POWERnews

Global new renewable power capacity grew in 2016 even as global new investment in renewables dropped, according to a report commissioned by the United Nations Environment Program out April 6. The Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2017 report found that global investment in renewables—excluding large hydro—fell in 2016 by 23% to $241.6 billion. That […]

The James A. FitzPatrick nuclear power plant officially belongs to Exelon Generation. The sale of the Scriba, NY plant, finalized on March 31, has been long-expected. “We look forward to bringing FitzPatrick’s highly skilled team of professionals into the Exelon Generation nuclear program, and to continue delivering to New York the environmental, economic and grid […]

The U.S. should capitalize on China’s formidable experience to put its own domestic solar power sector on a more “economically sensible” path, researchers from Stanford University said in a new report. The March 21–released report, “The New Solar System,” which was funded by a research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), offers a […]

State governors are not obligated to spend resources to comply with the Clean Power Plan, which has been stayed by the Supreme Court, a “guidance” letter from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt says. The three-paragraph letter, dated March 30, notes that the Supreme Court set a “precedent” when it stayed the rule governing […]

Crippled by financial setbacks stemming from the half-built AP1000 reactor projects in Georgia and South Carolina, Westinghouse Electric Co., a company with a storied legacy symbolic of American nuclear power, has taken the desperate step of filing for bankruptcy protection. While owners of the two nuclear construction projects are monitoring the situation, the development could […]

In a somewhat combative hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space, and Technology Committee on March 29, scientists with varied views on the subject of climate change debated how the research of climate change skeptics should be handled by the scientific community. The hearing frequently descended into personal attacks between the four witnesses […]

A Japanese high court has lifted an injunction barring operation of the Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, marking a victory for Kansai Electric Power Co. The Osaka High Court on March 28 lifted the injunction in response to Kansai’s appeal of a March 2016 decision by the Otsu District Court. The lower court’s […]

Surrounded by coal miners, industry leaders, the secretaries of Energy and the Interior, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator, and the vice president, President Donald Trump on March 28 signed an executive order rescinding or reviewing key provisions of the previous administration’s climate agenda. “The action I’m taking today will eliminate federal overreach, restore economic […]

Nine workers were killed and two others were injured when a platform collapsed at a power plant under construction in Guangdong Province, China. The accident happened at about 8 a.m. local time on March 25 at the No. 7 Thermal Power Plant located in the provincial capital Guangzhou, according to Xinhua (the official news agency […]

PJM Interconnection’s independent market monitor is joining the pushback—spearheaded by a trade group and several generators that operate in competitive wholesale markets—against an Illinois law that props up financially distressed nuclear plants with subsidies. Monitoring Analytics on March 16 filed a motion with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois to intervene […]