POWER Magazine

The U.S. took a big step toward becoming a major exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2016 as Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass export terminal in Louisiana came online early last year and upgrades to the Panama Canal that opened in June made shipments to the Pacific region considerably easier. Data from the Department of […]The post U.S. LNG Exports Surge in 2016—But Not Where They Were Expected [Updated] appeared first on POWER Magazine.

If the Clean Power Plan is scrapped or weakened, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may be forced to regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted by existing power plant with wider repercussions under its National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) program, experts have warned. While President-Elect Donald Trump promised to “scrap” the Clean Power Plan during his […]The post Experts: If Clean Power Plan Perishes, GHG Regulation Almost Certain Under NAAQS Program appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The 2,250-MW Navajo Generating Station near Page, Ariz., and the associated Kayenta coal mine may close in 2017.The post Coal-Fired Navajo Station Could Close This Year appeared first on POWER Magazine.

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 post DOE Ditches Another Offshore Wind Demonstration Project appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has submitted documents that suggest its plan to permanently store low-level and intermediate-level nuclear waste close to its Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Kincardine, at an underground site near the eastern shore of Lake Huron, is the best option for disposal. Responding to a February 2016 request for information by the […]The post OPG: Kincardine Nuclear Waste Deep Geologic Repository Is Best Alternative appeared first on POWER Magazine.

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Difficult market conditions have accelerated the much-hyped closures of a string of coal-fired power units in the U.S., but the phenomenon is extending overseas, gripping plants in Australia and Germany. In the wake of the Paris agreement in December 2015, a number of governments have moved to phase out coal-fired generation. This October, France, which […]The post Market Conditions Force Coal Unit Closures in Australia, Germany appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The U.S. may be getting its first overhead 600-kV high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) line in more than 20 years. Developers are advancing the Plains and Eastern Clean Line, a 720-mile (1,150-kilometer [km]) project that could deliver 4 GW of renewable power from the Oklahoma Panhandle region to states in the Southeast. The project is spearheaded by […]The post Readying for New HVDC Line, U.S. Lags Behind Rest of World appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Barely a year after Mexico launched a wholesale market with retail competition as part of a wide-scale reform of its power sector, the country has managed to implement a transparent system that is attracting investment. Mexico has also expanded its grid and deployed notable amounts of renewables that are producing power at unprecedented low prices, […]The post Mexico Makes Rapid Progress on Energy Reform appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Just a few months ago, New England’s biggest and most controversial pipeline proposal, Algonquin Gas Transmission’s Access Northeast project (see “Securing Pipeline Infrastructure for Gas-Fired Generation in New England” in the July 2016 issue), was poised for regulatory scrutiny. Access Northeast distinguished itself by its partnership with electric distribution companies (EDCs), namely National Grid and […]The post New England’s Controversial Pipeline Proposal Suffers Severe Setbacks appeared first on POWER Magazine.

China has officially begun construction of its first offshore nuclear power plant, a demonstration project that will employ the domestically developed ACPR50S small modular reactor (SMR). China General Nuclear Power Corp. (CGN) on November 4 told reporters at a press conference that the project (Figure 6) is a “top priority” that will further the country’s […]The post China Starts Building SMR-Based Floating Nuclear Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

As our January 2017 cover image of a dynamic Rubik’s Cube suggests, the power industry, especially in the U.S., is dealing with something akin to solving a 3-D puzzle whose pieces are being added and subtracted as the game is being played. Although shares of traditional, regulated electric utilities remain some of the most predictable […]The post The Power Industry’s Moving Pieces in 2017 appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The U.S. market for electricity is trifurcated. More than half the country is served by competitive generators bidding against each other in wholesale markets. Almost half is served by conventional state-regulated, vertically integrated utilities controlling generation and transmission. The rest, a much smaller portion, consists of government-owned and customer-owned utilities, some of which are generators […]The post U.S. Electric Markets in Transition appeared first on POWER Magazine.

If broad policy commitments announced by various countries are implemented, coal will not only lose its rank as the dominant fuel for power generation to renewables by 2040, but the world’s coal fleet will be significantly transformed by technology advances, the International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) newly released World Energy Outlook (WEO-2016) forecasts. Under a baseline […]The post IEA: Coal Boom Is Over appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A tumultuous election year that was marked by market turmoil, the events of 2016 clearly showed that big change is afoot for the power sector. Many of POWER‘s bold predictions for 2016, such as that the near-simultaneous surge in U.S. natural gas production and recent enactment of environmental rules would reshape the U.S. power sector, […]The post A Look Back at 2016: The Year of Transition appeared first on POWER Magazine.

POWER‘s monthly infographic sheds light on power sector trends globally, and in 2016, it highlighted water issues, future coal fleet technologies, U.S. power plant retirements, energy storage technologies, China’s power glut, global emissions limits, and more. January 2016: Future Coal Fleet What the world’s future coal fleet will look like by technology. February 2016: GHG […]The post THE BIG PICTURE 2016: The Year in Power Sector Infographics appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Some of the U.S. coal market’s own product wound up in its stocking this Christmas season. Despite hope from the election of Donald Trump and a potential shift toward more coal-friendly energy policies, coal plant owners across the country continued the trend toward shutdowns and reduced operations that have marked the past few years. Coal […]The post U.S. Coal Fleet Continues Contractions Despite Looming Changes in Policy appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Toshiba Corp.—the parent of Westinghouse Electric Co.—said it might book huge losses as a result of Westinghouse’s acquisition of the nuclear construction and integrated services business CB&I Stone & Webster Inc. (S&W). Westinghouse closed on its agreement with CB&I in December 2015. When the deal was made, Toshiba estimated that the amount of “goodwill” resulting […]The post Westinghouse’s Losses from Nuclear Business Deal Mount appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Oregon State University’s Northwest National Marine Renewable Energy Center was awarded up to $40 million by the DOE to create a wave energy test facility in Newport.The post Oregon Wave Energy Center Gets $40 Million for Test Facility appeared first on POWER Magazine.

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 […]The post DOE’s First Advanced Fossil Fuel Loan Guarantee Commitment Awarded to Methanol Plant with Carbon Capture appeared first on POWER Magazine.

After a 10-month competitive bid process, Southern California Edison (SCE) has selected a joint venture of AECOM and EnergySolutions as the general contractor for the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) decommissioning. “We are pleased to announce the selection of the AECOM/EnergySolutions team, a global joint venture with extensive commercial and government decommissioning experience around […]The post AECOM, EnergySolutions Joint Venture to Decommission San Onofre Nuclear Plant appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said on Dec. 21 that it has issued combined construction-and-operating licenses (COLs) for Duke Energy’s proposed two-unit William States Lee III nuclear plant in Gaffney, S.C. The project, named for long-time Duke executive Bill Lee, would use Westinghouse’s AP1000 design and be located adjacent to the abandoned Cherokee nuclear plant […]The post NRC Issues License for Duke’s Lee Nuclear Project, but Future Uncertain appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In a joint statement on December 20, the leaders of the United States and Canada announced that they had developed a new partnership that effectively bans additional licenses for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic and parts of the Atlantic Ocean.The post Obama and Trudeau Ban Oil & Gas Leasing in Arctic, Parts of Atlantic appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has abandoned an interagency review of draft model carbon trading rules that were issued alongside the final Clean Power Plan to make associated documents public before the Trump administration takes the reins at the agency. The agency proposed the model trading rules as components of state implementation plans that it […]The post EPA Drops Proposed Model Carbon Trading Rules Ahead of Trump Takeover appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Fermi 2, a 1,170-MW boiling water reactor owned by DTE Electric on the western shore of Lake Erie, in Monroe County, Mich., has garnered the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC’s) green light to operate until March 2045. DTE Electric submitted an application to the NRC to renew the 29-year-old reactor’s operating license in April 2014. The […]The post DTE Energy’s Fermi 2 Nuclear Reactor Gets License to Operate for 20 More Years appeared first on POWER Magazine.

A joint strategy released by the governments of the U.S. and Canada to thwart the growing threat of cyberattacks on the electric grid sets three priorities that the countries said would be critical to preserving energy and national security. The “Joint United States-Canada Electric Grid Security and Resilience Strategy,” released on December 15, outlines three […]The post U.S. and Canada Join Forces to Battle Cyberattacks on Electric Grid appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on December 15 proposed reforms to its large generator (20 MW or more) interconnection processes. The notice of proposed rulemaking (or NOPR in FERC-speak) would revise FERC’s 2003 pro-forma large generator interconnection procedures and agreement. At the FERC meeting approving the proposed rule, FERC Chairman Norman Bay said, “Much […]The post FERC Proposes Rule Changes on Interconnect, Fast Start appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on December 14 finalized the latest version of its rule governing permitted levels of eagle deaths at wind turbine farms. The rule, first issued in 2009, governs the FWS’s administration of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which makes it a criminal offense to kill or injure […]The post U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Finalizes Rule on Wind Turbine Eagle Deaths appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Although optimistic about the future of the coal industry under the Trump administration, Robert Murray, CEO of Murray Energy Corp., the largest underground coal mining company in the U.S., does not expect the president-elect to bring back coal mining jobs or spur new coal-fired power plant construction. “I’ve asked President-elect Trump to temper his comments […]The post Coal Magnate Tells Trump to Lower His Expectations appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The tumultuous Trump transition took another turn late Tuesday, as reports from many media outlets said he has picked Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), a freshman who won a second House term in November’s election, to be Secretary of Interior. Many of the same media sources late last week said Trump would pick Washington Rep. Cathy […]The post Reports Say Trump Picks Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke for Interior appeared first on POWER Magazine.

As one of its last official acts, the Obama administration Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) backed away from making a definitive statement on the impacts of hydraulic fracturing, saying it lacked sufficient data to quantify their severity and frequency. The 1,200-page final report issued December 13, “Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas: Impacts from the Hydraulic […]The post EPA Punts Fracking Impact Question to Trump Administration appeared first on POWER Magazine.

President-elect Donald Trump has picked former Texas governor Rick Perry to be his energy secretaryThe post Trump’s Pick for Energy Department: Rick Perry appeared first on POWER Magazine.

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 […]The post First U.S. Commercial Offshore Wind Farm Starts Operations appeared first on POWER Magazine.

In a finding that is likely to boost controversy over the future of U.S. energy policy, a comprehensive study of the full levelized cost of energy (LCOE) from various sources of electricity conducted by the University of Texas (UT) at Austin’s Energy Institute found that wind turbines and natural gas combined cycle power plants (CCPPs) […]The post Natural Gas and Wind Are Cheapest Sources of Power in Majority of U.S. appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Entergy Corp. has decided to permanently close the Palisades nuclear power plant on October 1, 2018. The news comes as a bit of a surprise, because Entergy had a power purchase agreement with Consumers Energy—Michigan’s largest utility and the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy—which committed the company to buying nearly all of the power generated […]The post Market Conditions Doom Another Nuclear Plant, Palisades, to Closure in 2018 appeared first on POWER Magazine.

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 […]The post Demand for Rare Earths Sparks Research for Recovery from Coal appeared first on POWER Magazine.

The owner of a merchant 1,022-MW combined cycle natural gas–fired power plant in California has filed for bankruptcy protection, citing regulatory policies and market forces that have depressed revenues. La Paloma Generating Co. on December 6 filed for U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy, blaming a debt of $524 million that it racked up even though its four-unit […]The post California Merchant Gas Generator, Lamenting Market Forces, Files for Bankruptcy appeared first on POWER Magazine.

An email written by the team leader of an ongoing Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) inspection being conducted at the Pilgrim nuclear power plant suggested that the facility’s staff were “overwhelmed by just trying to run the station.” The wide-ranging NRC inspection began on Nov. 28. It is the third and largest inspection conducted as part […]The post Leaked NRC Email Suggests Pilgrim Nuclear Plant Staff “Overwhelmed” appeared first on POWER Magazine.

President-elect Donald Trump has picked Oklahoma’s Republican attorney general, Scott Pruitt, to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the New York Times reported Wednesday afternoon, citing a transition official. The report had not been officially confirmed or denied as this article was written. Pruitt, 48, is a long-time supporter of the fossil fuel […]The post Trump Reportedly Picks Oklahoma Attorney General Pruitt for EPA appeared first on POWER Magazine.

Germany’s highest court ruled on November 6 that energy firms E.ON, RWE, and Vattenfall have a right to seek compensation as a result of the 2011 decision to prematurely shut down the country’s nuclear fleet. The Merkel government’s order in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, in which three Japanese reactors melted down as a […]The post Germany Must Pay Nuclear Firms Compensation for 2011 Shutdown appeared first on POWER Magazine.

After a lengthy process of give and take, the Illinois Legislature approved the Future Energy Jobs Bill (SB 2814) on December 1, the last day of the state’s veto session. The bill will now go to Gov. Rauner (R) for his signature, which is expected. Once signed, it will take effect on June 1, 2017, […]The post Exelon Gets Its Christmas Wish—Illinois Legislation Will Save Nuclear Plants appeared first on POWER Magazine.

An agreement between Canada’s federal government and Saskatchewan will allow the province to continue operating its coal-fired power plants beyond 2030 as long as it achieves equivalent emission-reduction outcomes. The Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Office of the Minister of Environment for Saskatchewan reached a deal to finalize an […]The post Canada to Allow Saskatchewan to Keep Coal Plants Running Beyond 2030 appeared first on POWER Magazine.

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[Note: This article first appeared online on November 1.] The discovery of widespread carbon segregation problems in critical nuclear plant components has crippled the French power industry—20 of the country’s 58 reactors are currently offline and under heavy scrutiny. France’s nuclear safety chairman said more anomalies “will likely be found,” as the extent of the contagion […]The post France’s Nuclear Storm: Many Power Plants Down Due to Quality Concerns appeared first on POWER Magazine.