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For the first time ever, the U.S. has filed criminal charges against known state actors for hacking U.S. interests. A grand jury in the Western District of Pennsylvania indicted five Chinese military hackers for computer hacking, economic espionage, and other offenses directed at six American victims in the U.S. nuclear power, metals, and solar products […]

While the rainfall has stopped for now, the risk of flooding continues for the Nikola Tesla coal-fired power plant located on the Sava River near Obrenovac, Serbia (Figure 1). 1. Flooding from the Sava River has affected many parts of Obrenovac, Serbia. Courtesy: EPS The 1,502-MW “A” plant (Figure 2) has six units and is […]

Substantial new gas-fired and solar generation that have been added to the California grid over the past year are expected to take up the slack this summer as an ongoing severe drought has led to substantial limitations on hydroelectric generation, according the summer 2014 assessment from the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). According to the […]

Rebounding from the loss of the Crystal River nuclear plant, Duke Energy Florida announced plans on May 13 to replace the lost capacity with a new 1,640-MW combined cycle plant on the same site. Duke will also add two combustion turbines, totaling 320 MW, to the Suwannee plant near Live Oak and increase the capacity […]

General Electric’s (GE’s) $16.9 billion bid for rival Alstom’s power and grid divisions has set in motion a drama that seems certain to shake up the generation sector worldwide. GE and Alstom announced the all-cash offer, consisting of $13.5 billion in enterprise value and $3.4 billion in net cash, on April 30. Rumors of the […]

A final rule released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today will affect cooling water intake structures at 544 U.S. power plants and provide those plants with lower-cost compliance options than previously proposed to reduce fish impingement and entrainment. The final rule issued under Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act applies to facilities that […]

The U.S. Department of Commerce on May 13 awarded the Distribution Wind Energy Association (DWEA) a two-year grant to develop a roadmap to identify common manufacturing gaps for distributed wind equipment. The $488,634 grant from the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) calls on DWEA to form the “Strategies for Manufacturers Advancing Research and […]

Duke Energy Florida will retire five coal-fired units in response to environmental rules, but it plans to replace them with new gas-fired generation, including a $1.5 billion combined cycle plant in Citrus County that could come online as soon as 2018, the company said on Tuesday. Duke Energy’s Florida-based subsidiary said it would retire Units […]

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia last week upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), dispensing to the agency its third major legal victory on air pollution in a month. The EPA in December 2012 issued […]

In late January, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz requested a study of existing U.S. coal-fired power plants to assess options for enhancing capacity, efficiency, and emissions profiles of the present generation fleet. On May 14, the National Coal Council (NCC), an advisory group that provides recommendations to the Secretary of Energy on policy matters relating […]