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Dubai’s government on September 16 said its state energy utility has awarded a $3.9 billion contract for construction of a 700-MW solar power plant at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The government said the project includes an 850-foot-tall tower that will receive focused sunlight, the world’s tallest such structure in a solar […]

The solar industry enjoyed its largest second quarter in history, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) announced, kicking off the annual Solar Power International (SPI) conference in Las Vegas. In the latest U.S. Solar Market Insight Report, GTM Research and SEIA found that in Q2 2017, the industry installed 2,387 MW of solar photovoltaics (PV), […]

Hanging like a thick fog over the proceedings of the annual Solar Power International (SPI) conference in Las Vegas, an ongoing trade case cast uncertainty on the industry. The case, which pits two solar manufacturers against just about everybody else in the industry, was the focus of several panels and nearly all side conversation at […]

The U.S. House has introduced bipartisan legislation to promote the commercial deployment of technologies to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from power plants and industrial facilities and use it for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) or geologic storage. The Carbon Capture Act introduced on September 13 by House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway (R-Texas) along with 29 co-sponsors […]

Steam electric power plants preparing to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) effluent limitations guidelines (ELG) and standards as they concern bottom ash transport water and flue gas desulfurization (FGD) waste streams will get—for now—a two-year reprieve under a new rule the agency finalized on September 12. The ELG rule, which was finalized by […]

Japan’s nuclear watchdog agency has given Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) conditional approval to restart two reactors at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. The units were taken offline after the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in March 2011. The country’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) on September 13 said TEPCO could restart the units after it provides a detailed plan […]

A man claiming to have explosives on September 12 drove past the entrance gate at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in Pendleton, California, and into a restricted parking area, where he was arrested. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release that 27-year-old Erik Jon Norman, the driver and sole occupant […]

U.S. utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems have achieved the targets set by the Department of Energy’s  (DOE’s) SunShot Initiative three years early, the DOE announced on September 12 at the Solar Power International (SPI) conference in Las Vegas. The average cost of utility-scale solar is now 6 cents/kWh. The original 2020 goal of the SunShot Initiative […]

An official with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on September 12 said as many as 15 million people in Florida lost power during Hurricane Irma, and said damage from the storm means “this will be a situation about rebuilding” power infrastructure, rather than repair.” Christopher Krebs, assistant secretary for Infrastructure Protection with DHS, said at […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will propose a replacement rule for the Clean Power Plan (CPP) this fall, according to a September 7 court document filed by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. The document, filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, provides an update on the EPA’s efforts to develop […]