The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Thursday (Sept. 17) ruled that aggregators of distributed energy resources can compete in competitive wholesale electricity markets. The ruling, Order 2222, was not a surprise What was surprising was the nature of the 2-1 vote approving the new rule. Chairman Neil Chatterjee, a Republican Trump administration appointee, and Commissioner Richard … More Strangely bipartisan, FERC approves rule on distributed energy resources

Moves to curb nuclear power political corruption in the Midwest are in motion. The outcomes are unclear so far. In Illinois, dominant utility Commonwealth Edison, an Exelon subsidiary, has admitted to federal charges that it bribed important state legislators, including the Democratic speaker of the House, and agreed to a $200 million fine. The admission … More Illinois, Ohio begin to address nuke bribery scandals

The NuScale small modular reactor project has received good news and bad in recent days, and the path ahead remains unclear. First the good news. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission August 28 approved the “final safety evaluation report” for the 50-MW reactor design by Portland, Ore.-based NuScale Power LLC. In a press release, the NRC … More NuScale SMR: Good news and bad

Amid a wave of opposition in the Senate, the Trump administration says it will withdraw the nomination of William Perry Pendley to head the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, in September. But Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who named Pendley to the role of acting BLM director in 2019, says he will stay in the … More Commentary: William Perry Pendley has no place in government

Iowa’s elderly Duane Arnold nuclear power plant, scheduled to go out of service on Oct. 30, won’t restart after the region’s 100+ mph derecho wind storm severely damage the plant’s closed-cycle cooling system. A spokesman for Florida-based NextEra Energy, the current owner of the 46-year-old plant, said, “After conducting a complete assessment of the damage … More Duane Arnold’s fate was blowin’ in the wind

California faces a challenging trifecta of troubles: wildfires driven by a blitz of lightning strikes, a heat wave of massive proportions causing rolling electricity blackouts, and a corona virus resurgence. How is the Golden State responding? With recriminations, blame shifting, and head-scratching. It reminds me of a 1950s satirical ditty sung most effectively by the … More California’s sizzling blame game

Hydrogen – the most plentiful element on earth – is getting a lot of play as an energy panacea in recent weeks, the solution to global warming. It’s being touted as the ideal fuel for internal combustion engines, electric generation, a salvation for uneconomic nuclear plants, and a way to replace natural gas for home … More Hydrogen: Hope or hype?

A consumer backlash against the highly-touted small nuclear reactors (SMR) has developed in Utah. This week, the Utah Taxpayers Association, a nearly 100-year-old conservative governmental watchdog organization in the state, warned Utah municipal utilities members of Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), to bailout of the Oregon-based NuScale Power SMR project before a September deadline … More Utah’s SMR backlash

Is solar thermal electric generation dead? The Department of Energy last week settled with bankrupt Tonopah Solar Energy in Nevada in a deal that has to be blessed by bankruptcy court to recover $200 million of a $1 billion project that got a $737 million loan from the agency in 2011. The Crescent Dunes plant, … More Crescent Dunes: An epitaph for solar thermal?

The Ohio House of Representatives Thursday unanimously ousted 61-year-old Republican Speaker Larry Householder, charged by federal authorities as a racketeer in a $61 million bribery scandal involving a $1.3 billion state bailout of two FirstEnergy nuclear plants (and several coal-fired plants in Ohio and Indiana). The legislators then elected veteran Republican Rep. Bob Cupp to … More Householder removed as Ohio speaker, Murray Energy revealed as a contributor to the scheme