POWERnews

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Thursday a set of actions to further clarify and strengthen environmental permitting requirements for Appalachian mountaintop removal and other surface coal mining projects, in coordination with federal and state regulatory agencies.

Entergy Corp. announced on Monday that it plans to continue operating its 2,000-MW Indian Point nuclear power plant in spite of the N.Y. Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) rejection of the plant’s application for a water quality certification on Friday.

The Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) announced on Thursday its plan to carry out a multi-pronged evaluation process for the independent testing of smart meters installed in the Texas competitive retail electric market. This action follows Oncor Electric Delivery’s announcement last week that it had incorrectly installed more than a thousand smart meters in central Texas.

Xcel Energy and Calpine Corp. announced on Monday that Public Service Company of Colorado, an Xcel Energy company, will purchase two of Calpine’s power plants near Denver that currently provide power to the utility under power purchase agreements.

Entergy Corp., the second-largest operator of nuclear power plants in the U.S., announced on Monday it will cancel its proposed spin-off transaction that would have relocated six of its nuclear units into newly formed companies, Enexus Energy Corp. and EquaGen LLC. This decision occurred in the wake of the New York Public Service Commission’s (NYPSC) decision on Thursday to reject the company’s planned spin-off.

Suniva, a U.S. manufacturer of high-efficiency monocrystalline silicon solar cells and modules, announced on Thursday that it has been selected for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Loan Guarantee Program under the DOE’s Innovative Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy and Advanced Transmission and Distribution Technologies Solicitation.

Under a final decision issued Monday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), no stationary sources, including power plants, will be required to get Clean Air Act permits that cover greenhouse gases (GHGs) before January 2011.

For the first time, China led the U.S. and other G-20 members in 2009 clean energy investments and finance, according to data released Thursday by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Last year, China invested $34.6 billion in the clean energy economy—nearly double the U.S. total of $18.6 billion. Over the past five years, the U.S. also […]

The California Energy Commission has approved converting a San Joaquin County peaker plant to a combined-cycle plant. The 169-MW Tracy Peaker Plant would become the 314-MW Tracy Combined Cycle Power Plant. The decision last Wednesday was seen as opening the possibility of integrating solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation—to be built on city land—with the plant, […]

Roughly two weeks after announcing that it would provide approximately $5 million in scholarships and fellowships for students enrolled in nuclear energy–related engineering and science programs at accredited U.S. universities and colleges, the U.S. Department of Energy announced two new funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) to support university and college efforts to build or expand their school’s nuclear science and engineering basic research or education capabilities.