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Two senior power sector executives opened the 2016 ELECTRIC POWER Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans April 19 with a message that generators need to “think big” and embrace possibilities of disruptive technologies—or risk being run over on the road to the future. Leo Denault, chairman and CEO of Entergy Corp., delivered the opening keynote […]

In a unanimous ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that a program Maryland initiated in 2012 to subsidize power plant construction impermissibly invaded the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) authority over interstate power markets. The case, Hughes v. Talen Energy Marketing, grew out of a decision by the Maryland Public Service […]

Public benefits offered by the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) far outweigh the costs, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said as it released a review of the 2012-finalized rule’s cost implications. The final cost consideration—released just days before power plants that received a one-year extension must come into compliance with the rule—was prompted by […]

Subcommittees of the U.S House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate separately advanced appropriations bills that lay out funding priorities for the Department of Energy (DOE) and other energy-related measures for 2017. The House Energy and Water Subcommittee, a panel of the Appropriations Committee, passed a $37.4 billion bill to fund the DOE as well […]

Financially bruised Peabody Energy Corp.—the world’s largest privately owned coal mining firm—is seeking bankruptcy protection. The St. Louis–headquartered company filed for voluntary Chapter 11 protection in a desperate attempt to strengthen liquidity and reduce debt amid what it says has been an “unprecedented industry downturn.” It filed petitions for most of its U.S. entities in […]

S. Alam Group has suspended work at the site of a proposed 1,224-MW coal-fired power station in Chittagong, Bangladesh, due to safety concerns following a rally that ended with four protesters dead on April 4. According to multiple sources, groups opposing construction of the plant agreed on April 10 to halt their activities for 15 […]

In April’s editorial, “When Technology Tails Wag Power Dogs,” Editor Gail Reitenbach mused about whether the use of captured carbon dioxide (CO2) for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) represents a viable way forward for carbon capture, use, and sequestration (CCUS). This is a subject both of us have covered in various ways over the past few […]

After 64 years as a landmark in Wilmington, N.C., one of three boiler units at Duke Energy’s retired coal-fired L.V. Sutton Plant crumpled in a dusty heap of contorted steel and splintered glass on April 10. The implosion is the first of three similar events to take place at the Sutton Plant. The next is […]

The average capacity factor for U.S. natural gas–fired combined cycle power plants (CCPPs) exceeded that for coal-fired plants in 2015 for the first time since the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has been keeping records, the agency noted on April 4. Gas generation exceeded coal generation for most of 2015, though coal ended slightly ahead for […]

A plan to restructure $9 billion in Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) debt—an eighth of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico’s staggering $72 billion in debt—surfaced at the U.S. territory’s energy regulator, the Puerto Rico Energy Commission last week on April 7.