News

The 4-GW three-unit Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station has broken its own generation record, producing the highest electricity output of any nuclear plant in the world. APS, the Arizona utility that operates the plant, said Palo Verde generated 32.5 million MWh in 2015, making it still the only U.S. power plant to ever produce more […]

China has been struggling for years with endemic air pollution in major cities like Shanghai, and the nation’s traditional heavy reliance on coal has been challenged head-on by new government policies to cut emissions and reduce the carbon intensity of the power sector. While major advanced coal plants and China’s massive build-out of its nuclear […]

Distributed energy firm Vivint Solar has terminated an agreement under which it would have merged with renewables giant SunEdison in a $2.2 billion deal. The Lehi, Utah–based company told investors on March 8 that it had delivered a letter notifying SunEdison that the merger agreement had been terminated, owing to SunEdison’s “failure to meet obligations” […]

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rejected the plea of 20 states to stay the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule while the agency works to comply with a previous ruling. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette had requested the stay to pause any further action to implement the rule […]

Entergy Corp. announced on March 4 that three of its subsidiaries had closed on a transaction to purchase the 1,980-MW Union Power Station near El Dorado, Ark. The plant includes four combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) units, each rated at 495 MW. Each unit operates two GE 7-FA combustion turbines with inlet air fogging, two […]

The Oregon Senate passed a bill on March 2 that will require electric companies in the state to eliminate coal-fired resources from their electrical supplies by January 1, 2030. The bill—which passed in the senate by a 17–12 vote—had already been passed by the Oregon House of Representatives (38–20). It now heads to Gov. Kate […]

The disposal of coal ash, a combustion byproduct from coal-fired power plants, was propelled into the national conversation on December 22, 2008, when the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston power plant suffered one of the largest coal ash spills in history. Calls for regulatory action shifted pitch again after the Duke Energy Dan River spill […]

The coal ash spill in December 2008 at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s coal-fired Kingston power plant may have triggered regulatory action, but it wasn’t the first or the most devastating disaster in the coal industry’s history. Coal Ash Spills at Power Facilities [gss name=”example1″ link=”none” ids=”85886,85788,85786,85790,85778,85888,85794,85784,85776″] Other Notable Coal Ash Spills [gss name=”example2″ link=”none” ids=”85772,85780,85782″] —Sonal […]

“The one thing that is most difficult to enhance is one of the most important components of a nuclear power plant and that is the people,” said William D. Magwood IV, director-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). Magwood’s comment came during a February 29 press conference releasing the […]

Battered by stubbornly low natural gas prices and regulatory headwinds, coal-fired generation fell into a near-tie with natural gas in 2015, according to data released on Feb. 26 by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). For all of 2015, coal generated 1,356 TWh, while gas-fired generation produced 1,335 TWh, giving coal a slight 33.2% to 32.7% […]