DOE

A bitter dispute concerning subsidies for nuclear generation that has divided the power sector grew more intense over the past week as Connecticut, Ohio, and Pennsylvania advanced efforts to keep nuclear plants operating. At the same time, legal challenges to existing measures in Illinois and New York continued in two federal courts. In Connecticut, Gov. […]

Comments on the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) proposed grid resiliency rule from an assortment of state agencies, trade groups, environmental organizations, and organized market entities flooded the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) docket before the tight three-week timeframe expired Oct. 23. The DOE’s “Grid Resiliency Pricing Rule” proposed on Sept. 29 directs FERC—an independent regulatory […]

More than 300 solar employees laid off this summer following a recent surge of U.S. photovoltaic (PV) panel imports may be eligible for federal entitlement, including income support and allowances, the Department of Labor (DOL) has determined. In petitions for Trade Adjustment Assistance filed with the DOL’s Employment and Training Administration by laid-off solar workers […]

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have developed a unique large-scale power converter that can swiftly switch between multiple energy sources to help

Energy Secretary Rick Perry said in a statement that the “future of nuclear energy in the United States is bright” as his agency on September 29 announced another $3.7 billion in loan guarantees for continued construction of two new nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle in Georgia. The Department of Energy (DOE) has guaranteed another $1.67 […]

A rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on September 29 directs the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to mandate that competitive power markets develop and implement market rules to “accurately price” what it calls “fuel-secure” generation. The DOE’s “Grid Resiliency Pricing Rule” directs FERC—an independent regulatory government agency that is officially organized as […]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is kicking off September with a couple of significant funding announcements. The department announced September 6 the selection of 16 projects to receive a combined total of more than $10 million in funding to advance solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology. That announcement was followed up September 7 with […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has available up to $100 million in cost-shared funding for large-scale transformational coal technologies pilot projects.  According to an August 24 funding opportunity announcement (FOA), the money will be distributed in three phases. “The purpose of this FOA is to seek applications for projects to design, construct, and operate large-scale […]

In a long-awaited study of electricity markets and grid reliability, the Department of Energy has called out natural gas as the No. 1 reason for retirements of coal and nuclear plants, breaking from the Trump administration’s prior talking point blaming regulations and renewables for the nation’s shrinking coal and nuclear fleets. The report attributes four […]

Citing its backing for the long-stalled Yucca Mountain permanent spent nuclear waste repository in Nevada, the Trump administration has asked a federal court to reject a petition filed by Texas in which the state sought a court-supervised process to take over administrative proceedings so as to guarantee licensing and eventual construction of project. Texas filed […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) is offering approximately $28 million in cost-shared funding for research and development of advanced energy systems.  According to three separate funding opportunity announcements (FOAs), the department is looking for research into advanced combustion systems, advanced turbines, and gasification. “Advanced energy conversion systems are designed to enable efficient, low-cost, and near-zero […]

President Donald Trump wants to balance the federal budget in 10 years, and it appears he believes that to do so, deep cuts to the nation’s energy research funding are needed. The administration’s fiscal year 2018 (FY18) budget request, released Tuesday, May 23, cuts funding for the Department of Energy (DOE) by $1.7 billion, a […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) issued an unprecedented emergency order on April 14 to keep open a power plant that had been slated for shutdown under the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) in a bid to secure electric reliability. The DOE’s order was issued under the Federal Power Act Section 202(c). It inaugurates the […]

The Trump administration released a blueprint of its proposed 2018 budget on March 16, likely setting off a major battle with Congress. The budget proposal, “America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again” makes major cuts in non-defense discretionary spending over 2017. While funding for the Department of Defense is boosted $52.3 billion, […]

Maria Korsnick, president and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), told POWER on March 9 that the U.S. nuclear industry is optimistic this Congress will work to resolve the nation’s long drawn out spent fuel predicament. Speaking at CERAweek by IHS Markit last week, Korsnick said that optimism was based on Republican domination of […]

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Fossil Energy has awarded a total of $5.9 million to seven projects focused on novel uses of carbon dioxide (CO2). The projects were selected under the DOE’s carbon storage program. “This portfolio will develop and test novel approaches that convert CO2 captured from coal-fired power plants to […]

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) in North America is about to have its year, Julio Friedmann, senior adviser for energy innovation at the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said during the February 8 Global CCS Institute’s annual Americas Forum. “We are just now like fully deployed and hopefully that will finally quash […]

What do we know as of February 1 about key Trump appointees responsible for administering White House policies affecting the power generation industry? Not much. As the Trump administration settles in, how his teams at energy and environment agencies will implement his policy agenda remains unclear, as does his agenda. At the end of January, […]

As one of its first announcements under the Trump administration, the Department of Energy (DOE) will invest up to $30 million in new projects to support the integration of solar into the nation’s electric grid. The agency’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy announced the measure as part of its SunShot Initiative, which the […]

NuScale will submit the nation’s first application for design certification of a small modular reactor (SMR) to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Thursday. The Corvallis, Ore.–based company, which is majority owned by the Fluor Corp., has been developing its light-water reactor nuclear technology for more than 15 years. Development of the NuScale power module […]

Beyond major reliability events that have prompted regional blackouts in the past, the U.S. grid faces “imminent danger from cyber attacks,” warns the second installation of the Obama administration’s Quadrennial Energy Review (QER). Here are other key trends outlined in the comprehensive study of the nation’s electricity system. The QER, available on the DOE web site, identifies the threats, […]

The Department of Energy (DOE) has dropped its support of a 24-MW offshore wind demonstration project proposed by Fishermen’s Energy off the coast of Atlantic City, N.J. “Under the Energy Department’s award, Fishermen’s Energy must have secured a power offtake agreement by December 31st to be eligible for another round of funding,” a DOE spokesperson […]

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) first loan guarantee under an $8 billion solicitation for advanced fossil energy projects may go to a methanol production facility in Lake Charles, La., that will employ carbon capture technology for enhanced oil recovery. The DOE said in a statement on December 21 that it offered a conditional commitment to […]

President-elect Donald Trump has picked former Texas governor Rick Perry to be his energy secretary

Block Island Wind Farm has begun commercial operations, making it America’s first offshore wind farm. Deepwater Wind and project partners have commissioned and tested the 30-MW installation off the coast of Block Island, R.I., and it is now delivering power into New England’s grid via National Grid’s 20-mile-long sea2shore submarine transmission cable, the company said […]

Global demand for the 17 periodic table elements—15 within the chemical group called lanthanides, plus yttrium and scandium—has soared in recent years as they become increasingly integrated in new technologies. Some major end uses include generators for wind turbines, permanent magnets and rechargeable batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles, automotive catalytic converters, fluid cracking catalysts […]

While GE-Hitachi Global Laser Enrichment (GLE) confirmed it hasn’t made a formal decision to proceed with licensing or construction of a laser enrichment facility at Paducah, Ky., the Department of Energy (DOE) announced it has agreed to sell depleted uranium to the company over a 40-year period to help produce nuclear power plant fuel. The […]

Nuclear power’s future—and its much-needed contribution to U.S. decarbonization efforts—may be hampered if eight pressing issues aren’t addressed within the next five years, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said at a recent event held at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The issues Moniz outlined in his keynote speech at a six-hour event titled […]

The Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will award up to $80 million to a 10-MWe pilot project that seeks to advance the development and commercialization of supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) Brayton power cycles. The plant will be managed by three research entities: the Gas Technology Institute (GTI), Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), and […]

A strategy rolled out by the Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of the Interior (DOI) to enable 86 GW of offshore wind capacity in the U.S. by 2050 highlights a number of key hurdles, including those related to technology, regulations, the environment, and markets. The DOE’s and DOI’s September 9–released joint document, “National Offshore […]