POWERnews

A month after Energy Secretary Steven Chu pledged to accelerate approval of long-awaited federal loan guarantees under Title XVII of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, the Department of Energy (DOE) has conditionally approved a $535 million loan for Solyndra Inc., a manufacturer of cylindrical solar photovoltaic panels.

Despite economic concerns, the U.S. solar industry saw a third straight year of record growth in 2008. The installation of 1,265 MW of all types of solar power last year brought total U.S. solar power capacity to 8,775 MW, an annual report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) shows.

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) on Monday signed separate agreements with India’s state-run companies Nuclear Power Corp. of India (NPCIL) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) to prepare for construction of a potentially massive advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) power station in that country.

President Barack Obama has put the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) squarely in the hands of Jon Wellinghoff, formally designating him chair of the agency on Friday. The president also separately reappointed Suedeen Kelly to her third term as commissioner, though her role will need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Both are Democrats.

Nevada Senators Harry Reid (D) and John Ensign (R) last week introduced a bill to create a national commission to study long-term alternatives to Yucca Mountain for managing nuclear waste in the U.S.

South Africa, a country that holds the sixth-largest coal reserves in the world, will need to invest up to 110 billion rand ($10.52 billion) in coal mining and dig at least 40 new mines by 2020 to meet growing demand, a coal specialist at the state-run utility Eskom said last week.

Georgia’s Public Service Commission (PSC) on Tuesday voted 4–1 in support of plans by Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power to build two reactors at the Vogtle nuclear power plant site.

The Department of Energy’s decision last year to withdraw from FutureGen—the first “clean coal” plant in the U.S.—largely because costs had doubled and would escalate substantially, was rooted in faulty calculations, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released last week.

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Tuesday confirmed they would end a longstanding jurisdictional conflict and work together to make permitting of renewable energy in offshore waters easier.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday proposed the first rule that mandates reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from large sources in the U.S.—including electricity-generating facilities.