POWERnews

California’s legislature last week wrapped up its 2017 session without authorizing the broad expansion of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) into other Western states or passing a zero-carbon bill, which would have put the state on a path to 100% clean energy by 2045. It did, however, succeed in passing bills to encourage development […]

Three 55-MW oil-fired units at Dynegy’s Oakland plant in renewables-heavy California will be needed through 2018 to ensure reliability in a region served by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), the grid entity has deemed. CAISO’s board of governors on September 19 extended a “reliability must-run” (RMR) contract for the three Oakland units. An RMR […]

The UK Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of E.ON in a long-running dispute over foundation problems identified at the 174-MW Robin Rigg offshore wind farm located between Scotland and England. The judges said Danish contractor MT Højgaard must bear the approximate €26 million cost of remedying failed grouted connections between monopiles and transition pieces […]

In a split decision, the North Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed a decision of the North Carolina Utility Commission that an advocacy group has infringed on Duke Energy’s state-sanctioned monopoly on the sale of electricity. The September 19 decision concerns an agreement between the North Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network (NC WARN) and a […]

State regulators in Georgia could decide the future of the troubled Vogtle nuclear expansion project in February 2018, and have scheduled a series of hearings in December of this year to discuss spending for continued construction of two new units at the plant near Waynesboro, Georgia. The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) on September 19 […]

  Chances that an 895-MW project to expand Sunflower Electric Power Corp.’s coal-fired Holcomb Station in Kansas will ever be completed are “remote,” a key project partner said. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association—a Denver-based power generator owned by 43 electric cooperatives that partnered with Sunflower in 2005 to build the new unit—in an August 10-Q […]

Dubai’s government on September 16 said its state energy utility has awarded a $3.9 billion contract for construction of a 700-MW solar power plant at the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The government said the project includes an 850-foot-tall tower that will receive focused sunlight, the world’s tallest such structure in a solar […]

Power News Don't miss these POWER magazine resources: Post Jobs | View Jobs | Buyers' Guide Trade Case Causes Stir at International Solar Conference Hanging like a thick fog over the proceedings of the annual Solar Power International (SPI) conference in Las Vegas, an ongoing trade case cast uncertainty on the industry. The case, which […]

The solar industry enjoyed its largest second quarter in history, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) announced, kicking off the annual Solar Power International (SPI) conference in Las Vegas. In the latest U.S. Solar Market Insight Report, GTM Research and SEIA found that in Q2 2017, the industry installed 2,387 MW of solar photovoltaics (PV), […]

Hanging like a thick fog over the proceedings of the annual Solar Power International (SPI) conference in Las Vegas, an ongoing trade case cast uncertainty on the industry. The case, which pits two solar manufacturers against just about everybody else in the industry, was the focus of several panels and nearly all side conversation at […]

The U.S. House has introduced bipartisan legislation to promote the commercial deployment of technologies to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from power plants and industrial facilities and use it for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) or geologic storage. The Carbon Capture Act introduced on September 13 by House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway (R-Texas) along with 29 co-sponsors […]

Steam electric power plants preparing to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) effluent limitations guidelines (ELG) and standards as they concern bottom ash transport water and flue gas desulfurization (FGD) waste streams will get—for now—a two-year reprieve under a new rule the agency finalized on September 12. The ELG rule, which was finalized by […]

Japan’s nuclear watchdog agency has given Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) conditional approval to restart two reactors at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant. The units were taken offline after the Fukushima Daiichi meltdown in March 2011. The country’s Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) on September 13 said TEPCO could restart the units after it provides a detailed plan […]

A man claiming to have explosives on September 12 drove past the entrance gate at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in Pendleton, California, and into a restricted parking area, where he was arrested. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release that 27-year-old Erik Jon Norman, the driver and sole occupant […]

U.S. utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems have achieved the targets set by the Department of Energy’s  (DOE’s) SunShot Initiative three years early, the DOE announced on September 12 at the Solar Power International (SPI) conference in Las Vegas. The average cost of utility-scale solar is now 6 cents/kWh. The original 2020 goal of the SunShot Initiative […]

An official with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on September 12 said as many as 15 million people in Florida lost power during Hurricane Irma, and said damage from the storm means “this will be a situation about rebuilding” power infrastructure, rather than repair.” Christopher Krebs, assistant secretary for Infrastructure Protection with DHS, said at […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will propose a replacement rule for the Clean Power Plan (CPP) this fall, according to a September 7 court document filed by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. The document, filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, provides an update on the EPA’s efforts to develop […]

Florida Power & Light (FPL), the largest utility in Florida, said September 7 it would shut down its Turkey Point and St. Lucie nuclear power plants in the hopes of limiting potential damage from Hurricane Irma. The facilities are the only operating nuclear plants in the state. FPL did not give specific timing for the […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is kicking off September with a couple of significant funding announcements. The department announced September 6 the selection of 16 projects to receive a combined total of more than $10 million in funding to advance solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology. That announcement was followed up September 7 with […]

Sempra Energy’s proposed $9.45 billion acquisition of an 80% ownership interest in Oncor Electric Delivery Co. has been approved by a U.S. bankruptcy court. But the company still needs approval from Texas regulators, which have blocked two previous attempts by Oncor’s parent Energy Future Holdings to sell it. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District […]

Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. has dropped the price of several assets as it continues to work toward closing a deal to sell five of the company’s natural gas-fired power plants, along with a hydroelectric facility, to an equity group that specializes in energy investments. FirstEnergy this week said it had cut the price of the facilities […]

A group has launched a new wave of cyberattacks aimed at severely disrupting operations in the European and North American energy sectors, IT security firm Symantec warns. Dragonfly, a group that has been in operation since at least 2011, has re-emerged over the past two years, the firm said in an official blog posting on […]

Utility workers from across the country have been in Texas in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, and crews are now staging in Florida in preparation for Hurricane Irma as the storm crosses the Caribbean, with officials expecting property damage and power outages from the massive tropical system. Crews from several areas are converging on the […]

Georgia Power’s plan to continue construction of its Vogtle nuclear expansion project comes with changes among the contractors, with Bechtel taking over the lead and Fluor Corp., which has long served as a subcontractor, on its way out. Both companies bid to take over construction after Westinghouse Electric, the designer and principal contractor for the […]

A partnership of companies seeking to build twin AP1000 reactors as part of the Vogtle nuclear expansion in Georgia will seek to complete the project, even as costs could surge well beyond $20 billion. Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power on August 31 said the Vogtle project owners—Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia […]

Harvey—a massive weather system, which has so far killed 38 people, displaced thousands of others, and caused widespread flooding in Texas—downed 7.6-GW of generation resource capacity, along with two major 345-kV transmission lines and 85 other high-voltage transmission lines serving the Gulf Coast. As of 1 p.m. on August 30—about four days and 18 hours […]

Two workers are dead after a pipe ruptured as they were performing maintenance at an underground enclosure at FirstEnergy Corp.’s coal-fired Bruce Mansfield power plant in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. Four other workers were transported to medical facilities, suffering injuries after they were overcome by fumes released by the pipe rupture, Pennsylvania State Police confirmed. FirstEnergy said […]

Xcel Energy on August 29 said it wants to retire 660 MW of coal-fired generation capacity as part of a “Colorado Energy Plan” that also includes adding as much as 1,700 MW of renewable energy and 700 MW of natural gas-fired power generation to its portfolio in the state. A key element of the proposal […]

The Levy County Nuclear Plant is officially off the table in a new settlement agreement between Duke Energy and the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC). The writing has long been on the wall for the plant; Duke in 2013 announced the termination of the engineering, procurement, and construction agreement for the facility. According to a […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has available up to $100 million in cost-shared funding for large-scale transformational coal technologies pilot projects.  According to an August 24 funding opportunity announcement (FOA), the money will be distributed in three phases. “The purpose of this FOA is to seek applications for projects to design, construct, and operate large-scale […]