POWERnews

  • FirstEnergy, Xcel to Cut Back Coal-Fired Capacity

    FirstEnergy Corp. last week said it would cut back operations or idle 1,620-MW of coal-fired capacity in Ohio for up to a year to reduce operating costs, while Xcel Energy announced plans to shut down nearly 900-MW of coal-fired capacity to generate a savings of nearly $225 million. Reasons for the cutbacks included the continued slow economy, lower demand in electricity, and uncertainty related to proposed new federal environmental regulations.

  • Shaw Group to Support Two More Chinese AP1000s

    The Shaw Group on Monday announced it has signed an initial contract for two new AP1000 units at the Xianning nuclear power plant project in Hubei province with a subsidiary of China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corp. (SNPTC).

  • DOE to Support Revamped FutureGen Plans

    The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Thursday announced it would award $1 billion in Recovery Act funds to a revamped FutureGen proposal. The so-called “FutureGen 2.0” project contemplates repowering of an existing Ameren 200-MW coal unit in Meredosia, Ill., using oxyfuel technology—not construction of an integrated gasification combined-cycle facility at Mattoon, Ill., as originally envisioned. The new project still calls for use of the original Mattoon geologic storage site

    to sequester carbon dioxide—however, the city of Mattoon has declined participation

    in the project.

  • OSHA Issues $16.6 M in Fines After Fatal Kleen Energy Explosion

    The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on Thursday cited three construction companies and 14 site contractors for 371 alleged workplace safety violations, and issued a total of $16.6 million in penalties. The fines follow an investigation into the causes of February’s deadly natural gas explosion at the Kleen Energy power plant construction site in Middletown, Conn. The explosion killed six workers and injured 50 others.

  • Concern Mounts About Edwardsport IGCC Project Cost Overruns

    An Indiana state agency representing utility ratepayer interests in cases before regulatory commissions said it has “serious concerns” regarding cost overruns at Duke Energy’s 618-MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) facility at Edwardsport.

  • Xcel Energy: Wind-to-Battery Project Tests Show Technology Works

    Xcel Energy claims that preliminary tests of a 1-MW battery-storage technology system shows the technology works. The company announced on August 3 that its wind-to-battery project showed it was possible to reduce the need to compensate for the variability of wind generation.

  • EPA Sues DTE Energy for Alleged Clean Air Violations

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency filed suit against Michigan’s largest energy company, DTE Energy, for alleged violations of the federal Clean Air Act at that company’s  coal-fired Monroe Power Plant in Michigan.

  • BrightSource’s Ivanpah CSP Project Garners Key Approvals

    California-based BrightSource Energy in the past week received two key approvals for its 392-MW Ivanpah concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in the Mojave Desert. The California Energy Commission’s (CEC’s) siting committee issued a proposed decision recommending approval, and on Friday, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the project.

  • UK Sees Increased Attacks on Distribution Network

    A massive increase in organized “attacks” on the distribution power network in central England has resulted in more than a dozen downed wooden poles and thousands of customers without power in a week, E.ON UK said last week.

  • Constellation Energy Eyes 3,000-MW New England Fleet

    Constellation Energy on Monday said it had signed an asset purchase agreement to acquire Boston Generating’s 2,950-MW fleet, consisting of mainly natural gas–fired plants, for about $1.1 billion, or roughly $372/kW.

  • Hawaii PUC Rejects Smart Grid Proposal

    Hawaii’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) last week denied a request by Hawaiian Electric Co. (HECO) to extend pilot testing for its advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) project to 5,000 more smart meter because of cost concerns. The move poses a major hurdle for the utility’s overall smart grid initiative.

  • AWEA: New Wind Capacity Additions Plunge in 2010, Outlook Dismal

    Only 700 MW of wind power were added in the U.S. during the second quarter of 2010—a drop of 57% and 71% when compared to second quarter numbers from 2008 and 2009, respectively, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) reported last week.

  • N.Y. and Penn. to Sue Coal Power Plant for Drifting Air Pollution

    New York state and Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) plan to sue Homer City Station, a 1,884-MW coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania, for its alleged contributions of the region’s sulfur dioxide emissions.

  • DOE Finalizes Hawaii Wind Guarantee, Offers $17 M to N.Y. Energy Storage Project

    The Department of Energy last week finalized a $117 million loan guarantee for a 30-MW Hawaiian wind power plant, and this week it said it would offer a $17.1 million loan guarantee to support construction of a 20-MW energy storage system using lithium-ion batteries.

  • WCI Releases Comprehensive Plan for Regional Cap-and-Trade Program

    California, New Mexico, and three Canadian provinces—partners of the Western Climate Initiative (WCI)—last week released a detailed plan for a regional cap-and-trade program to curb greenhouse gases (GHG) starting in January 2012. If the plan reaches fruition, it would be three times larger than a program under way in 10 eastern states.

  • Federal Court: Public Nuisance Suits Not the Way to Regulate Air Quality

    A federal appeals court on Monday reversed a January 2009 ruling by a North Carolina U.S. District Court that had declared emissions from the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) coal plants in eastern Tennessee and Alabama a public nuisance in North Carolina and ordered the nation’s largest public power provider to install expensive control technologies. The appeals court said the ruling was “flawed for several reasons.”

  • Taylorville IGCC Project Gets Record $417M Tax Credit

    The $3.5 billion Taylorville Energy Center (TEC), a proposed integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant with carbon capture and storage (CCS), has been awarded a $417 million investment tax credit under a program jointly administered by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Treasury Department. The tax credit is believed to be the largest ever granted to a single project.

  • PPL to Appeal Riverbed Rent Case for Mont. Hydroelectric Dams

    PPL Montana will reportedly ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review an order from the Montana Supreme Court that requires it to pay “rent” for use of the riverbeds on which the company’s hydroelectric dams are built.

  • Texas Appeals EPA’s Disapproval of Flexible Permits Program

    Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on Monday legally challenged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) disapproval of the state’s flexible permits program, a system which allows power plants, factories, refineries, and other industrial plants to exceed emission limits in certain areas as long as they stay within overall limits.

  • Hoosier Energy, EPA Settle Alleged NSR Violations

    Hoosier Energy, an Indiana-based rural cooperative, on Friday reached an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to resolve alleged New Source Review (NSR) violations of the Clean Air Act.

  • Tampa Electric to Test Carbon Capture Technologies at Big Bend, Polk Stations

    Tampa Electric said on Monday it is participating in two DOE-funded demonstration projects at the company’s Big Bend and Polk Power Stations. The projects are designed to advance carbon dioxide capture technologies and could lead to the development of technologies on a large scale.

  • DOE Unable to Gauge Maturity of CCS Technologies, Says GAO Report

    The Department of Energy’s (DOE) failure to systematically assess development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies renders it unable to gauge their maturity and to provide resources required to move these technologies toward commercial demonstration, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a report released to the public last week.

  • Senators Ready for Carbon Debate

    With only about 13 days remaining before the U.S. Senate’s month-long summer recess is scheduled to begin, concerns are mounting about whether it may be too late to delve into an “energy-only bill,” let alone a “utility-only” carbon-curbing bill.

  • Terrorists Attack Hydropower Plant in Russia

    At least four militants reportedly stormed into a hydropower plant in Russia’s volatile North Caucasus region early this morning, shooting dead two security guards before detonating four bombs in a turbine hall and shutting down the plant.

  • IEA: China Has Overtaken U.S., Become World’s Largest Energy User

    The International Energy Administration (IEA) alleges, based on preliminary data, that China has overtaken the U.S. to become the world’s largest energy user. But China on Tuesday rejected that report, saying the IEA’s data is unreliable. The IEA said that China consumed 2.252 billion tons of oil equivalent in 2009—4% more than the 2.17 billion […]

  • Australian Government Shuts Down UCG Trial on Fears of Water Contamination

    A project piloting underground coal gasification (UCG) technology in Australia was last week shut down for tests by the Queensland Government for carcinogenic chemicals in nearby water bores.

  • Report: China to Build 10 AP1000 Reactors

    China is reportedly looking to build 10 nuclear reactors using AP1000 technology, including the four under construction at Sanmen in coastal Zhejiang province and at Haiyang, Shandong province.

  • AREVA, New Brunswick Ink Deal for New Gen III Mid-Size Reactor

    AREVA and the Canadian province of New Brunswick last week signed a letter of intent to develop a clean energy park near the Point Lepreau nuclear station. The project would include a midsize third-generation reactor—and it wouldn’t be a prototype, AREVA has reportedly said.

  • Study: Regulation, Environment Among Top Concerns for Utility Execs

    Utility executives cite regulation, the environment, technology, finance, and end users as the five most critical issues facing the energy industry today, a newly released study by Platts and Capgemini finds.

  • GE Announces $200 M Challenge to Accelerate Power Grid Technology

    GE on Tuesday invited technologists, entrepreneurs, and start-ups all over the world to enter a $200 million challenge that seeks ideas to create a smarter and cleaner power grid while also accelerating the adoption of more efficient grid technologies.