POWERnews

Watts Bar 2, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) nuclear unit that began commercial operation last October, has been shut down indefinitely owing to a major issue with a condenser revealed this March. TVA spokesman Jim Hopson told POWER on May 11 that the reactor—the first new nuclear unit to begin operations in the U.S. in more than […]

The flood of cheap Marcellus Shale gas driving massive construction of new natural gas power generation capacity could wreak havoc in the PJM power market, Moody’s Investors Service suggests in a new report. Two of the nation’s largest power markets, Texas and California, already pose a “distressed environment” for unregulated power companies owing to declining […]

Dominion Resources, one of the nation’s largest power generators, has changed its name and the names of key subsidiaries, including Dominion Virginia Power. The Richmond, Va.–headquartered company that has a power portfolio of 26.2 GW, sizable transmission assets, as well as natural gas storage systems and pipelines, will now be known as “Dominion Energy.” The […]

President Trump on Monday made two nominations to fill vacancies at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which, if confirmed, would restore the agency’s quorum and ability to take action. Neither nominee was a surprise. Both names had long circulated in Washington. The mystery was why it took so long—three months—for the administration to fill […]

Still trying to figure out exactly what Westinghouse’s bankruptcy is going to mean for the project, SCANA Corp. subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. (SCE&G), announced in its first quarter progress report that the two-unit expansion of Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station is more than 64% complete. Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy on March 29, […]

Sitting on a panel during the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York City on April 24, Michael Bloomberg proclaimed that carbon capture and storage (CCS) is “total bullshit.” That statement was not received well by Trude Sundset, CEO of Gassnova, Norway’s state enterprise for the development of CCS. “There’s a whole new world […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced it is working on guidance to give states the flexibility in implementing programs for the management of coal combustion residuals (CCR) disposal. In an April 28 letter to state governors, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt described the agency’s steps to implement a “new authority” for authorizing state CCR management […]

The owners of the Vogtle and V.C. Summer nuclear expansions separately secured a few more weeks to allow work to continue onsite at each project while they decide how to proceed with the half-built AP1000 reactors after Westinghouse’s financial debacle. In Georgia, owners of the project to expand Plant Vogtle extended an interim assessment agreement […]

In two separate actions over the past 24 hours, the D.C. Circuit granted the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) request to suspend cases challenging the Clean Power Plan and the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS).   The orders are the latest in a series of similar actions over the past month by the D.C. Circuit that […]

As Dynegy moved this week to assume full ownership of two struggling Ohio coal plants it co-owns with AES Corp. subsidiary DPL Inc., the company’s CEO reportedly said it is mulling withdrawing its presence from downstate Illinois owing to the state’s intervention to keep its nuclear plants running. Dynegy CEO Robert Flexon told Crain’s Chicago Business […]

Rain and snow has returned to California, ending the record-setting drought with record-setting precipitation. The drought led to forest fires, dead orchards, and brown lawns. It also took a big bite out of ratepayers’ wallets and increased global warming emissions, due to the loss of low-cost, zero-emission hydropower. In a study released April 26 by […]

President Donald Trump is getting a lot of advice about the Paris Agreement on climate change lately, though it remains uncertain what he’ll do with it. A group of more than a dozen companies, including some power industry big hitters, sent a letter April 26 to the president calling for continued involvement in the agreement. […]

Natural gas supply and price, along with lower electric demand and the growth of renewables, have been far more responsible for the decline in the U.S. coal industry than environmental regulations, according to a new study by Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and the Rhodium Group, a New York consulting firm. That means […]

GE Power signed a landmark deal to provide operations and maintenance (O&M) services for 10 power plants with a combined capacity of 11 GW. Sonelgaz SPE, a state-owned utility in charge of electricity and natural gas distribution in Algeria, owns the facilities. The agreement includes technology upgrades designed to enhance energy efficiency—allowing more than 420 […]

The impact of Westinghouse Electric Co.’s March 29 bankruptcy filing will be felt throughout the U.S. nuclear power industry, accord to an April 19 report released by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). “The bankruptcy filing raised fundamental questions about the future of the U.S. nuclear power industry, and particularly whether four new reactors that Westinghouse […]

The Trump administration is “closely” reviewing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) final cost consideration finding for its Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) to determine whether it should reconsider the rule or some part of it, it said in an April 18 federal court filing. The EPA filed a motion with the D.C. Circuit urging […]

A three-judge panel for the D.C. Circuit on April 18 unanimously upheld Order No. 1000, denying multiple challenges by New England power firms and state regulators to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) controversial mandate that requires utilities to remove certain “right of first refusal” provisions from existing tariffs and agreements. The decision in Emera […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) issued an unprecedented emergency order on April 14 to keep open a power plant that had been slated for shutdown under the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) in a bid to secure electric reliability. The DOE’s order was issued under the Federal Power Act Section 202(c). It inaugurates the […]

The Barack Obama administration waged war on the coal industry, but that’s all over now, recently confirmed Secretary of Energy Rick Perry told the National Coal Council (NCC) during its annual spring meeting. The NCC is an advisory board to the secretary of energy tasked with providing expert advice on matters of the coal industry. […]

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects natural gas–fueled electricity generation will exceed all other fuel sources once again this summer, marking the third year in a row that gas has been the leader. However, the EIA anticipates electricity generation from both gas and coal will be less this summer than in 2016. The reason […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will review and reconsider revisions to technology-based effluent limitations guidelines (ELG) and standards finalized by the Obama administration in September 2015. Power generators around the nation have been readying to comply with the rule that sets the first federal limits on the levels of toxic metals in wastewater discharges from […]

The Navajo Generating Station can continue to be competitive under a reduced-price fuel proposal through 2040, said Peabody Energy, the coal giant which owns a coal mine currently fueling the Arizona plant. The utility owners of the Navajo plant on February 16 voted to shut down the 2,250-MW coal-fired power plant in December 2019. The […]

Maryland on April 10 became the first state in the nation to pass legislation enacting a tax credit for residential and commercial energy storage installations. The measure passed unanimously in the state Senate, and with a 101–11 vote in the House. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is expected to sign SB 758 into law. The bill […]

Exelon Corp., the nation’s largest nuclear generator, reinvented itself amid recent power pricing swings, market inequities, and policy worries that are challenging its “very existence,” a high-ranking executive told attendees at the ELECTRIC POWER Conference and Exhibition in Chicago this week. Bryan Hanson, president and chief nuclear officer for Exelon Generation, who gave the annual […]

A coalition of 24 states and localities have urged a federal court reviewing the merits of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan to stall the agency’s recent motion to suspend a case challenging the controversial rule. West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (No. 15-1363) is arguably the most important set of environmental cases […]

An April 6–issued report released by the World Energy Council suggests that the single biggest worry among global energy leaders is commodity price volatility. Prices appear to be a big concern because of the “Grand Energy Transition” toward de-carbonization. Leaders in resource-holding countries, such as Saudi Arabia, are anxious about long-term economic models, if prices […]

Global new renewable power capacity grew in 2016 even as global new investment in renewables dropped, according to a report commissioned by the United Nations Environment Program out April 6. The Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2017 report found that global investment in renewables—excluding large hydro—fell in 2016 by 23% to $241.6 billion. That […]

The James A. FitzPatrick nuclear power plant officially belongs to Exelon Generation. The sale of the Scriba, NY plant, finalized on March 31, has been long-expected. “We look forward to bringing FitzPatrick’s highly skilled team of professionals into the Exelon Generation nuclear program, and to continue delivering to New York the environmental, economic and grid […]

The U.S. should capitalize on China’s formidable experience to put its own domestic solar power sector on a more “economically sensible” path, researchers from Stanford University said in a new report. The March 21–released report, “The New Solar System,” which was funded by a research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), offers a […]

State governors are not obligated to spend resources to comply with the Clean Power Plan, which has been stayed by the Supreme Court, a “guidance” letter from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt says. The three-paragraph letter, dated March 30, notes that the Supreme Court set a “precedent” when it stayed the rule governing […]