POWERnews

The aftermath of two spills from a coal ash storage pond at Duke Energy’s Dan River Steam Station in North Carolina this month, which saw about 35,000 tons of ash flood into the Dan River, may lead to a crackdown by North Carolina state regulators and will likely affect the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) decision-making […]

Federal judge Walter S. Smith, Jr. ruled on Feb. 26 that Luminant had not violated the Clean Air Act (CAA) at its Big Brown Power Plant in Freestone County, Tex., as had been claimed in a Sierra Club lawsuit. Filed in May 2012, the lawsuit alleged that from July 2007 to the present certain emissions […]

The Gyeonggi Green Energy facility, a 59-MW fuel cell park in Hwasung City, South Korea, commenced commercial operation on Feb. 19. The plant consists of 21 2.8-MW hydrogen fuel cells supplied by FuelCell Energy of Danbury, Conn. The 5.1-acre facility in Gyeonggi Province, along the country’s northwest coast, is owned and operated by POSCO Energy, the […]

On Feb. 24, President Obama approved a proposed agreement with Vietnam, which would allow for cooperation between the two countries concerning peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The agreement has been in the works for some time and will now undergo a 90-day Congressional review period. Secretary of State John Kerry originally signed the deal with […]

In a surprising deal, the developer of a proposed $1 billion natural gas–fired power plant in Salem, Mass., has agreed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the new facility annually over its 40-year lifespan to meet state climate change mandates—and to permanently shutter the plant by 2050.  The settlement reached between New Jersey–based Footprint […]

A plan developed by Oklahoma to address regional haze that was approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week will force Public Service Co. of Oklahoma (PSO) to shutter two coal units by 2026. The agency on Feb. 10 approved Oklahoma’s state implementation plan (SIP) to control regional haze from two coal units owned […]

On Feb. 17, Babcock & Wilcox Co. (B&W) and TerraPower announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support the development of the traveling wave reactor (TWR). The TWR is a Generation IV commercial reactor design that uses depleted uranium as fuel. The 1,150-MW liquid sodium-cooled fast reactor is different from typical light […]

It has been a long time coming, but U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz will travel to Waynesboro, Ga., Feb. 20, to mark the issuance of approximately $6.5 billion in loan guarantees for the construction of two new nuclear reactors at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant. A conditional loan guarantee was offered for […]

Duke Energy announced on Feb. 17 that it was preparing to sell its interests in 13 power plants in the Midwestern U.S. and exit the commercial generation market in that region. “Our merchant power plants have delivered volatile returns in the challenging competitive market in the Midwest,” said Lynn Good, president, CEO, and vice chairman […]

California leads the nation in installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity, with almost 150,000 systems large and small in operation and more than 2 GW of total capacity. Worldwide, California would rank 7th in installed solar capacity (PV and thermal) were it a separate country. All that activity is leading to some major changes in the […]

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Station, the world’s largest concentrating solar power (CSP) facility, was dedicated Thursday afternoon at a ceremony keynoted by U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz. In his remarks, Moniz hailed the Obama administration’s leadership on supporting renewable energy projects. “President Obama and the Department of Energy [DOE] are committed to ensuring […]

The first generation of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies could increase wholesale power prices by 70% to 80%, but second generation technologies could halve those costs, an Energy Department official told lawmakers at a House hearing on Tuesday. “I continue to believe that coal is actually a required part of a vibrant American economy—part […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking comment on its interpretation of provisions in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005), which it claims do not alter the agency’s determination that the best system to reduce carbon emissions for new coal and gas-fired power plants is partial carbon capture and storage (CCS).  The issue […]

Scientists at the  U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have achieved a significant milestone in the development of fusion energy: achieving fuel gains greater than 1 for the first time ever at any facility. Ignition—when the energy released is equal to or greater than the energy required to confine the fuel—remains the […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) today released its final version of a national framework for improving critical infrastructure cybersecurity. The “living” document will be updated as industry reports back on its implementation. The “Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity” is essentially composed of a core, tiers, and profiles. The core presents five […]

What’s the utility of the future going to look like within two or three decades? That was a question put to former Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers, Great Plains CEO Mike Chesser, and former chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission Ron Binz by the head of the Brookings Institute’s Energy Security Initiative (ESI) last […]

While other companies contemplate early retirement for some nuclear plants due to economic woes, DTE Electric Co. is working to bump up the capacity of its nuclear unit. On Feb. 10, the company received approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to increase the generating capacity of the Fermi 2 nuclear power plant by 19 […]

Some of Exelon Corp.’s 10 nuclear power plants are unprofitable and may need to close in 2014 if “a path to sustainable profits” cannot be found, company President and CEO Chris Crane said in a Feb. 6 conference call to discuss fourth quarter results. Exelon runs the nation’s largest nuclear fleet, operating 17 reactors in […]

A natural gas shortage triggered by extreme cold weather in much of the U.S. and Canada has affected supplies to power plants in drought-stricken California and forced the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) on Thursday to issue a conservation alert.  CAISO said the natural gas shortage was only affecting Southern California but appealed to customers […]

“It’s as if the government—the [Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)] and the [Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)]—is trying to regulate the nuclear energy industry out of business, just like it’s been trying to regulate fossil fuels out of business,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), during the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works’ eighth NRC oversight […]

Legally binding targets to slash the European Union’s (EU) carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 40%, increase the bloc’s renewables’ share to 30%, and improve energy efficiency by 40%—all by 2030—were strongly backed by the European Parliament on Wednesday.   The EU’s directly elected parliamentary institution adopted a resolution by a vote of 341–263 to set […]

Legally binding targets to slash the European Union’s (EU) carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 40%, increase the bloc’s renewables’ share to 30%, and improve energy efficiency by 40%—all by 2030—were strongly backed by the European Parliament on Wednesday.   The EU’s directly elected parliamentary institution adopted a resolution by a vote of 341–263 to set […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is calling for public comment and information on approaches to updating radiation protection standards for nuclear power operations. The standards have not been updated since they were originally issued in 1977. The agency issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Feb. 4 in the Federal Register and related fact […]

The first offshore wind project proposed in federal waters off the West Coast garnered approval from the Department of Interior (DOI) on Wednesday to submit a formal construction plan. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) gave Principle Power the green light to submit a formal plan to build a 30-MW pilot project that will […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week proposed to approve revisions to a Texas state plan to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the state. If finalized, likely later this year, the EPA will rescind its Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) that is currently in place and grant the state GHG permitting authority.  According to the […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reported on Feb. 4 that total releases of toxic chemicals decreased 12%, while toxic air releases were down 8% in its annual Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) report. The data—from 2012—was compiled from 21,024 facilities that are required to report to TRI. Of that total, only 582 of the facilities fall […]

[Update Feb. 10] Duke Energy workers have succeeded in permanently stopping the leak from its coal ash pond at the Dan River Steam Station, the company reported on Feb. 8. A storm drain under the pond broke on Feb. 2, releasing coal ash and contaminated water into the Dan River. The leak was not plugged […]

President Obama has nominated current Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Director of Enforcement Norman Bay to head the agency, upon confirmation, replacing Jon Wellinghoff, who left his post in November and jumping him over Acting Chairman Cheryl LaFleur. Bay’s nomination is the second to replace Wellinghoff, who left to join Portland, Ore., law firm Stoel […]

Oklahoma has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lawsuit that challenges the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) authority to reject a state regional haze plan and replace it with a federal implementation plan (FIP). Last July, in a 2–1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit upheld the EPA’s rejection of […]

The 35th Annual Energy Generation Conference (EGC) held in Bismarck, N.D., Jan. 28–30, highlighted the importance of North Dakota to national discussions of energy policy. The opening session focused on the oil and natural gas boom currently taking place in the state. The Bakken shale play is expected to produce over one million barrels of […]