Latest
-
Legal & Regulatory
Virginia Governor Orders Power Plant Carbon Regulations
Virginia’s governor has directed the commonwealth’s environmental quality agency to establish regulations to curb its carbon emissions from power plants via a carbon trading scheme by the end of this year. Executive Directive 11 signed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) on May 16 instructs the Department of Environmental Quality to develop a proposed rule to […]
-
Nuclear
India Approves 10 New Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor Nuclear Units
India’s government has given the state-owned Nuclear Power Corp. of India Ltd. (NPCIL) the green light to develop 10 new domestically designed pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs). The approval means that NPCIL, the entity that owns and operates India’s 22 nuclear reactors—a total of 6.2 GW—can begin to site and build 10 more 700-MW PHWR […]
-
Coal
DTE Joins Growing Number of Power Companies with Carbon Goals
Detroit-based DTE Energy wants to slash its carbon emissions by more than 80% from 2005 levels by 2050, a reduction it said is in line with broad targets identified by scientists to address climate change. The company said on May 16 that it plans to substantially increase investments in renewables, transition its baseload capacity from […]
-
Legal & Regulatory
Senate Committee Takes on Regulatory Reform
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs May 17 advanced a number of bills that could have significant impacts on the future of energy regulation in the future. Four of the bills— the Regulatory Accountability Act (RAA), the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, the Midnight Rules Relief Act, […]
-
Power
Capitalizing Upon Differences Between And Among PRB Coals
Register to attend this complimentary online webinar. June 6 at 11 a.m. EDT The Powder River Basin coals are recognized as both Sub-bituminous C and Sub-bituminous A ranked fossil fuels. They differ with respect to many properties including not only calorific value and bulk chemistry (including ash chemistry) but also reactivity and the evolution of potential […]
-
News
Georgia Power, Southern Nuclear to Take Over Plant Vogtle Work
As the dust from Westinghouse’s recent bankruptcy filing begins to settle, Georgia Power has reached a deal to take over work at its Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project when the current engineering, procurement, and construction contract on the project ends. The announcement of the intended transfer of management duties came May 12, as an interim […]
-
Nuclear
EIA Predicts Nuclear Share of U.S. Generation to Fall Nearly 10% by 2050
In 2016, nuclear power accounted for about 20% of U.S. power generation, but that share is expected to fall to just 11% in 2050, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) 2017 Annual Energy Outlook (AEO2017). According to the EIA, 25% of the nation’s nuclear capacity, excluding plants that have already announced retirement, is […]
-
O&M
No Firm Date for Watts Bar 2 Return to Service Yet
Watts Bar 2, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) nuclear unit that began commercial operation last October, has been shut down indefinitely owing to a major issue with a condenser revealed this March. TVA spokesman Jim Hopson told POWER on May 11 that the reactor—the first new nuclear unit to begin operations in the U.S. in more than […]
-
Coal
Report: Cheap Natural Gas Poised to Roil PJM Power Market
The flood of cheap Marcellus Shale gas driving massive construction of new natural gas power generation capacity could wreak havoc in the PJM power market, Moody’s Investors Service suggests in a new report. Two of the nation’s largest power markets, Texas and California, already pose a “distressed environment” for unregulated power companies owing to declining […]
-
Business
Dominion Resources Changes its Name to Reflect Market Evolution
Dominion Resources, one of the nation’s largest power generators, has changed its name and the names of key subsidiaries, including Dominion Virginia Power. The Richmond, Va.–headquartered company that has a power portfolio of 26.2 GW, sizable transmission assets, as well as natural gas storage systems and pipelines, will now be known as “Dominion Energy.” The […]