Latest
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Cybersecurity
Just Hop on the Bus, Gus: 13 Ways to Hack a Power Plant
Forty years ago, musical genius Paul Simon outlined “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.” In New Orleans in early April at the ELECTRIC POWER Conference, Mike Firstenberg of Waterfall Security Solutions laid out
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Renewables
The Dynamic Challenge of Integrating Variable Resources
The share of non-hydro renewables in total U.S. power generation shot up to 6.5% in 2013 from 2.4% in 2003, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The past five years alone have been
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HR
Veterans Bring Needed Skills to the Utility Industry
We all know someone who either is, or was, in the military. In fact, many utility industry professionals were once in the military themselves. Personnel learn many valuable lessons in the armed forces
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Legal & Regulatory
Lessons in Resiliency and Risk
Climate change is changing the odds of extreme weather events, Entergy’s Rod West told the audience at the opening keynote session of ELECTRIC POWER 2014. West, who serves as Entergy’s executive vice
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Renewables
Report: Power Plant Emissions Down Substantially
According to a report released on May 28, NOX and SO2 emissions in 2012 were 74% and 79% lower, respectively, than they were in 1990 when Congress passed major amendments to the Clean Air Act. Although power plant CO2 emissions have actually increased 13% from 1990 levels, the trend has been down in recent years, […]
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Nuclear
NuScale, DOE Complete Agreement for $217M SMR Development Funds
[Corrected (May 30): See note below] A cooperative agreement finalized by NuScale Power and the Department of Energy (DOE) on Wednesday means the small modular reactor (SMR) developer will receive up to $217 million in matching funds over a five-year-period to perform engineering and testing necessary for design certification. Last December, the Portland, Ore.–based company […]
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Legal & Regulatory
Final Nuclear, Coal, Oil, and Gas Effluent Guidelines Rule Delayed Until 2015
A final rule establishing national technology-based effluent limitations guidelines and standards to reduce discharges of pollutants from nuclear and fossil fuel power plants to U.S. waters won’t be issued until at least September 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed. This April, the agency and environmental groups Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club […]
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Distributed Energy
Federal Court Throws Out FERC Effort to Boost Demand Response
In a major setback for efforts to support demand response, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 745, finding that the rule overstepped state authority to regulate retail electricity markets. FERC Order 745, issued in 2011, required the nation’s Independent System Operators (ISOs) […]
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Coal
Duke Energy and EPA Reach Agreement on Dan River Coal Ash Cleanup
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Duke Energy have signed an agreement regarding cleanup of the coal ash release that occurred at the retired Dan River coal-fired power plant in North Carolina in February. As part of the deal, the EPA will oversee the cleanup and Duke will reimburse the agency for its oversight […]
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Cybersecurity
DHS Reports Cyber Attacks on Power Plant Control Systems
Despite relatively low interest in cybersecurity issues among power industry professionals, the threat of cyber attacks on generation systems is real, as the latest report by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) group reveals. The January–April report from the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) notes that the DHS group recently received […]