POWERnews

In 2010, only 5,116 MW of nameplate wind capacity was added in the U.S.—a nearly 50% drop from the record 10,000 MW installed in 2009, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said in its newly released annual report. The industry group said, however, that wind power capacity added in 2010 made up 26% of all new generating capacity added in the U.S.—second only to natural gas.

Solar power in the U.S. received multiple boosts in the past week as the Department of Energy (DOE) finalized $2.7 billion in loan guarantees for solar projects in California while making available $170 million in funding for solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies, and GE Energy announced plans for what it said will be the biggest solar PV panel factory in the U.S.

On Tuesday, Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) provisionally raised the accident rating for three reactors at the crippled six-unit Daiichi nuclear plant in Fukushima Prefecture to Level 7—making it a “major accident” and putting in on par with the 1986 Chernobyl accident in the Ukraine. And today the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) confirmed damage to spent nuclear fuel rods stored in the Unit 4 building.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Friday told Unistar Nuclear Energy it could not issue the company an operating license for its planned reactor at Calvert Cliffs in Maryland because it was fully owned by France’s Électricité de France (EDF)—a foreign entity.

Progress Energy Florida last week told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and state regulators that Crystal River Nuclear plant has been shut down indefinitely while the company conducts a “thorough engineering analysis and review” of a new gap in the reactor’s containment building wall that resulted from tendon retensioning work.

California’s Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed into law SBX1-2, a law that increases the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) target from 20% in 2010 to 33% by 2020—the most aggressive goal in the nation. In his signing message, Brown said he would pursue even more far-reaching targets, pushing the RPS to 40% in the “near future.”

A report released last week by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) that broadly assesses the costs and benefits to modernize the U.S. power system suggests that investments needed to deploy a fully functional smart grid range between $338 billion and $476 billion—but could result in benefits of $1.3 trillion to $2 trillion.

In a major breakthrough at the crisis-stricken Fukushima Daiichi power plant, engineers who had been desperately struggling to contain radioactivity at the plant’s units today managed to stop highly radioactive water leaking into the Pacific Ocean. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) says, however, that it will continue to pump contaminated water into the sea for lack of storage capacity, and efforts are under way to begin injection of nitrogen into the primary containment vessel of Daiichi 1.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday proposed a rule—granting a Clean Air Act petition filed by New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)—to limit sulfur dioxide emissions from a 420-MW coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania that it alleged was adversely impacting air quality in four New Jersey counties.

Progress Energy Carolinas will shut down its 170-MW W.H. Weatherspoon coal-fired power plant this fall, several years ahead of the originally announced retirement schedule. The decision follows an evaluation of system resource needs.

Dominion Virginia Power on Friday announced it would convert three 63-MW Virginia coal-fired peaking plants to biomass. The Dominion subsidiary said that while the switch would provide a boost to the local economy, it would also reduce nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, mercury, and particulate emissions to “meet stringent new emission standards established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”

Sunflower Electric Power Corp.’s proposed 895-MW Kansas coal-fired power plant suffered another legal setback last week as a federal district court judge ruled in a lawsuit filed on behalf of environmental group Sierra Club that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) violated federal law by providing approval and financial assistance to the project without environmental review and pubic involvement.

The first Clean Energy Progress Report released today by the International Energy Agency (IEA) finds that while “impressive progress” has been made in developing clean energy technologies in recent years, demand for fossil fuels has continued to surge. Coal has met 47% of global new electricity demand over the past decade, “eclipsing clean energy efforts made over the same period of time,” the agency says.

An internal study released by the Bureau of Reclamation on Thursday found that the federal body overseen by the Department of the Interior (DOI) could generate up to 1 million MWh more power annually from 70 of its existing facilities in 14 states. The report was followed by an $26.6 million funding announcement by the DOE and DOI on Tuesday for research and development projects to advance hydropower technology, including pumped storage.

With geothermal power being produced in nine states—and with 123 projects across 15 states under development—the U.S. leads the world in geothermal energy production, a new report from the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) shows.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) on Thursday said they had begun a process to offer Bluewater Wind Delaware the first commercial wind lease off the coast of Delaware under the “Smart from the Start” Atlantic Offshore Wind program.

California’s Assembly on Tuesday passed a renewable energy mandate that would require the state’s power companies to generate 33%—up from the current 20%—of their power from renewable sources by 2020. The mandate is the most ambitious in the U.S.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) last week completed a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) for a limited work authorization (LWA) and the combined construction and operating licenses (COLs) for Southern Co.’s Vogtle Units 3 and 4 proposed for construction near Waynesboro, Ga.

Rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act on Monday call for flexible technology standards, determined on a case-by-case basis, for more than 670 power plants across the nation that pull in at least 2 million gallons per day of cooling water. The EPA said the proposal, which seeks to protect aquatic life, establishes a “common sense framework, putting a premium on public input and flexibility.”

The Senate is expected to vote on Thursday on an amendment introduced by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to small business legislation that could permanently block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from promulgating climate change rules.

Nearly 20 Senate Democrats asked President Obama in a letter today not to agree to spending plans passed by the GOP-controlled House last month that would block funding for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) implementation of greenhouse gas rules.

As chief executives of 34 renewable energy companies urged congressional Republican and Democratic leaders to support the Department of Energy’s loan guarantee program, a study released by the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) suggests grants are a simpler and more effective way to help finance projects than tax credits.

Incidents unfolding at the quake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi reactors in Japan has led governments to take extraordinary safety measures around the world. Last week, European Union (EU) ministers agreed to re-check the safety of Europe’s 143 reactors, and in the U.S., regulators are expected to conduct seismic assessments on 27 reactors at 17 plants.

Sept. 30, 2011, is the revised final deadline for reporting 2010 data under the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Program. The agency also last week delayed the release of proposed rules that would govern cooling water intake systems at nuclear and coal plants until March 28.

A week after a U.S. House committee passed a bill sponsored by Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) in the House and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) in the Senate, Sens. Inhofe and Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) introduced a bill that would require an interagency federal panel to undertake a “cumulative economic analysis” of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday said the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would hold four competitive lease sales from May through August for Powder River Basin coal tracts in Wyoming. The tracts, covering 7,441.25 acres, hold an estimated 758 million tons of low-sulfur coal.

AC power is now available at Units 1, 2, and 4 of the six-reactor quake- and tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, according to recent updates; however, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) still believes “the overall situation remains of serious concern.”

Georgia Power last week said it would seek the Georgia Public Service Commission’s approval to decertify two coal-generating units totaling 569 MW. The decision was based on “a need to install environmental controls to meet a variety of existing and expected environmental regulations,” the company said.

Sempra Generation last week officially dedicated the 48-MW Copper Mountain Solar facility, a project located adjacent to the company’s 10-MW El Dorado Solar installation in Boulder City, Nev., about 40 miles southeast of Las Vegas. Sempra is calling the facility “the largest photovoltaic solar plant in the U.S.”

Xcel Energy wants to retire its last two coal-fired power plants (Units 3 and 4) at the Black Dog power plant in Burnsville, Minn., and replace them with natural gas–fired units. Black Dog Units 1 and 2 were converted to natural gas combined-cycle operation in 2002. Xcel says the conversion would be “more economical” than alternatives.