Latest
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Coal
NRG Penalized for Faulty Wastewater Treatment at Maryland Coal Plants
NRG Energy will pay $1 million in penalties, install environmental projects worth another $1 million, and complete costly upgrades under a consent decree it entered into with the state of Maryland to resolve wastewater discharge violations at two coal-fired power plants owned by its subsidiary GenOn. The settlement results from a June 2013 complaint Maryland […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Huge Iowa Wind Farm Gets Go-Ahead
MidAmerican Energy’s Wind XI project in Iowa, which will comprise up to 2 GW of total generation, has received approval from state regulators to proceed with construction, the company said. The $3.6 billion project will place 1,000 turbines at several sites still to be finalized. Plans were announced in April 2016, and the Iowa Utilities […]
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Partner Content
Risk, reliability & recovery digital conference
Leverage technology to manage risk & optimize reliability
Aging infrastructure, new regulations and major weather events, combined with CAPEX constraints and reduced O&M budgets mandate risk-based decision making to optimize limited resources. While new technologies can help utilities overcome many of these challenges, they can be complicated to navigate. Attend our informative keynote panel session to -
Coal
DOE Invests $28M in Research Projects to Enable Near-Zero-Emitting Fossil Fuel–Based Power Generation
Fourteen research and development projects to scale up coal-based advanced combustion power systems and gasification processes and improve costs and endurance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have won investments of more than $28 million from the Department of Energy (DOE). The Energy Department on August 24 announced it has selected the projects to help […]
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Legal & Regulatory
U.S. and Canada Follow Different Climate Policy Paths—Does One Offer a Competitive Advantage?
Although the U.S. and Canada are both aiming for similar greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions, the two countries are embarking on decidedly different approaches to reaching their goals, according to a report released on August 23. IHS Markit—a company that provides information, analytics, and solutions to customers in business, finance, and government—developed the report, titled […]
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Solar
Utility-Scale, Distributed Solar Prices Tumbled 5% to 12% in 2015
Prices for solar energy systems fell to record lows across all sectors in 2015, according to two new reports from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The LBNL reports, released on August 24, are Tracking the Sun IX, which focuses on installed pricing trends in the distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) market, and Utility-Scale Solar 2015, […]
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Nuclear
Reports: Fukushima Ice Wall Is Showing Little Success at Preventing Groundwater Inflows
An “ice wall” put up by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) around its four crippled reactor units at Fukushima Daiichi reportedly isn’t working as planned to keep out groundwater flowing into the devastated nuclear plant. According to The Asahi Shimbun, an expert panel at Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority on August 18 said that though five […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Texas Coal Plant Wins Tax Appraisal Case, Property Value Cut 60%
The Sandy Creek coal-fired power plant—a 900-MW facility in Riesel, Texas—won a major victory in court on August 19 when a McLennan County jury agreed that the plant was appraised at a much higher value than justified by market conditions. The appraisal district had suggested the plant be valued at $900 million in 2014 and […]
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Wind
First U.S. Offshore Wind Farm Nearing Operation
It’s only 30 MW, but it’s a start. The Block Island Wind Farm, the first offshore wind farm in the U.S., completed installation of its five wind turbines in the waters off Rhode Island on Aug. 18 (Figure), setting the stage for full operations in a few weeks, owner Deepwater Wind said. The […]
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Renewables
Carbon Emissions from Natural Gas to Exceed Coal’s in 2016
By the end of this year, energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from natural gas could surpass emissions from coal for the first time in nearly 45 years, according to projections by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA’s latest Short-Term Energy Outlook notes that consumption of natural gas in the U.S. between 1990 and 2005 […]