POWERnews

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Thursday announced approvals of loans worth $2.1 billion to 43 projects in 27 states that would help rural electric utilities build and upgrade infrastructure in rural America.

Heavy rain in key mining areas in India has caused a critical coal shortage and restricted supplies to several major coal-fired power plants in the nation that fuels 55% of its power capacity with coal.

NextEra Energy Resources today powered up the 5-MW Hatch Solar Center, in Hatch, N.M., a project it says is the largest operating concentrating photovoltaic solar power plant in North America.

Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens on Thursday filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), which was finalized by the EPA this summer. On Monday, Xcel Energy also filed suit against the EPA, asking the agency to reconsider its methodology for calculating allowable emissions.

Instead of transferring to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) its authority to conduct congestion studies and establish a process for designating national transmission corridors under section 216 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), as it was considering last month, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said the Department of Energy would work “more closely” with FERC in reviewing new transmission projects.

An analysis released by ISO New England on Thursday identifies several challenges that could dramatically change New England’s grid, including the retirement of generators and the integration of renewable resources.

PPL Electric Utilities on Tuesday said it would build 57 miles of a new 230-kV power line from the Wilkes-Barre area in Pennsylvania to an area west of Hawley, Wayne County, as well as three new substations to improve service for homes and businesses in northeast Pennsylvania and the Poconos.

ICF International, a consultancy group that earlier this year had predicted 68 GW of coal-fired power plants could retire by 2030 as a result of finalized and proposed regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on Monday downgraded its retirement projections to 50 GW.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday proposed “technical adjustments” to the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) finalized on July 6 that would increase statewide limitations on emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen oxide (NO_x) for nine states. This proposal also amends the assurance penalty provisions for all states within the program so that they start in 2014, instead of 2012, to promote the development of allowance market liquidity and smooth the transition from the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) program.

Twenty-five states and the U.S. Territory of Guam on Monday filed an amicus brief and urged a federal court to force the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to delay its proposed Utility Maximum Achievable Control Technology (Utility MACT) rule by one year, until at least Nov. 16, 2012. The EPA has said it is on track to finalize the rule this November.