POWERnews

The UK will build only a quarter of the 29 GW of offshore wind farms needed to reach its target to have 15% of energy from renewable sources by 2020 unless the government acts urgently to reduce costs and risks to developers, a government-funded but independent think tank said in a report launched last week. […]

The Indiana Court of Appeals on Thursday ruled against four environmental and consumer groups and upheld a decision by state regulators to allow Duke Energy to build a $2.35 billion integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant at its coal and oil–fired Edwardsport facility in Knox County, Ind. Duke and Southern Indiana Gas and Electric Company […]

PJM Interconnection has approved $1.8 billion in electric transmission system additions and grid upgrades to enhance the reliability of its power supply system. The grid operator’s system serves parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia. On Friday, it said the upgrades and improvements authorized by its board comprised dozens of projects. Most new […]

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Pranab Mukherjee, her Indian counterpart, signed a pact Friday that allows U.S. equipment and service providers to support India’s plans to increase the country’s nuclear capacity.     The accord seals the “123 Agreement,” an historic deal that lifts a 34-year-old ban on U.S.-Indian civilian nuclear trade. After three […]

After an extensive public process, the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) last week approved construction of a 500-kV transmission line project running through the northern part of that state.   TrAILCo’s $850 million project—named the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line (TrAIL)—calls for construction of a new 500-kV line extending from southwestern Pennsylvania through West Virginia and into […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) last week awarded military-industrial giant Lockheed Martin a cooperative agreement contract worth $1.2 million to demonstrate innovative generation technologies that use the ocean’s thermal gradient.    Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) uses temperature differences of 36 degrees F or more between warm surface water and cold deep seawater to […]

PPL Corp. on Friday submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a license to build and operate a new nuclear plant—the 17th received by the agency so far.   The company has proposed in its combined construction and operating license (COL) application to build the Bell Bend nuclear plant close to […]

Representatives from both presidential campaigns engaged in a spirited debate about their candidates’ approaches to solving the nation’s energy problems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on Oct. 6. Among the notable distinctions were that John McCain favors leaving energy decisions up to the states while Barack Obama calls for significant regulations and investment […]

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week created a new government department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) as part of his latest cabinet shuffle. The new entity will take on several issues affecting the UK power industry, including soaring wholesale prices resulting from a squeeze in generating capacity, the nation’s crumbling power infrastructure, and […]

U.S. baseload generation capacity reserve margins declined to 17% last year, and with demand expected to outpace capacity growth, the nation could face significant risk of costly power brownouts and blackouts as early as next summer, suggests a new study released by NextGen Energy Council.   The nonprofit organization is composed of a wide variety […]