SRP, City Of Phoenix To Begin Removing Trees That Threaten Overhead Power Lines March 12, 2024 In an effort to increase power reliability and reduce potential safety risks, SRP and the City of Phoenix are scheduled to begin removing trees growing too close to power lines. For every tree removed,…
EPA LEAVES OUT EXISTING NATURAL GAS-FIRED POWER PLANTS FROM CARBON RULE
EPA Leaves Out Existing Natural Gas-Fired Power Plants from Carbon Rule MARCH 8, 2024 The Biden administration’s recent announcement that it would hold off on regulating carbon emissions from existing natural gas-fired power plants means the agency will wait until after the election to regulate one of Pennsylvania’s largest sources…
Demand for small modular reactors surges 65% as clean energy ambitions grow
Demand for small modular reactors surges 65% as clean energy ambitions grow March 8, 2024 A growing desire to include nuclear energy in many nations’ clean energy mix has seen a strong push for the development of small modular reactors (SMRs) because of their potential cost savings and adaptability. According…
Goldman Sachs-backed BESS developer Gridstor makes first ERCOT project acquisition
Goldman Sachs-backed BESS developer Gridstor makes first ERCOT project acquisition March 12, 2024 Gridstor, a developer of standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) assets, has acquired a 450MW/900MWh project in Texas, US, the company’s first in the booming ERCOT market. Gridstor announced last week (6 March) that it has bought…
Maine’s Versant Power proposes changes to its distribution rates
Maine’s Versant Power proposes changes to its distribution rates March 08, 2024 Maine’s Versant Power has filed a plan with regulators to change its distribution rates in 2025. If approved, the average residential customer using 500 kilowatt-hours per month would see an increase of about $12 per month. A customer…
New solar installations set a record in 2023 with 32 gigawatts of new capacity
New solar installations set a record in 2023 with 32 gigawatts of new capacity Energize Weekly, March 13, 2024 New solar installations – spurred by federal grants and tax credits – reached a record 32.4 gigawatts (GW) of capacity in 2023, a 51 percent increase year-over-year, according to a Solar…
A massive proposed Wisconsin solar farm could wreak havoc on threatened prairie chickens
A massive proposed Wisconsin solar farm could wreak havoc on threatened prairie chickens March 2, 2024 The plan for a massive solar energy development in Portage County has caused conservationists to sound the alarm over the project’s potential detrimental impacts to Wisconsin’s threatened population of greater prairie chickens. The Vista…
National Grid says Biden-backed transmission line ‘not viable’
National Grid says Biden-backed transmission line ‘not viable’ March 5, 2024 NATIONAL GRID and Citizens Energy are pulling the plug on a proposed $2 billion two-way transmission line linking New England and Quebec that had received financial backing from the Biden administration. A source familiar with the situation said National…
New Jersey waters down proposed referendum on new fossil fuel power plant ban
New Jersey waters down proposed referendum on new fossil fuel power plant ban March 4, 2024 New Jersey lawmakers wanted to ask voters whether to ban new fossil fuel-fired power plants. And then they added a loophole big enough to drive a fleet of oil trucks through. A state Senate…
Plant Vogtle Unit 4 reaches start-up milestone
Plant Vogtle Unit 4 reaches start-up milestone Mar 4, 2024 Georgia Power has announced that Unit 4 at the Vogtle nuclear expansion project near Waynesboro has achieved another major milestone in start-up testing by generating electricity and successfully synchronizing and connecting to the electric grid for the first time. This…
Xcel says big reason it needs to spend millions on new projects is regional grid’s reliability risks
Xcel says big reason it needs to spend millions on new projects is regional grid’s reliability risks MARCH 4, 2024 The growing risk of unreliability and potential expense of buying energy on the open market is a big reason why Xcel Energy wants to make significant investments in its infrastructure.…
Lawmakers across the U.S., including in Md., seek to curb utility spending on politics, ads and more
Lawmakers across the U.S., including in Md., seek to curb utility spending on politics, ads and more March 5, 2024 After a string of scandals and amid rising bills, lawmakers in statehouses across the country, including in Maryland, have been pushing legislation to curb utilities spending ratepayer money on lobbying,…
Poor grid interconnection policies are causing project backups across the U.S., study says
Poor grid interconnection policies are causing project backups across the U.S., study says Energize Weekly, March 6, 2024 The grid interconnection process in the U.S. is so “dysfunctional” that more than two million megawatts of generation and storage are waiting to be hooked up, according to an analysis by Advanced…
Vineyard Wind Starts Delivering Steady Power
Vineyard Wind Starts Delivering Steady Power February 25, 2024 Five offshore wind turbines in the waters south of the Vineyard are now sending 68 megawatts of power to the regional grid, the first time such a project has ever delivered a steady flow of electricity in Massachusetts. The milestone was…
DOE announces $45 million investment for cybersecurity research
DOE announces $45 million investment for cybersecurity research FEBRUARY 26, 2024 The Department of Energy on Monday announced a $45 million investment into cybersecurity research for the energy sector, including projects on artificial intelligence detection and response and quantum communication for the grid. DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and…
Bill supporting development of nuclear energy wins passage in Kentucky Senate
Bill supporting development of nuclear energy wins passage in Kentucky Senate February 26, 2024 The Kentucky Senate voted overwhelmingly Monday to lay the foundation to attract nuclear energy projects to a state where coal has dominated and fueled the economy for generations. Republican Sen. Danny Carroll said Kentucky should embrace…
Retired coal plant’s revival as natural gas station sparks debate across South Carolina
Retired coal plant’s revival as natural gas station sparks debate across South Carolina February 26th 2024 A retired coal-fired power plant in Colleton County may be revamped in the next decade. The plant would be a joint station between Dominion Energy and Santee Cooper. It will function as a natural…
Rebooted commission could breathe new life into bills challenging Virginia’s largest utility
Rebooted commission could breathe new life into bills challenging Virginia’s largest utility February 26, 2024 Virginia clean energy champions have their fingers crossed that members of a resurrected legislative commission won’t water down four utility-focused bills when they meet in the off-season to reshape the failed measures for next year’s…
US government may sue PacifiCorp, a Warren Buffett utility, for nearly $1B in wildfire cost
US government may sue PacifiCorp, a Warren Buffett utility, for nearly $1B in wildfire costs February 26, 2024 The U.S. government is threatening to sue PacifiCorp, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, to recover nearly $1 billion in costs related to the 2020 wildfires in southern Oregon and northern…
Natural gas-fired generation, the backbone of U.S. electricity generation, varies by region
Natural gas-fired generation, the backbone of U.S. electricity generation, varies by region Energize Weekly, February 28, 2024 Natural gas generation is the largest source of electricity in the U.S. and is used across the country, but the scale and efficiency of that generation varies region by region, according to an…
US to add 36.4GW of new solar generation capacity in 2024, 58% of all capacity additions
US to add 36.4GW of new solar generation capacity in 2024, 58% of all capacity additions February 19, 2024 US power developers expect to add 36.4GW of new solar generation capacity in 2024, which would account for 58% of all new capacity additions in the US power sector, according to…
Texas Lawmaker files bill that would allow the rest of the country to access Texas’ power grid
Texas Lawmaker files bill that would allow the rest of the country to access Texas’ power grid February 18, 2024 Congressman Greg Casar, D-Austin, says it is the first time it has ever happened in Congress: a bill was drafted and filed that would make Texas connect its power grid…
Pioneering GE F-Class Hydrogen-Capable Gas Power Plant Begins Operations in Australia
Pioneering GE F-Class Hydrogen-Capable Gas Power Plant Begins Operations in Australia February 19, 2024 EnergyAustralia has begun operations at the 320-MW Tallawarra B gas-fired power station in New South Wales (NSW)—Australia’s first peaking power plant capable of operating on a natural gas and hydrogen fuel blend. The project’s start on…
Vogtle Unit 4 reaches first criticality
Vogtle Unit 4 reaches first criticality 2.14.2024 Operators have safely started the nuclear reaction at Vogtle Unit 4, according to an announcement from Georgia Power. This step, known as initial criticality, happens when the nuclear fission reaction becomes self-sustaining and is necessary to generate enough heat to produce electricity. Operators…
Eversource seeks 19% rate hike on CL&P customers
Eversource seeks 19% rate hike on CL&P customers February 15, 2024 Eversource filed a request Thursday for a $784 million rate adjustment that would bump its Connecticut Light & Power electric rates by nearly 19%, costing an average residential customer an additional $38 a month on May 1. The United…
Texas Electric Utility Courts Unnamed Crypto Miners With Five-Year Deals
Texas Electric Utility Courts Unnamed Crypto Miners With Five-Year Deals Feb 17, 2024 In a recent report, the community-driven, nonprofit electric provider in Texas, Denton Municipal Electric (DME), is attracting interest from several crypto mining companies seeking to establish operations. These companies are eyeing a five-year agreement for powering their…
Growing electricity demand from electric vehicles poses risks to the bulk power system, NERC says
Growing electricity demand from electric vehicles poses risks to the bulk power system, NERC says Energize Weekly, February 21, 2024 The growing demand for electricity to charge electric vehicles (EVs) – depending upon the timing of the charging – could threaten the bulk power system, according to a study by…
Western Maryland Electric Grid Stronger and More Resilient Following Smart Enhancements
Western Maryland Electric Grid Stronger and More Resilient Following Smart Enhancements 13 Feb, 2024 FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) subsidiary Potomac Edison has completed service reliability projects that will enhance electric service and minimize the impact of power outages for nearly 5,000 customers in Allegany, Frederick and Garrett counties. The two…
New method utilizes hydropower project signals to monitor grid stability
New method utilizes hydropower project signals to monitor grid stability 12 February 2024 Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), have unveiled an algorithm designed to forecast electric grid stability by harnessing signals from pumped storage hydropower (PSH) projects. This innovation emerges as…
New 1.2-GW Natural Gas-Fired Plant Announced for Texas
New 1.2-GW Natural Gas-Fired Plant Announced for Texas Feb 13, 2024 A Texas-based energy company has announced plans to build a 1.2-GW natural gas-fired power plant in Lee County, Texas, with construction expected to begin in 2025. Sandow Lakes Energy Co. on Feb. 12 said it would build the plant…
Xcel asks for more nuclear waste storage to operate Prairie Island until 2050s
Xcel asks for more nuclear waste storage to operate Prairie Island until 2050s FEBRUARY 8, 2024 Xcel Energy says it needs to store far more nuclear waste at its Prairie Island facility to extend the plant’s life by 20 years, as it has proposed in its long-range plan. Keeping the…
To lower energy costs, California wants to tie bills to income. That plan is making enemies
To lower energy costs, California wants to tie bills to income. That plan is making enemies February 12, 2024 California is already home to some of the highest energy costs in the country, and those prices are only expected to rise as the state powers more of its economy with…
Arizona utility regulators vote to kill renewable standards
Arizona utility regulators vote to kill renewable standards February 8, 2024 Let the market dictate how utilities do business. That was the message from Arizona utility regulators on Tuesday after they voted to begin the process of repealing the state’s energy efficiency and renewable standards. Solar industry advocates expressed disbelief,…
Facing a growing crypto-mining sector, the U.S. to require reports of power use by miners
Facing a growing crypto-mining sector, the U.S. to require reports of power use by miners Energize Weekly, February 14, 2024 Faced with a burgeoning cryptocurrency market and its rising demand for electricity, the U.S. government is going to collect monthly data on the industry’s use of power. The federal Energy…
Oak Ridge public-private partnership looks to advance quantum tech for the power grid
Oak Ridge public-private partnership looks to advance quantum tech for the power grid FEBRUARY 1, 2024 A new cooperative endeavor based at Tennessee’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory unites public and private sector players to push forward advancements in the quantum sciences field, particularly for solutions to further secure the U.S.…
$1.5 billion DOE loan aims to restart Palisades
$1.5 billion DOE loan aims to restart Palisades Jan 31, 2024 The Palisades nuclear power plant in Covert, Mich., may become the first in the United States to be restarted after permanent shut down—with help from a $1.5 billion loan being championed by the Biden administration. Holtec International could receive…
U.S. Thermal Coal Finds New Life Overseas
U.S. Thermal Coal Finds New Life Overseas Feb 6, 2024 US thermal coal exporters recorded more than $5 billion in overseas sales in 2023, shipping upwards of 32.5 million metric tons of the high-polluting power fuel, according to Reuters, citing data from ship-tracking firm Kpler. These coal export earnings were…
Red tape closes power plants before replacements ready
Red tape closes power plants before replacements ready Feb 2, 2024 Despite the key positions states like Ohio and Pennsylvania hold to solve future energy problems, shifting the power grid from coal and natural gas to wind and solar isn’t as easy as flipping a switch. A cadre of Pennsylvania…
Xcel plans higher electric rates during peak evening hours, lower overnight costs
Xcel plans higher electric rates during peak evening hours, lower overnight costs FEBRUARY 6, 2024 Xcel has asked state utility regulators to let it switch Minnesota electric customers to variable rates, which on summer weekdays would be seven times more expensive from 3-8 p.m. than between midnight and 6 a.m.,…
Global investment in clean tech and energy transition reached a record $1.8 trillion in 2023
Global investment in clean tech and energy transition reached a record $1.8 trillion in 2023 Energize Weekly, February 7, 2024 Global investments in the energy transition from fossil fuels to clean tech climbed 17 percent in 2023 to a record $1.8 trillion, according to a study by the energy research…
Sunrun and PG&E Complete First Season of Innovative Residential Distributed Power Plant
Sunrun and PG&E Complete First Season of Innovative Residential Distributed Power Plant 29 Jan, 2024 Peaking at nearly 32 megawatts from 8,500 solar-plus-storage residential systems, Sunrun and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) customers provided consistent, reliable clean energy to California’s power grid through the summer and fall of 2023…
U.S. Oil Drillers Are Going Electric—and Hitting Speed Bumps
U.S. Oil Drillers Are Going Electric—and Hitting Speed Bumps January 29, 2024 In the country’s busiest oil field, frackers are devouring nearly as much electricity as four Seattles every day—and they are clamoring for more. Diamondback Energy, a major producer in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico,…
Texas’ grid has gone 3 years without a crisis. Will it last?
Texas’ grid has gone 3 years without a crisis. Will it last? 01/30/2024 In the three years since deadly blackouts paralyzed Texas, two major winter storms have hit the electricity grid without plunging the state into blackouts. Texas has touted its success during those two events — Elliott in December…
Energy Professionals welcome Pickering Nuclear life extension announcement
Energy Professionals welcome Pickering Nuclear life extension announcement Jan 30, 2024 The Society of United Professionals welcomes the government’s announcement to pursue the refurbishment of the Pickering B Nuclear Generating Station (PNGS). PNGS, and the thousands of high-quality union jobs that the plant supports, are a vital piece of the…
Lawmakers propose to keep Utah running on coal and natural gas
Lawmakers propose to keep Utah running on coal and natural gas Jan 29, 2024 Republicans on Capitol Hill are working to keep coal and natural gas in Utah’s future. There’s a bumper sticker making its way around the Capitol this year. It reads simply, “powered by coal.” Rep. Colin Jack,…
Energy giant Schneider Electric hit by Cactus ransomware attack
Energy giant Schneider Electric hit by Cactus ransomware attack January 29, 2024 Energy management and automation giant Schneider Electric suffered a Cactus ransomware attack leading to the theft of corporate data, according to people familiar with the matter. BleepingComputer has learned that the ransomware attack hit the company’s Sustainability Business…
TVA reaches its highest weekend power demand during the cold temperatures
TVA reaches its highest weekend power demand during the cold temperatures Jan 21, 2024 Icy temperatures followed us into the weekend, and the Tennessee Valley Authority broke another peak power record along the way. The peak power demand on Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Easter Time was 34,284 megawatts, with…
Federal money will help PG&E operate Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant until 2030
Federal money will help PG&E operate Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant until 2030 January 19, 2024 The Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, California’s last operating plant, will continue to run until 2030. This week the Biden Administration finalized a billion-dollar aid-package to help keep the plant running. It was scheduled…
Global coal exports and power generation hit new highs in 2023
Global coal exports and power generation hit new highs in 2023 January 18, 2024 Worldwide electricity generation from coal hit record highs in 2023, while thermal coal exports surpassed 1 billion metric tons for the first time as coal’s use in power systems continues to grow despite widespread efforts to…
AES positioned to provide tech sector with growing renewable energy solutions
AES positioned to provide tech sector with growing renewable energy solutions January 19, 2024 With data centers and generative AI (GenAI) driving an enormous demand for power and major technology firms working to fulfill ambitious clean energy goals, AES Corp. said it is positioned as the premiere provider of renewable…