Xcel power plants in Texas, New Mexico could get solar power in 2026 June 6, 2023 A plan to add solar generating facilities to two Xcel Energy natural gas power plants in Texas and New Mexico is going forward, according to an Xcel news release on Monday. The plan will…
Protest Against 2nd Proposed Woodbridge Natural Gas Power Plant
Protest Against 2nd Proposed Woodbridge Natural Gas Power Plant Jun 6, 2023 This past Saturday morning, June 3, some people held a rally to protest the second proposed natural gas power plant in the Keasbey section of Woodbridge. Competitive Power Ventures (CPV), a national energy company, seeks to build the…
California unlikely to run short of electricity this summer thanks to winter storms, new power sources
California unlikely to run short of electricity this summer thanks to winter storms, new power sources May 25, 2023 California regulators say the state is unlikely to experience electricity shortages this summer after securing new power sources and a wet winter that filled the state’s reservoirs enough to restart hydroelectric…
Hawaiian Electric proposes to repower Waiau Power Plant
Hawaiian Electric proposes to repower Waiau Power Plant 5/18/2023 Hawaiian Electric is proposing to replace six aging fossil fuel-powered generators at its Waiau Power Plant in Pearl City with smaller, more efficient and fuel-flexible units that can provide reliable, firm generation to back up the expanding portfolio of variable resources…
U.S. grid facing blackout risks this summer and next winter, reliability agency warns
U.S. grid facing blackout risks this summer and next winter, reliability agency warns Energize Weekly, May 24, 2023 U.S. power grids are facing a risky summer and an even riskier winter, according to analyses by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC), the agency that oversees grid reliability and security.…
Legal war brews over EPA power plant rule
Legal war brews over EPA power plant rule 05/12/2023 EPA has rolled out its strongest-ever proposal to slash planet-warming emissions from power plants — but before the agency can tackle one of the nation’s leading sources of climate pollution, the strategy must first survive the courts. Legal observers say that…
Winter rains lift California hydropower outlook, easing regional demand for natural gas
Winter rains lift California hydropower outlook, easing regional demand for natural gas Energize Weekly, May 17, 2023 Heavy rains have filled California reservoirs and boosted the prospect for hydropower – welcomed news to the rest of the West, which saw natural gas prices soar last winter as California utilities scrambled…
Hundreds of gas plants could escape EPA climate rules
Hundreds of gas plants could escape EPA climate rules 05/03/2023 About 1,000 natural gas-fired power plants that provide energy at periods of peak demand could be excluded from the toughest standards under EPA’s upcoming carbon rules. These plants are often located in urban areas, raising concern among some environmental advocates…
Years past deadline, Georgia will submit plan to close loophole in pollution regulations
Years past deadline, Georgia will submit plan to close loophole in pollution regulations May 1, 2023 Under pressure from the federal government, Georgia is rewriting a rule governing industrial air pollution limits to end a loophole that currently exposes communities near coal plants and other facilities to harmful pollutants. Federal…
EPA to propose strongest emission limits yet for coal- and gas-fired power plants
EPA to propose strongest emission limits yet for coal- and gas-fired power plants 4.24.2023 The Biden Administration is expected to propose stringent requirements on utilities to reduce carbon emissions from fossil-fired power plants, according to multiple published reports. The proposal would be a transformational approach from the U.S. Environmental Protection…
Surge in clean generation and storage projects creating a backlog on U.S. electric grids
Surge in clean generation and storage projects creating a backlog on U.S. electric grids Energize Weekly, April 26, 2023 A surge in clean energy projects – a 40 percent year-over-year increase in 2022 – is creating a traffic jam in getting onto the U.S. electric grid, according to a Lawrence…
Calpine plans more natural gas power plants in Texas
Calpine plans more natural gas power plants in Texas April 13, 2023 Texas-based electricity generation company Calpine has relaunched its plans to build more gas-fired power plants in the state. The announcement follows the recent decision by Texas regulators to offer market-based incentives. The Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) adopted…
World Leaders Agree to Boost Nuclear Power, While Germany Shuts Its Plants
World Leaders Agree to Boost Nuclear Power, While Germany Shuts Its Plants April 17, 2023 Some of the world’s largest most influential nations have formed an alliance to create new supply chains for nuclear energy—the same weekend that another country announced it had completely weaned itself off the energy source.…
Montana Judge Cancels Air Permit for Gas-Fired Power Plant
Montana Judge Cancels Air Permit for Gas-Fired Power Plant Apr 10, 2023 A judge in Montana has canceled the air quality permit for a natural gas-fired power plant under construction in the state, citing concerns about emissions of greenhouse gases from the facility. State District Judge Michael Moses on April…
The pace of U.S. coal-fired plant closures quickens, coal’s share of generation to plummet
The pace of U.S. coal-fired plant closures quickens, coal’s share of generation to plummet Energize Weekly, April 5, 2023 The pace of U.S. coal-fired plant closures continues to accelerate with half of all the capacity, which peaked in 2011, closed by 2026, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and…
New Ky. law makes it more difficult to retire coal-fired power plants
New Ky. law makes it more difficult to retire coal-fired power plants March 27, 2023 Energy utilities now have to prove to regulators their plans to retire fossil-fueled power plants won’t compromise the reliability and resilience of the electric grid in Kentucky. It takes effect immediately. The legislation emerged following…
White House threatens veto for Republican energy package
White House threatens veto for Republican energy package 03/27/23 The White House on Monday threatened a veto of a House Republicans’ energy package, known as H.R. 1, if it makes it to President Biden’s desk. “H.R. 1 would take us backward. Therefore, if presented to the President in its current…
Martin Drake Power Plant natural gas units generating power
Martin Drake Power Plant natural gas units generating power Mar 21, 2023 Colorado Springs Utilities (Springs Utilities) has started generating power with the first of six modular natural gas units at the Martin Drake Power Plant. Springs Utilities said over the next several weeks each unit will go online and…
Texas lawmakers propose bills moving away from renewable energy in attempt to shore up power grid
Texas lawmakers propose bills moving away from renewable energy in attempt to shore up power grid March 9, 2023 Some Texas senators unveiled plans Thursday to shift the focus away from wind and solar and toward resources like natural gas. It was part of nine bills Texas lawmakers announced aimed…
Xcel Energy will cut Colorado bills again in April as natural gas costs continue to fall
Xcel Energy will cut Colorado bills again in April as natural gas costs continue to fall Mar 14, 2023 Xcel Energy is again cutting natural gas costs passed through to consumers starting with April bills, the third price decrease announced in two months, even as a special legislative committee pursues…
Global bank financing for low-carbon energy rose 15 percent to $550 billion in 2022
Global bank financing for low-carbon energy rose 15 percent to $550 billion in 2022 Energize Weekly, March 8, 2023 Investments in low-carbon energy supply rose by 15 percent in 2022 – the fastest growth rate in seven years – to $550 billion, according to BloombergNEF’s (BNEF) annual report on energy…
EPA undoes Trump-era power plant rollback
EPA undoes Trump-era power plant rollback 02/17/2023 A quixotic and clamorous regulatory saga perhaps unmatched in Clean Air Act history has ended — at least for now. In a final rule unveiled Friday, EPA restored the legal underpinnings of a 2012 set of regulations for emissions of mercury, a neurotoxin…
Duke Energy plans gas plants as it moves away from coal, but critics see higher cost and emissions
Duke Energy plans gas plants as it moves away from coal, but critics see higher cost and emissions February 14, 2023 Three years ago, Duke Energy opened its newest natural gas-fired power plant in Asheville, on the site of an old coal-fired plant. Duke wants to build more gas plants…
Renewables and nuclear set to cover global growth in electricity demand, IEA says
Renewables and nuclear set to cover global growth in electricity demand, IEA says Energize Weekly, February 15, 2023 New renewable and nuclear generation is set to meet 90 percent of the growing demand for electricity globally during the next three years, while increasing extreme weather will test grid resilience, according…
More than half of new U.S. electric-generating capacity in 2023 will be solar
More than half of new U.S. electric-generating capacity in 2023 will be solar FEBRUARY 6, 2023 Developers plan to add 54.5 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale electric-generating capacity to the U.S. power grid in 2023, according to our Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. More than half of this capacity will…
The United States Is Facing Electricity Famine
The United States Is Facing Electricity Famine Feb. 7, 2023 There are signs that we are heading towards an electricity famine; a life-threatening energy Holodomor throughout many areas of the United States caused by political decisions. The system is being set up to fail. This problem this time is not…
Renewable tax credits and changes on the grid are making most coal-fired plants uneconomical
Renewable tax credits and changes on the grid are making most coal-fired plants uneconomical Energize Weekly, February 8, 2023 A combination of new federal incentives for renewable generation and a shift in the way electric grids are managed has led to a point where it is more expensive to operate…
Natural gas-fired power replacing coal-fired electricity in Pennsylvania
Natural gas-fired power replacing coal-fired electricity in Pennsylvania JANUARY 30, 2023 According to a new report by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, natural gas-fired power plants have replaced coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania over the last two decades. In 2001, natural gas accounted for 2 percent of the electricity produced…
Senators explore power supply failure — especially natural gas — during Christmas storm
Senators explore power supply failure – especially natural gas – during Christmas storm January 26, 2023 The winter storm of Dec. 23-25 produced an unexpectedly high demand for electricity. Despite the surprise, PJM, the 13-state power grid organization — thought it had plenty of reserve on hand. But the power…
CPS Energy will phase out coal, close Spruce plant
CPS Energy will phase out coal, close Spruce plant January 24, 2023 Before the end of the decade, the electricity powering San Antonio’s homes and businesses won’t rely on a polluting coal plant. But CPS Energy isn’t committing to all renewables just yet. The city-owned utility’s board voted 4-1 yesterday…
Electricity generation global demand for fossil fuels is about to peak, RMI says
Electricity generation global demand for fossil fuels is about to peak, RMI says Energize Weekly, January 25, 2023 The world has reached – or is close to reaching – peak demand for fossil fuels for generating electricity as the installation of cheaper renewable generation continues to grow, according to an…
Puerto Rico to privatize power generation amid outages
Puerto Rico to privatize power generation amid outages January 15, 2023 Puerto Rico announced Sunday that it plans to privatize electricity generation, a first for a U.S. territory facing chronic power outages as it struggles to rebuild a crumbling electric grid. The move marks the beginning of the end for…
Winter Storm Elliott stressed regional electric grids across the U.S. in different ways
Winter Storm Elliott stressed regional electric grids across the U.S. in different ways Energize Weekly, January 18, 2023 Winter Storm Elliott, the bomb cyclone with freezing temperatures and blizzard conditions that swept across the U.S. east of the Rockies, sparked a wave of outages with its impacts varying from regional…
Biden declares emergency in California as more winter storms advance
Biden declares emergency in California as more winter storms advance JAN 9 2023 President Joe Biden on Monday declared an emergency in California after a barrage of deadly winter storms has prompted widespread power outages and flooding since last week. Extreme downpours, high winds and flash floods have caused at…
Colorado co-ops say Xcel Energy mismanaged natural gas supplies during 2021 storm
Colorado co-ops say Xcel Energy mismanaged natural gas supplies during 2021 storm Energize Weekly, January 11, 2023 The fallout from the soaring natural gas prices created by Winter Storm Uri in 2021 continues as four rural Colorado electric cooperatives have filed a complaint with federal regulators saying they were overcharged…
To replace Russian gas, Europe builds more LNG capacity and boosts U.S. imports
To replace Russian gas, Europe builds more LNG capacity and boosts U.S. imports Energize Weekly, January 4, 2023 In the dash to replace Russian natural gas supplies, liquefied natural gas (LNG) import capacity in the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK) is set to expand by a third…
US to Become Net Exporter of Crude Oil in 2023
US to Become Net Exporter of Crude Oil in 2023 19 December 2022 The United States has become a global crude oil exporting power over the last few years, but exports have not exceeded its imports since World War II. That could change next year. Sales of U.S. crude to…
DTE Energy retires two coal plants as part of its vision to generate carbon-free power for the grid of the future
DTE Energy retires two coal plants as part of its vision to generate carbon-free power for the grid of the future December 08, 2022 DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE), Michigan’s largest producer of clean energy, today announced the retirement of two coal-fired power plants, bringing Southeast Michigan closer to a carbon-free future…
Utility recommends natural gas plant despite objections
Utility recommends natural gas plant despite objections Dec 2, 2022 The nation’s largest public utility on Friday recommended replacing an aging coal burning power plant with natural gas, ignoring calls for the Tennessee Valley Authority to speed its transition to renewable energy. TVA announced the completion of its environmental impact…
Deepwater oil and gas production set to grow 60 percent by 2030 hitting 17 million BOE/D
Deepwater oil and gas production set to grow 60 percent by 2030 hitting 17 million BOE/D Energize Weekly, December 7, 2022 Deepwater oil and gas production is set to increase more than 60 percent between 2022 and 2030, reaching 17 million barrels oil equivalent per day (BOE/D) – equal to…
Entergy Texas gets approval to build Orange County plant capable of powering more than 230K homes
Entergy Texas gets approval to build Orange County plant capable of powering more than 230K homes November 28, 2022 An upcoming Entergy Texas facility is set to create more than $1 billion in economic activity in Southeast Texas and bring thousands of jobs to the area. The Public Utility Commission…
US offshore oil and gas rigs at ‘significant’ risk of cyberattacks, warns government watchdog
US offshore oil and gas rigs at ‘significant’ risk of cyberattacks, warns government watchdog November 22, 2022 U.S. offshore oil and gas infrastructure faces “significant and increasing” cybersecurity risks that require “urgent” attention, a U.S. government’s watchdog has warned. The Government Accountability Office said in a new report that the…
Biden grants PG&E $1.1 billion to keep Diablo Canyon nuclear plant open
Biden grants PG&E $1.1 billion to keep Diablo Canyon nuclear plant open NOV 21 2022 The Biden administration on Monday said it’s providing Pacific Gas & Electric Co. with a $1.1 billion grant to help the company prevent the closure of Diablo Canyon, California’s last nuclear power plant. Diablo Canyon…
U.S. grid faces “unprecedented” risk of electricity shortfalls this winter, NERC warns
U.S. grid faces “unprecedented” risk of electricity shortfalls this winter, NERC warns Energize Weekly, November 23, 2022 A large swatch of the U.S. electricity grid – in Texas, the Midwest, Southeast and New England – is at risk of being unable to provide adequate power in the face of extreme…
NET Power Natural Gas Generating Plant Captures Its Own Emissions
NET Power Natural Gas Generating Plant Captures Its Own Emissions Nov. 14, 2022 NET Power, based in Durham, North Carolina, has developed a new way to make electricity by burning natural gas that it says is cheaper than conventional gas generation. That’s good news, sort of, but the real benefit…
As Europe Quits Russian Gas, Half of France’s Nuclear Plants Are Off-Line
As Europe Quits Russian Gas, Half of France’s Nuclear Plants Are Off-Line Nov. 15, 2022 An army of engineers has fanned out through nuclear power plants across France in recent months, inspecting reactors for signs of wear and tear. Hundreds of expert welders have been recruited to repair problems found…
Spurred by high commodity prices, energy production revenues on federal lands surge
Spurred by high commodity prices, energy production revenues on federal lands surge Energize Weekly, November 16, 2022 Energy production on federal lands and offshore areas in 2022 generated $22 billion for the federal and state governments – the highest in revenues since 2008 and second highest in 39 years, according…
DTE looks to close Monroe Power Plant in 2028, ahead of earlier planned date of 2040
DTE looks to close Monroe Power Plant in 2028, ahead of earlier planned date of 2040 Nov. 7, 2022 DTE Energy unveiled a new 20-year plan that includes increasing solar and wind energy while reducing reliance on coal, which translates into closing the Monroe Power Plant by 2028. According to…
Eversource CEO fears New England might not have enough natural gas if winter is bitter
Eversource CEO fears New England might not have enough natural gas if winter is bitter Oct 29, 2022 The top executive of one of the top energy suppliers in New England fears the region may not have enough power if a severe cold spell hits this winter. Eversource Energy CEO…
Xcel to exit coal nationwide by 2030
Xcel to exit coal nationwide by 2030 October 31, 2022 Xcel Energy plans to stop using coal nationwide by the end of 2030 after announcing Monday that it will speed up retirement of coal-fired units at its Tolk Generating Station in Texas. Xcel said it now plans to retire the…
