News

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) over the past two weeks has made a string of funding announcements, including nearly a half-billion dollars of new investment in power-related initiatives. The funding backs advancements in cybersecurity, advanced nuclear, solar, bioenergy, fuel cells, geothermal, and energy storage. $25 Million for Cybersecurity.On April 16, the DOE’s Office of […]

  Despite the recent retirement of “blackstart” units, grid operators have sufficient resources to quickly restore systems in the event of widespread outages, suggests a new report by staff at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). The report—“FERC-NERC-Regional Entity Joint Review of Restoration and Recovery Plans”—released May […]

All-Energy 2018 Glasgow, the UK’s largest renewable and low-carbon energy exhibition and conference, began on May 2 having broken a record even before the doors opened. For the first time in the show’s history, four government ministers were scheduled to speak with Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon MSP, delivering the keynote in the opening plenary […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued an official timeline for rulemaking that would potentially revise the Obama administration’s 2015 effluent limitations guidelines and standards (ELGs) for steam electric power plants. In its May 2-released Final 2016 Effluent Guidelines Program Plan, the EPA said it will potentially revise the stringent Best Available Technology (BAT) effluent […]

An electric cooperative that provides wholesale power and services to customers in 22 counties in western Kentucky has told state regulators it intends to end an operating agreement at a 312-MW coal-fired plant in Henderson, which could lead to the plant’s retirement. Big Rivers Electric on May 1 told the state Public Service Commission (PSC) […]

Dominion Energy plans to build eight new natural gas-fired power plants and speed the pace of its renewable energy efforts, according to the utility’s integrated resource plan (IRP) filed with Virginia regulators on May 1. The company also said its future plans focus on regulations on carbon emissions in part because Virginia is considering joining the […]

A three-year-long initiative spearheaded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in collaboration with industry has yielded a blueprint that establishes best operational and safety practices and recommended technologies for flying commercial drones beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS). As part of the FAA’s 2015-chartered Pathfinder Initiative, the agency partnered with three private companies to […]

The operator of the nation’s largest electrical grid on April 30 reiterated its system will remain reliable even with the retirements of substantial generation resources. But PJM Interconnection, whose system covers customers in 13 states, said it will conduct a review of its operations over the next several months “to understand the fuel-supply risks in […]

Just weeks after the 12th International Renewable Energy Storage Conference (IRES2018) concluded in Düsseldorf, Germany, newly announced figures from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) confirmed that battery storage technologies coupled with rapidly expanding renewables are blunting new fossil fuel investments. BNEF’s 2017 figures show that over $330 billion was invested in renewables with comparative costs […]

Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems (MHPS) in March said it would work with the Netherlands Carbon-Free Gas Power project to support the conversion of the country’s 1.32-GW Magnum gas-fired power plant to run