POWERnews

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week released, for the first time, data collected under its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Program. The data set shows that in 2010, power plants were the largest direct emitters of GHGs, followed by petroleum refineries. The database was released as the agency continues work on GHG standards for new and modified power plants, which may be released by the end of this month.

The U.S. power sector will see heightened electricity consumption over the next two years, a spurt in natural gas–fueled power generation that is expected to offset a slight decline in coal power, and a significant decline in hydropower generation that could mark a decline in overall renewable generation, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) says in its latest short-term outlook.

A settlement reached between Duke Energy and conservation groups on Tuesday legally binds the North Carolina–based utility to shutter 1,667 MW of coal-fired capacity from aging plants and tighten pollution controls at the new 825-MW pulverized coal unit that is scheduled to come online this year at its Cliffside Steam Station on the Rutherford/Cleveland County line in North Carolina.

Vestas, the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer, plans to lay off 2,355 employees (about 10% of its workforce), reduce its fixed costs by more than €150 million ($192 million), reorganize management, and close one of its 26 factories in preparation for a potential slowdown in the U.S. wind market in case the production tax credit is not extended at the end of 2012, the Danish firm said on Thursday.

A lease-purchase transaction for a new combined cycle plant in Rogersville, Tenn., completed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on Tuesday could provide the U.S. government–owned corporation $1 billion in financing to support completion of the 1,260-MW Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Hollywood, Ala., by 2020.

Électricité de France (EDF), Constellation Energy’s partner in five nuclear plants on three sites in Maryland and New York and a 7.2% owner of Constellation shares, on Tuesday withdrew its opposition to a $7.9 billion merger between Baltimore-based Constellation and Chicago-based Exelon Corp. The French company said it had reached an agreement with Exelon to protect the “operational autonomy” of the Constellation Energy Nuclear Group (CENG).

Two reports assessing wave and tidal resources in the U.S. released today by the Department of Energy (DOE) suggest that water power—including conventional hydropower and wave, tidal, and other resources—could provide 15% of the nation’s electricity by 2030.

The newest initiative to protect the nation’s power grid from cyber attacks is the “Electric Sector Cybersecurity Risk Management Maturity” project, led by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The project is expected to leverage the insight of private and public sector grid experts and build on existing cybersecurity measures and strategies.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), an organization representing state public service commissioners, joined forces to launch a forum to explore reliability issues that could crop up as a result of new and pending environmental rules for the power sector.

A new report published by the Institute for Electric Efficiency (IEE) finds that electric energy efficiency savings are on the rise in the U.S.—and that electric utilities accounted for a vast majority of ratepayer-funded electric efficiency expenditures in 2010.