the country would need to rewire in a smarter way to secure access to renewable plants, but that an investment of £32 billion ($50.8 billion) would be needed to overhaul the aging grid, including replacing old “pipes and wires.”

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has awarded French company AREVA an engineering and development contract to work on potential completion of the 1,200-MW Unit 1 at the Bellefonte nuclear power plant in northern Alabama.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) last week issued an air quality permit to the White Stallion Energy Center, a 1,320-MW coal- and petroleum coke–fired power plant proposed for construction in Bay City, Texas.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has introduced the Clean Energy Standard Act of 2010 (S. 20), which would require utilities to obtain 20% of their energy from “clean energy” sources by 2020, with the requirement rising by 5% every five years through 2050.

As part of constructing the recently commissioned We Energies’ Oak Creek Power Plant Elm Road units, four remarkable below-ground structures were built. Each unique structure required creative designs and meticulous construction techniques to meet the project’s distinctive requirements.

Sierra Instruments has introduced a new cryogenic version of its Innova-Mass multivariable mass vortex flow meter for measuring mass flow rates of cryogenic fluids down to –328F (–200C). Using a special cryogenic temperature RTD, mass calculations are done with the latest density equations of state for liquid oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and carbon dioxide. The multivariable […]

The new IntelliPULSE pulse jet timer for baghouses and dust collectors from FilterSense reduces energy costs and offers direct connection to programmable logic controllers with user-specified fieldbus communications such as Devicenet, Ethernet, Modbus, and Profibus. The intelligent pulse-cleaning control technology is said to minimize compressed air use during filter cleaning, significantly reducing energy consumption. No […]

Power plant operators must keep the corrosion, deposition, and microbiological fouling affecting cooling water systems at bay to avoid damage to equipment and system inefficiencies. One possible solution is GE’s newly released TrueSense, a technology platform that enables users to monitor and control cooling water systems. TrueSense integrates three functionalities into one platform: online monitoring […]

E.H. Wachs introduced the EP424 Speed Prep Autofeed System, an inside diameter–mount end prep machine tool designed to bevel, compound bevel, J-prep, face, and counterbore pipe, fittings, and valves. With the Speed Prep, the user sets the bevel angle and land thickness that works best. The machine feeds simultaneously in the axial and radial planes […]

Ergodyne’s new Arsenal 5725 Safety Bolt Bag is designed to safely store tools, fasteners, and equipment at any vertigo-inducing job site. Featuring a loop design and wide-body, one-handed cinch top, this safety bolt bag increases aerial job safety and productivity by keeping loose gear securely stored in a durable canvas pouch. The bag has a […]

LUDECA launched the ROTALIGN Ultra Live Trend, a short-term continuous-monitoring application that helps to accurately determine the relative positional changes between coupled machines during run-up or shutdown. It utilizes the unique ROTALIGN five-axis sensor to monitor continuously, in real time and simultaneously, both the vertical and horizontal parallel and angular displacement of rotating machinery, from cold […]