California’s Democratic legislators may have monkey wrenched Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to extend the life of the state’s sole surviving nuclear power plant with some $400 million in a first installment of taxpayer money with more to follow. As the AP reported, the solons June 13 threw a spanner into Newsom’s proposed loan to… More Calif. solons undercut Diablo Canyon extension plan
For over 50 years, Basin Electric Power Cooperative has been ripping off its member rural electric cooperative distribution utilities. It could owe them potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in refunds, according to an initial decision by a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission administrative law judge Scott Hempling last week (June 11). Basin, headquartered in Bismarck,… More Basin Electric could face huge repayments to its cooperative utility members
A nasty, long-burning fire near San Diego, Calif., last month provides graphic evidence of a risk inherent in large lithium-ion battery energy storage systems. As battery storage becomes more common with the rise of intermittent energy generation from solar and wind power, fire protection likely will become a prominent public concern. On May 15, a… More Big Calif. battery storage facility fire burns for 11 days
A ruling that could have enormous consequences across the federal government should be coming this month, as the U.S. Supreme Court closes out its October 2023 docket. The decision could kill the court’s 1984 “Chevron deference” doctrine, which says courts faced with statutory ambiguity in a case involving federal agency should defer to the agency’s… More “Chevron deference” could die this month at the Supreme Court
The nuclear fuel required for many of the preferred designs of advanced civilian nuclear power plants presents a path to easier production of nuclear weapons, according to an article in the June 7 issue of Science magazine. Despite the nonproliferation risks of “High Assay Low Enriched Uranium” (HALEU), the federal government is subsidizing its production.… More Is HALEU fuel a path to nuclear weapons production?
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission nominees are set to win approval on the Senate floor early next week (June11). The Senate last week (June 4) approved the nomination of Christopher Hanson for a second five-year term as NRC chairman. His term was set to expire June 30. Senate Majority leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said procedural floor… More FERC, NRC slots getting filled
As electric demand grows and generating resources become smaller and more diversified, the current model of the electric grid needs fundamental change, according to a new report from the Silicon Valley venture capital firm of Andreesen Horowitz. Instead of the conventional approach of a bigger, heftier, more interconnected grid, a radically different, decentralized and localized,… More Is smaller better for a modern electric grid?
In a decision that has sparked controversy, the California Public Utilities Commission last week (May 30) adopted scaled-back regulations on community solar projects. The order followed complaints by the state’s three large investor-owned electric utilities that more ambitious programs would shift costs to their customers who don’t have access to the community solar projects. Community… More CPUC rejects enlarged community solar plan
A severe tornado this month in Iowa, not uncommon, had an unfamiliar outcome. As described in a photo in the New York Times, “In the trail of a tornado, a wind turbine is bent in half like a cheap straw, its hub engulfed in flames and thick black smoke, its blades on the ground.” In… More Exploring the differences between wind and solar
The Biden administration is hoping to pull off a historic diplomatic feat, resolving multiple, ancient fractures in the Middle East in one stroke. The knife to cut through this regional Gordian knot, in the administration’s view, is Saudi Arabia. It’s an unlikely and potentially dangerous endeavor that could jeopardize the 56-year-old Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, celebrating… More Commentary: The risks of an Israeli, U.S., Saudi diplomatic trifecta