POWERnews

The week brought news of key alliances around the world concerning important fossil fuel–fired projects with carbon capture potential.

California regulators on Friday approved a program that seeks to generate 500 MW of solar power through the deployment of thousands of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on large commercial rooftops across Southern California. The approval marks the first time a California utility will own a significant renewable energy source.

A national assessment of demand response released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Thursday estimates that up to 20% of peak electricity use in the U.S. can be cut through programs in which customers agree to curb consumption at times of high demand.

SkyFuel Inc. has signed an agreement with Sunray Energy Inc., a subsidiary of Cogentrix Energy, for the installation of SkyTrough collectors at Sunray’s 43-MW parabolic trough generating plant near Daggett, Calif.,

Overshadowed by news that FutureGen—the nation’s first commercial-scale coal-fired carbon capture and storage (CCS) project—had regained the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) backing, the DOE’s financial awards on Friday to nine smaller projects that will develop precombustion carbon capture technologies for future integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants went almost unnoticed.

Energy legislation unveiled by House Republicans last week in response to the Waxman-Markey climate change and energy bill focuses heavily on an expansion of the nation’s nuclear industry, calling for construction of up to 100 new nuclear power plants by 2030 to meet the nation’s energy needs and environmental challenges.

The Mohave Generating Station, a 1,580-MW coal-fired power plant that operated from 1971 to 2005 in Laughlin, Nev., will be decommissioned and removed from the site, the plant’s four owners said last week.

Exelon has launched a series of planned power uprates across the company’s nuclear fleet that will generate between 1,300 MW and 1,500 MW of additional generation capacity—equal to a new reactor—within eight years.

Canada last week marked a major milestone in its move toward establishing a national carbon market by laying down the rules for a federal greenhouse gas offset system.

A report released on Monday by the Western Governors’ Association (WGA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as part of the Western Renewable Energy Zones (WREZ) initiative identifies 36 areas in the Western Interconnection that have the potential both for large-scale development of renewable resources and low environmental impacts.