News

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson defended the science behind the agency’s so-called “endangerment finding” at a Senate hearing on Tuesday—the day after she told coal-state lawmakers that the agency could begin phasing in permit requirements controlling greenhouse gases emitted by large stationary sources beginning in 2011.

The UK’s nuclear safety and security regulator last week raised a regulatory issue against Westinghouse’s AP1000 nuclear reactor design, saying it was not satisfied that the modular construction methodology could protect the third-generation pressurized water reactor from severe weather or physical impact. The finding comes on the heels of a similar issue raised by the […]

A $1 billion settlement negotiated by CPS Energy and Nuclear Innovation North America (NINA) last week ended a bitter legal dispute between the companies and could allow the proposed nuclear expansion of the South Texas Project (STP) near Bay City, Texas, to proceed.

The Department of Energy on Monday conditionally offered California solar company BrightSource Energy more than $1.37 billion in loan guarantees to support construction and start-up of three utility-scale concentrated solar power plants (CSP) in the Mojave Desert of southeastern California.

A draft bill being circulated by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) seeks to create a federal clean electricity standard that could require utilities to supply 13% of electricity from “clean” sources by 2012, reach 25% in 2025, and 50% in 2050.

BP America, Caterpillar, and ConocoPhillips have pulled out of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), an alliance of business and environmental groups that has been pushing for cap-and-trade legislation.

An executive order issued by Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer, a Republican, directs the state’s Department of Environmental Quality not to adopt rules under the Western Climate Initiative’s (WCI’s) cap-and-trade program without legislative authorization—but it stops short of withdrawing the state from the coalition that plans to implement a regional emissions trading program by January 2012.

The Arkansas Supreme Court is scheduled on April 15 to hear oral arguments in Southwestern Electric Power Co.’s (SWEPCO’s) appeal of a court decision that took away a permit to build the 600-MW John W. Turk Jr. coal-fired power plant in Hempstead County—the nation’s first ultrasupercritical project.

The first of two new supercritical 615-MW coal-fired units at the $2.3 billion Oak Creek power plant have come online, We Power said last week. Construction continues to complete the second 615-MW unit, and it is expected to be commercially operational later this year.

Ohio-based power company FirstEnergy Corp. last week announced it plans to buy Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Energy in a $4.7 billion deal. The stock-for-stock transaction—valued at $8.5 billion—is expected to create one of the largest U.S. utilities.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday offered to conditionally guarantee $8.33 billion in loans for Southern Co.’s project to build two AP1000 nuclear reactors at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Burke, Ga. The pledge marks the first federal nuclear loan guarantee, and it could boost construction of the first U.S. nuclear plant in more than 30 years. More commitments are on the way, the Energy Department said.

Investigative efforts continue into the cause and origin of Sunday’s catastrophic explosion that killed five workers and injured 27 others at Kleen Energy System’s natural gas–fired plant being built at a remote location in Middletown, Conn.

Executives from U.S. wind, biomass, geothermal, hydropower, and solar industry groups on Tuesday jointly called on Congress to enact tax incentives, a federal renewable energy standard (RES), and comprehensive legislation—measures they said would accelerate growth in those energy sectors.

The week brought important policy and technology news concerning carbon capture and storage (CCS) from around the world. President Barack Obama unveiled a task force to make “clean coal” a reality as the European Union struck a major deal with member states for CCS funding. Caterpillar joined the FutureGen Alliance, and Siemens Energy said it would conduct a feasibility study for a novel postcombustion CCS system in West Virginia.

Calpine Corp. last week received final approval to build its long-delayed 600-MW Russell City Energy Center in the City of Hayward, Calif. The Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit issued by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) puts limits on the natural gas–fired power plant’s carbon emissions.

Despite some powerful drivers, nuclear power faces too many barriers compared to other means of generating electricity, and that means that a significant expansion of nuclear power is unlikely to occur before 2030, the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), a Canadian think tank, said in a report on Thursday.

French nuclear giant AREVA on Monday said it had acquired 100% of Ausra, a major U.S.-based provider of large-scale concentrated solar power (CSP) plants. The acquisition marks AREVA’s foray into solar power. The company already has major offshore wind and biomass ventures.

Exelon Corp. last week said it intends to join the FutureGen Alliance, a consortium developing a 275-MW integrated gasification combined cycle power plant with carbon capture in Matoon, Ill.

The Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) on Monday said it had received pledges from 55 countries to limit and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2020. The international climate change body said the countries together accounted for about 78% of global GHG emissions from energy use.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week voted to approve interpretive guidance that calls for disclosure of climate-related business risks. These include the anticipated impact of climate change on assets and financial risks associated with compliance costs for existing and pending regulations.

The Brazilian government granted an environmental license to the controversial 11,000-MW Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in the Amazon rainforest on Monday in hopes that the $17 billion project will help the country cope with growing demand.

President Barack Obama emphasized the role of nuclear power, offshore oil and gas exploration, and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) in his first State of the Union speech last week. The proposed $28.4 billion Fiscal Year 2011 budget for the Energy Department released by the White House this week could provide a much-needed boost to these and other measures.

Bernard’s new customizable W-series water-cooled MIG guns and water-cooled Centerfire consumables are designed to meet the wide-ranging needs of high-amperage, water-cooled metal inert gas (MIG) applications. The W-Guns (shown here) are durable and may be customized. Users can choose neck styles, cable lengths, handle styles, consumables, and direct plugs. The W-Guns are rated to 600 […]

Building and engineering software designer Autodesk Inc. announced the availability of AutoCAD Plant 3D 2010, a product that it says brings the benefits of model-based design to mainstream plant design projects. The vast majority of plant design and engineering projects support the operation, maintenance, and expansion of existing facilities. These projects are typically executed by […]

LUDECA’s new CENTRALIGN ULTRA was specifically developed for the alignment of steam and gas turbines. The system precisely aligns internal elements with upper halves for distances up to 133 feet. Accurate bore measurements can be acquired and wirelessly transmitted without interrupting other processes, saving time over traditional methods like piano wires, micrometers, and optical instruments. […]

ESAB Welding & Cutting Products launched the TAF 801/1251 square wave AC power sources for submerged arc welding. The power sources, designed to be used with the fully digital PEK controller, convert the secondary voltage from a sinus wave — via a thyristor-controlled rectifier bridge — to a square wave arc voltage with excellent arc […]

The first six of a dozen high-capacity turbines were commissioned in mid-December at the 60-MW Alpha Ventus project in the North Sea, Germany’s first offshore wind park. All 12 turbines of the €250 million project are already standing, put up in just seven months by a consortium of EWE, E.ON, and Vattenfall — formally known as Deutsche Offshore Testfeld und Infrastruktur (DOTI).

More than 60 floating power stations are in operation around the world, deploying some 4 GW at continental shores where electricity is most needed. Though these feature a variety of power sources (including nuclear, gas, and heavy fuels), most are power barges — they do not have their own propulsion systems and would have to be towed to desired locations.

High-voltage direct current transmission (HVDC) has come a long way since 1882 when the first of its type carried power from Miesbach in Bavaria to an electricity exhibition in Munich, 57 kilometers (km) away, at a mere 1,400 V. Last December, just before the world ushered in the new decade, Siemens Energy and grid operator China Southern Power Grid put into operation the first pole of a transmission link between the southern Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Guangdong, a 1,418-km ultra-high-voltage direct current (UHVDC) system. That line has a transmission capacity of 5 GW, and it operates at a voltage of 800 kilovolts (kV) — a world record.

News items of interest to power generation professionals.