Gas-fired combustion turbines used as peaking units in electric generation, filling in gaps when demand exceeds supply, are here to stay, at least for a while, according to a new report in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science and Technology. Claims that lithium-ion battery storage will replace the gas-fired “pollution cannons,” prolific producers of NOX, particulates, … More Gas Peakers Out, Li-ion Batteries In? Not Yet

Do the problems of offshore wind power development blow away the advantages? The case against offshore wind is gaining prominence. Speaking at CERA Week in Houston earlier this month, NextEra Energy CEO John Ketchum blasted offshore wind as a bad choice for renewable power. Ketchum’s views are particularly cogent, as Florida-based NextEra is the world’s … More Offshore Wind: On Again, Off Again?

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has new doubts about the NuScale Power’s SMR design. The NRC last Friday (Mar. 17) announced that it will begin examining problems it has identified with the design of the NuScale 77-MW small modular reactor. Earlier, the NRC gave “preliminary” approval to the pressurized water reactor, leading up to the … More Big Stories on Small Reactors

“The markets are not alright,” Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Mark Christie told the commission’s March meeting today (March. 16), following the FERC staff’s presentation of its 2022 market update. “Specifically, the capacity markets are not alright.” The veteran state regulator, who served nearly 17 years on Virginia’s State Corporation Commission, said that the multi-state regional … More FERC’s Christie: Capacity Markets Are Failing

A bipartisan push has emerged in the Senate supporting carbon capture and use, to supplement existing authority for CO2 capture and sequestration. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Feb. 28 unveiled the Captured Carbon Utilization Parity Act (CCU Parity Act). An analysis by the BakerHostetler national law firm said the legislation “would … More What To Do with Captured Carbon?

What nasty problem do nuclear, coal, and wind power share? It’s waste disposal. In the well-known case of nuclear power, the problem is what to do with long-lived, highly radioactive spent fuel. It’s a problem the industry and the U.S. government have been failing to solve for more than 70 years. For coal, its waste … More What About Wind Waste?

Georgia Power’s 1,117-MW Vogtle 3 nuclear unit, the first U.S. nuclear reactor ordered since 1974 to reach this far, is now splitting atoms. The Westinghouse AP-1000, one of two new pressurized water reactors under construction at the existing two-unit Vogtle site, went critical on Monday (March 6), beginning a process that should lead up to … More Atomic Assemblage: Vogtle, EDF, Vistra, Jail

The two-step regulatory dance between the old Trump administration and the current Biden administration continues with the Environmental Protection Agency’s mid-February decision on the scientific basis for lowering mercury air emissions from coal-fired power plants. The choreography is simple. Trump takes one step back from prior consensus regulation. Biden takes one step forward. The initial … More The Dance of Regulation: Biden Restores Rationale for Mercury Air Rules

NuScale’s small modular reactor project on federal land in Idaho, designed to provide electricity to Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, a joint action agency serving 50 municipal utilities in Utah, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming, has survived another near-death experience. Facing a vote by the participants in its project for six light-water … More Small Stories about Modular Reactors

Is the Biden administration prematurely pushing development of a particular way of generating hydrogen as a substitute for fossil fuels? That’s the argument in a new report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). The analysis takes aim at including methane as a hydrogen feedstock, using carbon capture and sequestration technology to … More DOE’s Hydrogen Development Program Draws Fire