Latest
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Legal & Regulatory
New Jersey Nuclear Subsidy Bill Barrels Out of Committee, Heads for Legislature Vote
A bill backed by outgoing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) to subsidize the state’s nuclear power plants unanimously passed a joint committee on December 20 and now heads to the full legislature for a vote. S.3560, introduced on December 14, directs the Board of Public Utilities to issue Nuclear Diversity Certificates (NDCs) to nuclear power […]
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Safety
Test Your Knowledge: Electrical Area Classification
Fires and explosions have caused a significant number of deaths and injuries to power plant staff over the years. To reduce hazards, protective measures must be considered during engineering, design, construction, and operation of power plants, particularly in electrical areas that are often a source of ignition. This quiz is designed to test your knowledge of electrical […]
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Legal & Regulatory
NARUC Calls on FERC to Prioritize PURPA Reform
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) believes that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) needs to fast-track reform of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), NARUC President John Betkoski III said in a December 18 letter to the commission. The letter pushes for FERC’s new Chairman, Kevin McIntyre, to make […]
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Legal & Regulatory
EPA Seeks Input on Potential Clean Power Plan Replacement
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering drafting a replacement of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. The agency on December 18 published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) soliciting comments from the public on how the replacement should look. The ANPRM is separate from the agency’s current effort to repeal the current rule. […]
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Renewables
New Michigan Gas-Fired Plant Will Replace Existing Coal Plant
A Michigan utility will build a $500 million natural gas-fired power plant on the site of an existing coal-fired plant in Lansing, and plans to retire the coal plant and another coal-fired facility in the town in the next few years. Lansing’s Board of Water & Light (BWL) announced the project December 18. The city-owned […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Board Keeps Option to Close Colorado Coal-Fired Plant Early
A utility group on December 18 agreed to keep a coal-fired power plant in Colorado Springs, Colorado, open for at least a few more years, and its members said they are prepared to move forward with distributed generation and could import power to make up for the eventual retirement of the Martin Drake Power Plant. […]
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Coal
Report: Global Coal Demand Drops Second Year in a Row
Global coal demand fell nearly 2% in 2016, according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Coal 2017 Analysis and Forecasts report, released December 18. “Demand for coal has now dropped by 4.2% since 2014, almost matching the fall of 1990-1992, which was the largest two-year decline recorded since the IEA started compiling statistics more than […]
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Coal
Clean Coal Test Project Set for Wyoming
A test plant that will be part of research into producing cleaner-burning coal for power plants is set to begin operation next year in Wyoming, with the company behind the project saying global demand for coal makes the project viable even as the U.S. reduces its reliance on coal for electricity production. Clean Coal Technologies […]
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IIOT Power
Blazing a Trail Toward the Energy Grid of the Future
A leading-edge operations center opens in New York The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has taken a huge step forward in increasing the efficiency of its operations with the opening of its new Integrated Smart Operations Center (iSOC), which harnesses the capabilities of state-of-the-art digitization technologies. The center, located in White Plains, N.Y., was officially […]
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Renewables
Oman Starts Power Plant as Part of New Energy Development
Oman recently began operating a Wärtsilä-built power plant in the northern part of the country, part of more than $1 billion in power and energy projects being developed in the Arab nation. The Musandam Independent Power Project (IPP) is a 120-MW natural gas-fired plant (Figure 1) that can use light fuel oil as a secondary […]