POWERnews

NRG Energy’s shopping spree, which has seen it become the nation’s largest merchant generator through a string of acquisitions, continued this week as subsidiary NRG Yield announced on June 4 that it has agreed to acquire the mammoth Alta Wind facility in Tehachapi, Calif., from Terra-Gen Power LLC. The Alta Wind farm has an operating […]

A new power grid exhibit opens June 7 at the Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh, N.C. Kid Grid—sponsored by ABB—will introduce children to electricity and power grid technology through hands-on play. Utilities have a vested interest in maintaining an educated workforce and breaking through traditional gender stereotypes. Studies have shown that the U.S. is lagging behind […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its “Clean Power Plan” proposal today, which spurred a wide range of responses. Environmental groups applauded the guidelines while fossil fuel proponents decried the end of affordable energy. Power plants are the largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S., accounting for roughly one-third of all domestic greenhouse gas […]

Existing fossil fuel–fired U.S. power plants must comply with state-specific goals to lower carbon pollution by 2030 under rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today. The so-called “Clean Power Plan,” which applies to existing power plants, seeks to cut carbon emissions from the power sector by 30% from 2005 levels by 2030. It […]

According to a report released on May 28, NOX and SO2 emissions in 2012 were 74% and 79% lower, respectively, than they were in 1990 when Congress passed major amendments to the Clean Air Act. Although power plant CO2 emissions have actually increased 13% from 1990 levels, the trend has been down in recent years, […]

[Corrected (May 30): See note below] A cooperative agreement finalized by NuScale Power and the Department of Energy (DOE) on Wednesday means the small modular reactor (SMR) developer will receive up to $217 million in matching funds over a five-year-period to perform engineering and testing necessary for design certification.  Last December, the Portland, Ore.–based company […]

A final rule establishing national technology-based effluent limitations guidelines and standards to reduce discharges of pollutants from nuclear and fossil fuel power plants to U.S. waters won’t be issued until at least September 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed.  This April, the agency and environmental groups Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club […]

In a major setback for efforts to support demand response, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 745, finding that the rule overstepped state authority to regulate retail electricity markets. FERC Order 745, issued in 2011, required the nation’s Independent System Operators (ISOs) […]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Duke Energy have signed an agreement regarding cleanup of the coal ash release that occurred at the retired Dan River coal-fired power plant in North Carolina in February. As part of the deal, the EPA will oversee the cleanup and Duke will reimburse the agency for its oversight […]

Despite relatively low interest in cybersecurity issues among power industry professionals, the threat of cyber attacks on generation systems is real, as the latest report by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) group reveals. The January–April report from the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT) notes that the DHS group recently received […]