Latest
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News
Concern Mounts About Edwardsport IGCC Project Cost Overruns
An Indiana state agency representing utility ratepayer interests in cases before regulatory commissions said it has “serious concerns” regarding cost overruns at Duke Energy’s 618-MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) facility at Edwardsport.
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News
Xcel Energy: Wind-to-Battery Project Tests Show Technology Works
Xcel Energy claims that preliminary tests of a 1-MW battery-storage technology system shows the technology works. The company announced on August 3 that its wind-to-battery project showed it was possible to reduce the need to compensate for the variability of wind generation.
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News
EPA Sues DTE Energy for Alleged Clean Air Violations
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency filed suit against Michigan’s largest energy company, DTE Energy, for alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act at that company’s coal-fired Monroe Power Plant in Michigan.
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News
BrightSource’s Ivanpah CSP Project Garners Key Approvals
California-based BrightSource Energy in the past week received two key approvals for its 392-MW Ivanpah concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in the Mojave Desert. The California Energy Commission’s (CEC’s) siting committee issued a proposed decision recommending approval, and on Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the project.
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News
UK Sees Increased Attacks on Distribution Network
A massive increase in organized “attacks” on the distribution power network in central England has resulted in more than a dozen downed wooden poles and thousands of customers without power in a week, E.ON UK said last week.
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News
Constellation Energy Eyes 3,000-MW New England Fleet
Constellation Energy on Monday said it had signed an asset purchase agreement to acquire Boston Generating’s 2,950-MW fleet, consisting of mainly natural gas–fired plants, for about $1.1 billion, or roughly $372/kW.
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Commentary
For Grid Expansion, Think “Subregionally”
When—not if—we pass climate legislation, we will put the U.S. on a path toward a low-carbon electric generation sector. As part of this shift, we’ll need more transmission, including lines to wind and solar power plants that are sometimes located far from today’s power grid. The question is: How do we plan for these new lines and how should we pay for them?
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Commentary
Bill Gates and the Energy Research Dilemma
There is an idea that has been around for a long time, at least since the fall of 1973: All that stands between the U.S. and an abundant energy future is a lack of spending on research and development. It is as though the Knights Templar could find the Holy Grail, if only the Pope would commit just a few more resources to the hunt.
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Coal
Fourth Circuit Scuttles NC Air “Nuisance” Suit
Scuttling a high-profile “public nuisance” lawsuit, a federal appeals court has reversed a lower court ruling that required the Tennessee Valley Authority to accelerate plans to install pollution controls at four TVA coal-fired power plants to reduce the amount of pollution blowing into western North Carolina, saying the lower court decision could lead to other public nuisance suits that would wreak havoc on federal and state regulatory regimes for combating air pollution.
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Coal
House Members Warn EPA on Coal Ash
Saying they have “grave concerns” about the agency’s two-option proposal to regulate coal combustion ash, 31 members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have urged the Environmental Protection Agency to continue to regulate coal ash as a non-hazardous waste, saying an EPA proposal to designate it as a “special” hazardous waste eligible for reuse would lead to costly and unnecessary management and disposal requirements.