News

  • NYRI Pulls Plug on $2.1 Billion New York Transmission Project

    A $2.1 billion project to build a 190-mile high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line across New York State has been suspended because rules pertaining to transmission tariffs recently made by the regional grid operator had created an “unacceptable financial risk,” the New York Regional Interconnect Inc. (NYRI) said Friday.

  • Finland to Tax Nuclear, Hydropower to Cut “Windfall” Utility Profits

    Finland’s government has proposed to enact a tax on nuclear and hydro power plants that were built before adoption of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to cut “windfall profits” that have resulted from the EU’s carbon emission trading program.

  • Report: U.S. Power Plant Carbon Emissions Dipped 3.1% in 2008

    Carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in the U.S. dropped 3.1% in 2008—a departure from the steadily increasing trend in preceding years, according to a new document from Environment Integrity Project (EIP), a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization.

  • Maryland Senate Approves Reregulation Bill as Session Deadline Looms

    The Maryland Senate last week approved a bill that reverses a failed 1999 energy deregulation policy and gives state regulators the authority to order utilities to build new power plants in the state. The future of the bill is unclear, however—the state’s annual 90-day legislative session is scheduled to end on April 13.

  • First U.S. Large-Scale CO2 Storage Project Advances

    Drilling nears completion for the first large-scale carbon dioxide (CO2) injection well in the U.S. for CO2 sequestration, the Department of Energy (DOE) reported Tuesday. This project will be used to demonstrate that CO2 emitted from industrial sources—such as coal-fired power plants—can be stored in deep geological formations to mitigate the release of large quantities of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere.

  • Abrasion-Resistant Bushing Material

    The GRAPHLON GM 860 developed by Graphite Metallizing is an abrasion-resistant bushing material that protects pumps and helps prolong pump life. Designed for use in the manufacture of pump bushings and other critical-wear parts, the tough, polymer/graphite-based material was developed to replace traditional pump materials, which are prone to damage from highly abrasive suspensions. It […]

  • Knife Gate Valve for Heavy Slurry Applications

    Red Valve Company Inc. launched Series DX Slurry Knife Gate Valve, a durable and user-friendly gate valve that has been designed especially for heavy slurry applications in the power and mining industries. When the valve opens, the reinforced elastomer sleeves seal against each other and provide a 100% full port opening, minimizing turbulence, which in […]

  • Exelon Selects GE-Hitachi’s ABWR for Victoria County Plant

    Two months after Exelon Nuclear dropped GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s Economic & Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) design as its preferred technology for a proposed two-unit nuclear facility in Victoria County, Texas, the company has reached agreement with GE-Hitachi for two advanced boiling water reactors (ABWRs) for that site.

  • EIA Annual Outlook Report: Fossil Fuels Dominate U.S. Generation in 2030

    According to the newest Annual Energy Outlook report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. will add between 184 GW and 350 GW of new capacity by 2030, depending on economic growth. Coal will continue to provide the largest share of energy for the U.S. in 2030, but natural gas–fired plants will account for more than half of all capacity additions, followed by renewables at 22%, 18% for coal, and 5% for nuclear.

  • Canadian Government Funds Eights Private Sector CCS Projects

    The Canadian government last week said it would inject up to C$140 million (US$111 million) into eight private sector projects that have proposed to research, develop, and demonstrate carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies.