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A settlement reached between Dominion and conservation groups that was last week approved by a federal court makes the utility’s plans to shutter all four units at its 60-year-old Salem Harbor Station in Salem, Mass., by 2014 legally enforceable.

Renewable power prices in California surged from 5.4 cents/kWh in 2003 to 13.3 cents/kWh in 2011. However, they are slated to fall as new contract bids submitted to utilities last year were estimated at about 30% lower than in 2009, a new report from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) suggests.

More renewable power capacity was installed than ever before in the European Union (EU) during 2011, the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) says in a new report published on Monday. The EU saw a 3.9% increase in power capacity compared with 2010, much of which was driven by renewable power capacity increases. In 2011, the EU added 37.7% more renewable power capacity than in 2010.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Dec. 21 issued its final Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which will require about 40% of all coal-fired power plants in the U.S. to deploy pollution control technologies to curb emissions of mercury and other air pollutants such as arsenic and cyanide within three years.

With the 2012 election year upon us, it promises to be an interesting time for energy politics and policy. Here are 12 (really 13 because of some creative headline writing) issues that will keep the sector hopping this year.

At year end 2011, as Americans emptied their wallets at the gas pump and crude oil reached almost $100 a barrel, OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia reported an $81.6 billion 2011 budget surplus.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit temporarily blocked the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) just two days before it was set to go into effect. The federal court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to continue administering the previously promulgated Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) until a final decision can be made on the merits of the rule, likely this summer or fall.

The hazards of coal dust accumulation in power plants are familiar to coal-fired plant operators. Operators of plants that burn Powder River Basin coal are particularly aware of necessary housekeeping and fuel-handling practices, but any plant that allows excessive amounts of coal dust to accumulate is playing Russian Roulette with its staff and equipment.

Creating a landfill to hold dry boiler ash is a challenging proposition these days. There’s more to the project than you might imagine, as you’ll learn from this article about the development of a typical new ash landfill.

The expectation of millions of "green jobs" has disappeared from public debate. Today, the debate is narrowly focused on "jobs" and selecting the best approach to developing permanent jobs, regardless of color. Some look to the government to create jobs through regulation or subsidy, and others trust companies operating under free market principles to create permanent jobs.