Latest
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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.
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News
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.
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News
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.
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News
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.
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News
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.
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News
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 […]
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Commentary
Transforming the U.S. Grid
Al Gore, in his recent New York Times op-ed titled “The Climate for Change,” calls for a “$400 billion investment over ten years to construct a national smart grid to distribute renewable energy.” Echelon supports these proposed investments. We also believe the answer is not just in constructing something new but in transforming the existing […]
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Gas
Consider CHP for LNG Vaporization
The conversion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to pipeline-quality gas requires large quantities of low-grade thermal energy that may be available from industrial waste streams, steam power plants, or ocean water at the point of discharging LNG from the tanker. Alternatively, heat may be provided by the combustion of LNG or another fuel. In either case, the large temperature differences between these heat sources and the temperature of the LNG can be used to operate an engine that will offset or eliminate the pumping or fuel costs incurred.
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O&M
Hydrokinetic Plant Piggybacks on Existing Hydro Plant
Hydrokinetic energy — which generates power by using underwater turbines that harness moving water — is on the rise in the U.S. In January, the first U.S.-licensed, commercial, grid-connected hydrokinetic project installed the first of two 100-kW nameplate-rated turbines downriver from an existing run-of-river hydroelectric plant on the Mississippi River.
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Coal
CERAWeek 2009: Floundering Economy Eclipses Renewable, Carbon Plans
For the past 26 years, Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) has hosted an annual conference in Houston that is world-renowned for its high-profile speakers and attendees’ willingness to exchange ideas and share industry forecasts. The consensus this year was that the power industry remains strong but market and political forces, often working at cross-purposes, make bringing any new power generation to market more problematic than ever.