POWERnews

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. has said that he is prepared to sign into law later this month a bill passed by both houses of the legislature that would require the largest utilities operating in the state to generate 30% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020. Only California has a higher goal for its renewable portfolio standard (RES).

On Tuesday, Vermont’s legislature took another step toward designating large hydropower resources as "renewable." The move came just days after the two largest Vermont utilities signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Hydro-Québec for a 26-year power purchase agreement.

The Canadian province of Alberta may be well-known for its oil and gas reserves, but it is also active in developing renewable energy. On Thursday, Edmonton-based independent power producer Capital Power was chosen to supply a 142-MW wind farm for BC Hydro.

Only 8% of utilities around the world have completed their smart grid technology implementations while 37% have projects under way and more than half haven’t yet started, according to a new Microsoft Corp. survey released at CERAWeek 2010.

SunEdison received final approval from the Italian government last week to develop and construct a 72-MW photovoltaic (PV) solar power plant in northeastern Italy, near the town of Rovigo. When completed, this is expected to be the largest PV solar power plant in Europe.

On Monday, the Illinois Senate overturned a 23-year-old ban on building new nuclear plants in the state.

NB Power announced last Wednesday that it will close its Grand Lake Generating Station earlier than anticipated due to a fire that occurred in the burner of the front boiler. The New Brunswick, Canada, plant was expected to close when its operating license expires in June this year.

Entergy Corp. accepted a national award on Mar. 3 for its work restoring power following a destructive ice storm last year in Arkansas. It is the 12th consecutive year Entergy has received a storm response award from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI).

Last week the first-ever ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit brought encouraging news to companies seeking to move their green technologies from the drawing board into the marketplace by announcing the availability of stimulus fund money. The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E), part of the Department of Energy, is modeled on the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which led to developments including military and networking technologies.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced selections for the award of approximately $40 million in total to two teams led by Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric Co. and San Diego–based General Atomics for conceptual design and planning work for the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP).