As 2022 comes to a close and, as usual, Congress squabbles over spending for the rest of the current fiscal year (ending Sept. 30, 2023), the electric utility industry is lobbying for funds to solve the problem of an acute shortage of distribution transformers. The dearth of transformers to step down current from utility distribution… More Transformers and the Congressional End Game
Just how significant is the now-familiar meme that global warming is producing extreme weather phenomena never seen before in the US? The federal government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration keeps the historic records, and they show that 2022 wasn’t extreme when it comes weather. That’s a point that climate realist Roger Pielke Jr. makes in… More Extreme Weather? Maybe Not So Much
Last month, South Africa’s state-owned electric utility Eskom reported a chimney failure at one of the operational units at the partially completed, six-unit 4.8 GW Kusile coal-fired power plant. Kusile, under construction since 2009, has four 800 MW units in commercial service, according to Wikipedia. Two are still under construction. The failed flue gas stack… More South Africa’s Electric Energy Mess: Chronic, Major Load Shedding
Britain’s conservative government has given a go ahead to a new coal mine, the first in some 30 years, causing anguish among green advocates in the UK. But it may turn out to be less than meets the eye, a tempest in a miner’s lunch bucket. The Guardian, Britain’s leading left-leaning publication, reported this week… More After 30 Years, UK May Get a New Coal Mine
A regional wholesale electricity market would benefit Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico largely, according to a new study for the Washington-based business group Advanced Energy Economy. AEE is a broad-based coalition of firms across many industries that support a transition to 100% clean energy and electrified transportation. A western regional transmission organization (RTO) comprised of… More Rocky Mountain RTO?
The federal government’s Tennessee Valley Authority will replace one of its large and elderly coal-fired power plants with a new combined-cycle natural gas generator, rejecting pleas from environmentalists for a replacement with renewables. The nation’s largest public utility, TVA is moving away from coal, once its dominant source of power, in order to reduce carbon… More TVA: New Gas to Replace Old Coal Plant
In many of the discussions at all levels, one word seems to come up ubiquitously: “electrification.” The answer to a warming world, by many who are concerned, — from technical and policy experts, to rabid activists, to casual observers — is to convert the majority of sources of energy that come from oil, gas, coal… More Archive, Oct. 24: Hass Examines Electrification
The German cabinet, following the lead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, has approved continued operation of the country’s final three operating nuclear power plants, in the face of continuing problems in receiving Russian natural gas. The three units can continue running until 15 April 2023 at the latest, demonstrating that Germany has not jettisoned its long-term… More Archive, Oct. 24: Germany Keeps Nukes Working
The International Atomic Energy Agency, responding to U.S. concerns, has barred Russia from attending this week’s fifth IAEA International Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Power in the 21st Century, to be held in Washington, D.C. this week. Bloomberg reported last week, “The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Thursday that executives from Rosatom Corp. and Russia’s industry… More Archive, Oct. 26: IAEA Bans Russia from Meeting
The long-time troubled Texas electric utility regulatory scheme, featuring the state’s unique, isolated transmission grid, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, is widely understood as dysfunctional, leading to brownouts, blackouts, and other state-wide disruptions. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s recent winter reliability outlook found that the state could face the same blackout problems… More Archive, Oct. 27: Elec. Consumers: Don’t Californicate the Lone Star State