POWERnews

In a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Fossil Energy (OFE), researchers at The Ohio State University have developed what they call a groundbreaking new hybrid membrane that combines the separation performance of inorganic membranes with the cost-effectiveness of polymer membranes. The breakthrough technology has vast commercial potential for use at coal-fired power plants with carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), a key element in national efforts to mitigate climate change.

On Monday, as First Wind announced its 69-MW Kawailoa Wind Project had gone into commercial operations on Oahu, other news underscored the difficulty the island state faces in trying to substitute renewables for expensive, imported fossil fuels.

This week’s issue of POWERnews is coming to you earlier than usual because of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. We want to take this opportunity to thank all of our readers, contributors, advertisers, and other business partners for their continued support. As our industry continues to face an increasing number of challenges, our goal is to remain your most trusted source for information.

A reconsidered proposal issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday sets out slightly weakened emission limits for mercury, particulate matter (PM), acid gases, and certain individual metals for future coal- and oil-fired power plants.

A decision by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to impose new pollution limits on three coal-fired power plants in Arizona on Friday drew criticism from state officials, who said that the costly measure, which overrides the state’s regional haze plan, is designed to protect visibility, not public health.

The Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii) oversees a $508 billion initiative to establish 6,500 square miles of concentrated solar power plants in the vast African and Middle Eastern deserts. Those plants are expected to furnish a fifth of Europe’s power needs by 2050, but in recent weeks the Dii has seen the exit of two of its 57 partners from 16 countries and a project held up by the Spanish government.

With the election over, Congress has reconvened for a seven-week lame duck session. Among the energy measures expected to be tackled is legislation that would establish a framework for coal ash regulation. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to begin releasing pending rules again, and the wind industry continues pleading to extend the expiring production tax credit (PTC).

A $1.2 billion concentrated solar thermal project in Australia has been shelved after developers failed to secure a supply agreement and forfeited $500 million in federal and state funding.

An executive order signed by New York’s Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Monday establishes a commission to investigate the response, preparation, and management of New York’s power utility companies during recent major storms that have hit the state of the past two years, including Hurricanes Sandy and Irene, and Tropical Storm Lee. The mandate seeks to reform overlapping responsibilities of the state’s regulatory bodies, state agencies and authorities, and quasi-governmental bodies, which the governor’s office alleges have “contributed to a dysfunctional utility system.”

Despite a last-minute lawsuit filed by California’s Chamber of Commerce, the state on Wednesday held its first auction of carbon emissions permits, kicking off the nation’s first state-implemented cap-and-trade program that limits the amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted by power plants, oil refineries, and other entities.

General Motors and Zurich-based ABB on Tuesday unveiled what they called “the next stage in battery reuse”: repackaging five used Chevrolet Volt batteries into a modular unit that has a power generation capacity of 25 kW for two hours. The companies said the unit could extend the life of electric vehicle (EV) batteries while being used as community energy storage.

A new report from the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) offers a state-by-state look at key developments that have shaped the renewable energy landscape, including information and planned capacity, markets, economic developments, resource potential, and policy.

Between 153 and 353 coal generation units in 31 states—a total capacity of between 16.4 GW and 59 GW—are less economical to operate than natural gas plants and may be "ripe for retirement," a study from the Union of Concerned Scientists (USC) suggests.

FuelCell Energy Inc. on Monday announced an order from its South Korean partner, POSCO Energy, for 121.8 MW of fuel cell kits and services to be manufactured at the FuelCell Energy production facility in Torrington, Conn. The company said this represents the largest order for both its company and the fuel cell industry.

Berkeley, Calif., startup LightSail Energy, which aims to produce “the world’s cleanest and most economical energy storage systems,” has secured $37.3 million in a Series D round that included three big-name investors: Bill Gates, Vinod Khosla, and Peter Thiel.

Switzerland-based ABB today announced that it has developed the world’s first circuit breaker for high voltage direct current (HVDC), solving what it says has been “a 100-year-old electrical engineering puzzle and paving the way for a more efficient and reliable electricity supply system.” The breakthrough holds promise not just for renewables development but also for all types of generation that nations and regions wish to transmit over long distances, including under large bodies of water.

Tuesday saw the re-election of President Barack Obama, Democrats boosting their numbers in the U.S. Senate, and Republicans retaining their majority in the House. Voters in several states also cast ballots to decide a variety of environmental and energy issues at state and local levels. The results included rejection of a proposed raising of Michigan’s renewable energy standard (RES) to 25% by 2020 and passage of closing a tax loophole for out-of-state corporations in California to fund clean energy and energy efficiency projects.

An explosion at a 600-MW coal/biomass power plant in the eastern Netherlands city of Nijmegen early on Thursday morning sent steam clouds into the sky, scattered ceramic wool in the vicinity, and prompted police to advise nearby residents to keep their windows and doors shut. No casualties were reported, and all workers are accounted for, said GDF Suez, whose subsidiary Electrabel owns the plant.

South Korea’s government on Monday shut down two nuclear reactors at the Yeonggwang nuclear complex owned by the state-owned Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP), which it said were equipped with thousands of parts allegedly linked to forged quality and safety warranties.

Several nuclear power plants in the path of Hurricane Sandy, the "superstorm" that devastated parts of the East Coast last week, endured the hurricane-force winds and storm surges without significant impact, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has said.

Dominion Virginia Power on Friday asked the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) to approve construction of a 1,358-MW combined cycle natural gas-fired power plant to replace power from aging coal plants that the company has deemed are not economically or environmentally sound to continue operating.

The International Trade Commission (ITC) on Wednesday unanimously determined that imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and modules from China materially injured the U.S. industry, clearing the way for the Commerce Department to issue antidumping and countervailing duties on billions of dollars of products from China for the next five years. However, the ITC’s determination finds no critical circumstances were present, which means duties on Chinese solar module imports won’t apply retroactively.

On Tuesday morning, half a day after Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, the enormous storm, now being called a superstorm or a post-tropical cyclone, was still causing destruction far inland while as many as 6 million electric customers from Maine to North Carolina and west to Pennsylvania and West Virginia were without power.

Natural gas–fired generation gave up some ground to coal during the third quarter, and coal producers are optimistic that higher natural gas prices will benefit coal, especially coal sourced from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. Even so, at least one Midwest utility expects natural gas to power what could be as much as 1,500 MW of new generating capacity it may add over the next several years.

Hitachi announced on Tuesday that it had acquired Horizon Nuclear Power in a deal expected to be completed by the end of November. In another example of the global nature of the nuclear business, the Japanese firm purchased Horizon, which was developed by the UK to build new nuclear plants, from German companies RWE and E.ON.

A massive blackout spanning 11 states in northeastern Brazil plunged nearly 53 million residents into the dark early on Friday morning. The event, caused by a "total collapse" of the northeastern grid, has raised concerns about electric reliability in South America’s largest economy, which is gearing up to host the World Cup soccer tournament in 2014 and the 2016 Olympic Games.

Four coal and two oil generating units at two of the oldest power plants owned by Santee Cooper are to be retired. South Carolina’s state-owned utility said last week that the decision was reached by its board of directors after considering generation resource needs and the cost of complying with new environmental regulations.

In a bid to encourage construction of new power plants in power-strapped Texas, the state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC) last week voted to double the wholesale price cap for electricity prices by the summer of 2015.

The first quarterly update from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) reporting construction progress of the Watts Bar Unit 2 nuclear reactor suggests that the project is on track for completion between September and December of 2015 and is within its budgeted cost range of $4 billion to $4.5 billion.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has opened a formal investigation into the extended outages of Units 2 and 3 at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). The investigation will determine whether to remove all costs related to SONGS from the rates of Southern California Edison (SCE) and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) going forward, and whether to refund SONGS-related costs already collected in rates back to Jan. 1, 2012.