POWERnews

A new joint venture between American Electric Power (AEP) and Kansas City–based Great Plains Energy seeks to reap advantages from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) Order 1000 and develop competitive transmission projects in the PJM Interconnection, Southwest Power Pool (SPP), and Midwest ISO transmission regions.

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Wednesday announced a $30 million research competition intended to improve the performance and safety of energy storage devices, including hybrid energy storage modules being developed by the Department of Defense for military applications.

A report released by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) on Tuesday examining the underlying technical factors leading to the loss of critical systems at the Fukushima Daiichi reactors concludes parameters set for tsunami flood protection were inadequate and that this led to the eventual loss of all practical cooling paths for the reactors.

Plunging prices for solar panels, overcapacity, and a recent, substantial slash of government subsidies for solar power in Germany have prompted a rash of major solar firms to declare bankruptcy. Solar Millennium AG’s U.S. subsidiaries—including Solar Trust of America—filed for Chapter 11 insolvency proceedings in a concerted action on Monday, while giant solar cell–maker Q-Cells filed for insolvency in a German court.

In a 4-1 vote, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Friday approved an application for two combined construction and operating licenses (COLs) for new Generation III+ reactors at V.C. Summer Station in Jenkinsville, S.C. The project has been proposed by South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. (SCE&G), principal subsidiary of SCANA Corp., and Santee Cooper, South Carolina’s state-owned electric and water utility.

A bipartisan group of U.S. House of Representatives members last week introduced a bill that would absolve companies that generate or transmit power under a federal emergency directive from violation of environmental rules or civil and criminal liability suits. The bill also directs the Department of Energy to minimize adverse environmental impacts in its emergency order.

A federal appeals court last week vacated the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Sept. 15, 2010 disapproval of Texas’ State Implementation Plan (SIP), saying the federal agency overreached in its interpretation of portions of Texas state rules used to implement the Clean Air Act.

German utilities RWE and E.ON, parent companies of the Horizon joint venture, last week said they would not proceed with key plans to develop two new reactors in the UK. The decision could put the UK’s plans to stake its energy future on nuclear power in disarray.

Days after the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed an order by the Mississippi Public Service Commission (PSC) granting a key permit to Mississippi Power’s 582-MW integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) Kemper power plant, the PSC voted to temporarily allow the Southern Co. subsidiary to continue construction of the plant in Kemper County, Miss.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by 10 federal agencies and the governors of Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Pennsylvania on Friday seeks to promote the efficient and orderly evaluation of offshore wind proposals for the Great Lakes.