AES Indiana files to convert Petersburg coal units to natural gas March 15, 2024 In filing a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) this week, AES Indiana sought the right to repower Petersburg Units 3 and 4 from coal to natural gas. This would make the utility the latest to push away from coal,…
Xcel’s Prairie Island nuclear plant near return after lengthy outage drew questions March 18, 2024 Xcel Energy has promised state officials its Prairie Island nuclear power plant is almost back to full power despite the outage dragging on for nearly two months longer than expected. The Minnesota Department of Commerce is waiting on the company’s…
After being rebuffed by regulators, utilities file slimmed-down spending plans March 18, 2024 State regulators are once again considering massive electric utility spending plans that would affect the state’s climate goals – and 5.4 million electric customers’ monthly bills – after rejecting previous versions late last year. The Illinois Commerce Commission forced the state’s two…
Methane emissions were flat in 2023 but still too high to curb climate change, IEA says Energize Weekly, March 20, 2024 Methane emissions from the production and use of fossil fuels reached 20 million tons in 2023, and while levels have been generally flat for the past five years, they remain too high to meet…
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 of carbon pollution. These existing…
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 to a new report, this…
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 Energy Industries Association-Wood Mackenzie market…
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 Sands Solar Farm would span…
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 committee on Monday advanced a…
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 milestone follows initial criticality, reached…
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. The issue was underscored last…
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 Energy United (AEU). The study…