POWERnews

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether to hear a case filed by several states and citizen groups against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that contends that FERC Order 697, issued in 2007 to improve market-based rate regulations, exceeds FERC’s authority under the Federal Power Act (FPA).

Planning reserve margins in California and Texas will be "tight" this summer, and New England generators could face uncertain supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC’s) newly released 2012 Summer Reliability Assessment finds.

Over the next five years, at least eight advanced large-scale demonstration carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects will enter operation—five in North America and three in Europe, a Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis shows. Leading the pack is Pennsylvania-based Air Products & Chemical’s CCS demonstration at a refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, a project that could be operational as soon as next year.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Tuesday said it renewed the operating license for the 1972-commissioned Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, Mass., for 20 more years despite objections by outgoing NRC Chair Gregory Jaczko.

Finding in a preliminary determination that crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells are being sold in the U.S. at below-market prices that harm domestic manufacturers, the Commerce Department slapped a 31% tariff on 61 Chinese PV producers and exporters with slight variations by company. All other Chinese producers and exporters of the cells will be subject to a tariff of nearly 250%. The decision has incited mixed, heated reactions from the solar industry.

Compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS) by April 2015 will require coal generators in the Midwest to install retrofits at a pace and scale that exceeds “historical demonstrated capability,” and it will impose taxing bottlenecks on the nation’s power sector labor, equipment, and supply chain, a new study suggests.

A new report shows that the reserve margin for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) could plunge to 9.8% as soon as 2014, to 6.9% in 2015, and to a negative margin by 2022—well below the grid operator’s 13.75% target for electric generation capacity that exceeds the forecast peak demand on the grid.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chair Gregory Jaczko on Monday announced his resignation after more than seven years as a member and three years as head of the federal regulatory body. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) last week suggested that Jaczko could be re-nominated if a successor is not confirmed by June 20, 2013, when the chairman’s first term ends.

The long-awaited restart of Bruce Power’s Unit 2 at Bruce A on Friday was delayed again for months after an issue was identified within the electrical generator on the non-nuclear side of the Ontario plant just an hour before synchronization with the grid was scheduled to occur.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week issued a policy statement explaining how it will advise the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on requests for extra time from generators to comply with the agency’s recently finalized Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS).