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Those enormous amounts of water used in hydraulic fracturing may not be the environmental headache they appear to be. That’s because of the downstream effects of more abundant, less expensive natural gas unlocked by the process, known as “fracking,” according to a new study from the Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG) at the University of […]

Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc. (MISO), the regional transmission organization (RTO) for a large portion of the Midwestern U.S., completed the integration of a four-state region of the electric grid across the South into its existing footprint in the Midwest at midnight, Dec. 18. The change in control, or cutover, was two years in the making, with […]

The Fort Calhoun Station, Omaha Public Power District’s (OPPD’s) 478-MW nuclear reactor that was offline for nearly three years to address longstanding issues, including flooding from the  Missouri River in 2011, is ready to restart, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has deemed.  The federal regulatory body on Tuesday concluded OPPD was ready to safely restart the […]

U.S. nuclear reactor enriched uranium fuel supplier USEC will voluntarily file for bankruptcy protection as part of a restructuring plan to boost financial support for its much-watched gas centrifuge uranium enrichment project at the American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio.  The company announced on Dec. 16 that it had reached an agreement with majority shareholders […]

Dominion announced that it has placed into service a group of solar generation projects in Marion County, Ind., that will generate up to 28.6 MW of electricity. The three projects, known as Indy Solar I, II, and III, were acquired in July 2013 from Sunrise Energy Ventures LLC, based in Minnetonka, Minn. All three projects […]

The latest projections from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) are unlikely to quell concern in the coal industry, as the EIA has increased its projections for natural gas production and power burn, while continuing its gloomy outlook for coal. The EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook Early Release, posted Dec. 16, boosts its estimates of natural gas […]

MidAmerican Energy Co. is already the top ranked, rate-regulated utility owner of wind generation in the U.S. and with 448 new wind turbines being added in Iowa—the largest wind expansion in the state’s history—its hold on that position will be further strengthened. In November, the company announced it had reached an agreement with Highland Wind […]

NuScale Power is the winner of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) March 2013–announced funding opportunity to help design, certify, and commercialize small modular reactors (SMRs) in the U.S.  The DOE’s long-awaited second award announcement means the government will invest up to half of the total project cost required to help NuScale Power’s 45-MWe SMR design […]

No environmental impacts would preclude renewing the operating licenses for two pressurized water reactors (PWR) at the South Texas Project nuclear plant in Bay City, Texas, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) concluded on Friday.  The federal regulatory body issued a final environmental impact statement (SEIS) for the proposed renewal of operating licenses for Units 1 […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a solicitation on Dec. 12 that makes up to $8 billion in loan guarantee authority available to support “innovative advanced fossil energy projects that avoid, reduce, or sequester greenhouse gases.” The loan guarantees are authorized by Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and are intended […]