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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Thursday that it will conduct a comprehensive research study to investigate the potential adverse impact that hydraulic fracturing may have on water quality and public health.

The U.S. Departments of Energy (DOE) and Agriculture (USDA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced on Monday the launch of a joint research program to produce high-resolution models for predicting climate change and its resulting impacts.

The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) released on March 15 a new study, titled China’s Promotion of the Renewable Electric Power Equipment Industry: Hydro, Wind, Solar and Biomass, which examines policies put in place by the Chinese government to promote the development of its renewable energy sector.

Last week, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) representatives announced that they intend to approve a draft environmental document related to the expansion of the South Texas Project nuclear power plant. Concern about the environmental impact of the proposed expansion has been a key regulatory obstacle for the project.

A power blackout on Sunday that affected about 90% of Chile’s customers may have been a result of the massively destructive February 27 magnitude 8.8 earthquake. The country’s National Emergency Office (Onemi) said that power had been restored to 98% of the country by Monday—within hours of the outage—but the energy minister noted that the system would remain unstable for up to six months.

Last week POWERnews reported that the U.S. Department of Energy had awarded $40 million for preliminary work on the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP). That was Monday. On Friday, the DOE issued two requests for applications (RFA) for scholarships and fellowships as part of its efforts to recruit and train the next generation of nuclear scientists and engineers.

Southern California Edison (SCE) and SunPower Corp. announced last Wednesday that SunPower has won a contract to provide solar technology for generating up to 200 MW, or 80%, of the solar power capacity needed for the utility’s large solar photovoltaic (PV) installation program. The agreement is an indication of the growing importance of aggregating distributed generation resources as an alternative to building large "utility-scale" generating plants.

A preliminary move on March 10 puts Turkey closer than ever to building its first nuclear power plant. The plant, which would consist of four reactors with a total 5,600 MW capacity, would be built in northern Turkey on the Black Sea coast.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. has said that he is prepared to sign into law later this month a bill passed by both houses of the legislature that would require the largest utilities operating in the state to generate 30% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020. Only California has a higher goal for its renewable portfolio standard (RES).

On Tuesday, Vermont’s legislature took another step toward designating large hydropower resources as "renewable." The move came just days after the two largest Vermont utilities signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Hydro-Québec for a 26-year power purchase agreement.