POWERnews

Despite economic concerns, the U.S. solar industry saw a third straight year of record growth in 2008. The installation of 1,265 MW of all types of solar power last year brought total U.S. solar power capacity to 8,775 MW, an annual report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) shows.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) on Monday signed separate agreements with India’s state-run companies Nuclear Power Corp. of India (NPCIL) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) to prepare for construction of a potentially massive advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) power station in that country.

President Barack Obama has put the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) squarely in the hands of Jon Wellinghoff, formally designating him chair of the agency on Friday. The president also separately reappointed Suedeen Kelly to her third term as commissioner, though her role will need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Both are Democrats.

The Department of Energy’s decision last year to withdraw from FutureGen—the first “clean coal” plant in the U.S.—largely because costs had doubled and would escalate substantially, was rooted in faulty calculations, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released last week.

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Tuesday confirmed they would end a longstanding jurisdictional conflict and work together to make permitting of renewable energy in offshore waters easier.

Nevada Senators Harry Reid (D) and John Ensign (R) last week introduced a bill to create a national commission to study long-term alternatives to Yucca Mountain for managing nuclear waste in the U.S.

South Africa, a country that holds the sixth-largest coal reserves in the world, will need to invest up to 110 billion rand ($10.52 billion) in coal mining and dig at least 40 new mines by 2020 to meet growing demand, a coal specialist at the state-run utility Eskom said last week.

Georgia’s Public Service Commission (PSC) on Tuesday voted 4–1 in support of plans by Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power to build two reactors at the Vogtle nuclear power plant site.

Upgrades to the UK power grid to accommodate 45 GW of new power generation by 2020 will require an investment of about £4.7 billion ($6.51 billion), according to a report released last week by the Electricity Networks Strategy Group (ENSG).

The U.S. has signed an accord with Jordan to help the kingdom construct a modern facility to store radioactive waste for a nuclear plant the country is planning to build by 2015 and additional plants by 2030.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday proposed the first rule that mandates reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from large sources in the U.S.—including electricity-generating facilities.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley last week introduced to the state Legislature a blueprint that would partially reregulate the state’s energy markets and reverse a deregulation law that has been widely thought a failure.

Alliant Corp. last week shelved plans to construct its proposed $1.8 billion coal-biomass hybrid power plant in Marshalltown, Iowa, while LS Power “indefinitely postponed” construction of the 1,590-MW White Pine Energy Station near Ely, Nev. Both companies cited a combination of factors—including the economic climate, and environmental, legislative, and regulatory uncertainties—as the reason for their decisions.

Geothermal power projects in the U.S. continue to gain steam, a new report from the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) shows. Between August 2008 and March 2009, the number of new projects jumped 25% while overall production potential surged 35%.

In response to last year’s massive coal ash spill at a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) facility in Kingston, Tenn., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week ordered electric utilities with surface impoundments containing coal combustion residuals to review the structural integrity of those units and respond to agency questions about their condition.

Along with a focus on the development of a clean energy economy, President Barack Obama’s proposed $3.55 trillion budget for 2010 factors in a carbon cap-and-trade system to fund investments in clean energy, and it slashes funding for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

The first loan guarantees issued by the Department of Energy (DOE) could reportedly be announced within the next two weeks, with awards likely going to solar and energy efficiency technologies.

Building new transmission lines indicates support for the development of a national grid, but doing so would ultimately stifle entrepreneurship and innovation, a campaign focused on the creation of a “perfect” consumer-focused electric energy system has warned.

The UK government has reportedly delayed its decision on an application by German power generation giant E.ON to build a 1,600-MW clean coal power station at Kingsnorth, in Kent, until after the summer.

China’s State Grid Corp., the national transmission and distribution body that commercially deployed a 1,000-kV ultra-high-voltage (UHV) AC demonstration project 640 kilometers long in January, has reportedly said it will now build 17,600 km of UHV lines by 2012.

The Kansas House on Friday passed by a 79-44 vote a bill that could resurrect two coal-burning power plants proposed for western Kansas, but it was five votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to overturn a veto by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

A U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) team of regional partners has begun injecting 50,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide into a Michigan geologic formation believed to be capable of storing hundreds of years’ worth of the greenhouse gas. This attempt follows an initial project at that site, which entailed the injection of 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

The Georgia House approved a bill last week that authorizes Georgia Power to collect in advance some of the cost to expand a nuclear power facility at its Plant Vogtle site in Burke County, Ga. Meanwhile, a Kentucky House committee approved a bill to lift a 25-year moratorium on nuclear power plants.

POWER magazine’s parent company, Access Intelligence LLC, on Monday announced the purchase of two conference-based tradeshow events from Technology Systems Corp.: Offshore Communications, a conference dedicated to the business of providing communications services and technology to the ocean industry, and EnergyOcean, focusing on the activities offshore to develop sustainable energy sources for the future of civilization.

This week, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reinstated construction permits for Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) Bellefonte units while it rescheduled its review of a construction and operating license of a planned UniStar project. The Canadian government, meanwhile, approved the first-phase design review of an advanced CANDU reactor, and a Japanese safety commission approved the restart of a major quake-hit generating facility.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Thursday authorized the $4.5 billion purchase by EDF Development of nearly half of Constellation Energy’s nuclear generation and operations business.

A year after a U.S. appeals court vacated a Clean Air Act Rule that would have allowed a cap-and-trade approach for mercury emitted by power plants, the nation’s highest court on Monday declined to hear arguments on the case.

A federal court on Tuesday sided with 13 states that had challenged the U.S. Environment Protection Agency’s (EPA) annual air quality standard for microscopic pollutants known as particulate matter or soot, ruling that the government’s standards were “unsupported” by “reasoned decision-making.”

A federal appeals court last week slapped the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on the hand for overreaching the authority granted to the agency by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 when it took an “expansive interpretation” of the law in asserting its power to override state decisions.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu last week announced a sweeping reorganization of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) dispersal of direct loans, loan guarantees, and funding contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.