PURPA

West Virginia’s only remaining coal refuse–fueled facility, the 80-MW Grant Town Power Project, is a 2021 Top Plant winner for powering on, despite challenges, to remediate 530,000 tons of coal refuse annually while reclaiming roughly 30 acres of land per year. 

The U.S. Senate on Nov. 30 confirmed Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) nominees Allison Clements and Mark Christie, filling out all five seats at the helm of the federal energy regulator with a bipartisan panel for the first time in nearly two years.  Clements, a Democrat, replaces former Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur for a term that […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finalized a long-awaited rule revising regulations that govern qualifying small power producers and cogenerators under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA). While FERC said the rule was necessary to respond to significant market changes, the action drew mixed reactions from industry.  FERC’s final rule issued on […]

More than 40 years ago, small power production facilities were germinated, fertilized, and have continued to blossom under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), a federal law passed in 1978 as a

The newly empowered Republican majority on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) flexed its administrative muscles Sept. 19 at its regular monthly meeting, voting 2–1 to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to reform rules pertaining to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). It was FERC’s first public meeting since July, when the […]

July marks two important milestones that set gas-fired generation on its course to becoming a dominant form of power generation: commercial operation of the world’s first industrial gas turbine in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, in 1939, and commercial operation of the first gas turbine in the U.S. used to generate electric power—a 3.5-MW General Electric (GE) unit […]

An executive with the AES Shady Point coal-fired power plant in Oklahoma said the facility could close as soon as January after being notified its power purchase agreement (PPA) will not be extended. Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. (OG&E) this month said it will not execute another five-year extension of a PPA between the two […]

Burdened by a trade case, unpredictable policy-making, interconnection delays, and other market factors, the U.S. installed 30% less solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity in 2017 compared to a record-breaking 2016. However, the 10.6 GW of new PV capacity added last year represents 30% of all new generating capacity added to the U.S. grid, more than any […]

Merchant markets for independent power producers in the U.S. are unfavorable, and many companies in the sector have slumping profits—even big losses—as they ponder where to go in the months and years

The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) believes that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) needs to fast-track reform of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), NARUC President John Betkoski III said in a December 18 letter to the commission. The letter pushes for FERC’s new Chairman, Kevin McIntyre, to make […]