News

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.

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.

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.

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.