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Duke-American Transmission Co. (DATC) is moving ahead with plans to fill gaps in the existing grid first set, unveiling seven new transmission line projects in five Midwestern states last week. These projects will improve electric system reliability and market efficiency, and provide economic benefits to local utilities, Duke’s transmission arm said.

World electricity generation is projected to increase 84% from 19.1 trillion kWh in 2008 to 35.2 trillion kWh in 2035—growth that will be driven by increasing demand in developing countries, the Energy Information Agency’s (EIA’s) recently released International Energy Outlook 2011 shows. Much of this growth will be from renewables and natural gas, though coal generation will also increase in developing countries, and particularly, in China and India.

In a Congressional hearing last week, commissioners from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Public Utility Commissions of several states differed in their views of just how many coal plants could be shut down and how this may affect grid reliability if the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) implements several rules it has already finalized or proposed.

Just two weeks after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdrew its smog rule, the agency on Thursday confirmed it would not meet a Sept. 30, 2011, deadline for issuing proposed New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) to limit greenhouse gas emissions from new, modified, and existing power plants. The agency did not specify a new deadline for proposing the rule.

Pennsylvania has reportedly withdrawn from five federal environmental lawsuits filed during former Gov. Ed Randell’s (D) administration, including four cases the state joined last year supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) “endangerment” rule and a 2008 federal suit challenging the EPA’s 2008 smog rules as too lenient.

The Department of Energy (DOE) last week said it was considering transferring to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) its authority to conduct congestion studies and establish a process for designating “National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors” (NIETCs). But the move, which has been touted as a means to remove transmission-development barriers, could inhibit new power lines by creating uncertainty, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) has countered.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Friday split 2–2, neither upholding nor rejecting a decision by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) last year that had ruled the Energy Department could not withdraw its license application for the Yucca Mountain permanent nuclear waste repository in Nevada. In a written decision, however, the NRC directed its licensing board to close out work on the project by Sept. 30, citing funding constraints.

New Hampshire’s State Senate last week fell one vote short of overriding Gov. John Lynch’s veto of a bill that would have withdrawn the state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program whose participants include 10 states and provinces in the northeastern U.S. and Canada.

Just days after an investigation was launched into failed solar manufacturer Solyndra, a Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee recipient—the DOE announced a flurry of funding measures for new solar, offshore wind, and geothermal projects. The new projects will help achieve President Obama’s goal of generating 80% of U.S. power from clean energy within the next 25 years, the DOE said.

Along with several funding announcements for renewable energy projects, the Department of Energy (DOE) last week said it would back six projects that could lower the cost of producing power in integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants using carbon capture. The $14 million in total funding will seek to improve the economics of IGCC plants and promote the use of the nation’s abundant coal resources, the DOE said.