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Regulators in California last week initiated rulemaking to push the state’s three investor-owned utilities to incorporate distributed energy resources (DERs) into the planning and operation of their electric distribution systems. The California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC’s) Aug. 14 Order Instituting Rulemaking establishes rules, policies, and procedures to guide Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, […]

Dynegy Inc.—the Houston-based power company with operations in the Midwestern, Northeastern, and Western U.S.—has signed two separate agreements to acquire generation assets from Duke Energy and Energy Capital Partners (ECP). The acquisition includes a total of 12,313 MW of coal and gas generation, which will increase the company’s total portfolio to nearly 26 GW. Dynegy […]

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) employees fell victim to email “phishing” attempts three times in the past few years, allowing intruders into the agency’s email system, according to an internal report by the Office of Inspector General obtained by news site Nextgov.com. The internal NRC investigation revealed that twelve employees clicked on a link in […]

Duke Energy is scrambling to contain another major river spill—this time, of about 5,000 gallons of diesel. The company on Tuesday reported that the discharge of diesel oil #2 into the Ohio River inadvertently occurred at about 11:15 p.m. during a routine transfer of fuel oil used for boiler ignition sources at the W.C. Beckjord […]

A New Jersey court has ordered the state’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to reconsider its rejection of a $188 million offshore wind farm that is planned along the Atlantic City coast. The Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey on Aug. 18 ruled in favor of Fishermen’s Energy when it gave the […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) will tag $67 million of federal funds for 83 nuclear energy projects across the country in an effort to boost scientific breakthroughs. The agency said the awards announced on Aug. 20 would help provide “crucial funding” for research and development as well as for training and education of the country’s […]

Europe’s third-largest power provider last week revealed it may be forced to shut down more conventional power plants compromising a total of 1 GW and terminate 470 MW in supply contracts if market conditions in Germany do not improve.  RWE has blamed “political intervention” for “making [its] business challenging”—and specifically, the subsidized expansion of renewables […]

The nation’s coal fleet is under threat, alleged Dr. Larry S. Monroe, chief environmental officer and senior vice president for research and environmental affairs with Southern Co. during the keynote plenary session at the Power Plant Pollutant Control “MEGA” Symposium on Aug. 19 in Baltimore, Md. Monroe was part of a four-member panel, which included […]

Long viewed as a potential “next big thing” for power generation—often drawing unwarranted hyperbole in the process—and more recently as niche distributed generation, fuel cells are finally beginning to make some noise at grid scale. Hydrogen- and natural gas–powered fuel cells have been deployed over the past decade in behind-the-meter and microgrid applications for on-site […]

Low wholesale electricity prices and uncertainty surrounding Australia’s Renewable Energy Target have resulted in the suspension of development at the Mildura Solar Power Station—a concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) project located in Carwarp, about 40 kilometers south of Mildura in Victoria, Australia. The project, which was being developed by Solar Systems Pty. Ltd., received initial funding commitments […]