Is fusion energy, for some the holy grail of electric generation, just around the corner at a rural Virginia site? Boston-based startup Commonwealth Fusion Systems is making that claim and drawing a lot of favorable attention. The company’s claims may be hyperbolic. The young company’s announcement, highly optimistic in tone, got considerable buzz, mostly uncritical. The … More Fusion for Virginia? Big claims and serious doubts

By Kennedy Maize Donald Trump’s empty “drill, baby, drill” mantra has come up short just days before he will be sworn in as U.S. president. A long-stymied auction for the right to drill for oil on Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), ordered by 2017 tax legislation Congress passed at Trump’s urging, has drawn no … More Arctic drilling auction comes up empty…again

With a key investor headed to the U.S. Department of Energy, advanced geothermal energy developer Fervo Energy is hitting financial jackpots. Houston-based Fervo is turning natural gas fracking technology to the task of expanding access to hot rocks to make steam and electricity. The company last month (Dec. 19) announced it had nailed down $255 million … More Geothermal: Fervo Energy en fuego

By Kennedy Maize On Dec. 21 at a site in Normandy, the 1,600-MW Flamanville nuclear power plant began delivering electricity to the French and European grid. It became the first new unit in France’s once-aggressive nuclear power program since 1996. The new reactor becomes the 57th in the French fleet. EDF (Électricité de France) the … More Flamanville: end of the line for French nukes … and elsewhere?

By Kennedy Maize The U.S. interstate high-voltage electric transmission grid is a mess. That’s not news. To borrow loosely from Mark Twain, for years – decades– everyone has been talking about the grid but nobody has done much about it. Could this new year see that change? “Could” is a conditional. Making a real start … More Will 2025 become the ‘Year of the Grid’?

In a massive report destined to have little impact, the Biden administration’s Department of Energy Tuesday (Dec. 17) said increasing exports of liquefied natural gas could raise prices to U.S. consumers across the economy.   The 601-page report (a 28-page summary, and four appendices of 220, 83, 136, and 104 pages respectively) comes after the … More DOE on an LNG export boom: Don’t do it

Will Donald Trump try to kill the Biden administration’s $7,500 electric vehicle rebate? Will Elon Musk be applauding? When he was campaigning, Trump made an appeal to legacy U.S. autoworkers by slamming electric vehicles. At his July speech accepting the Republican Party nomination, Trump pledged to “end the electric vehicle mandate on day one.” There … More The uncertain fate of Biden’s electric vehicle tax subsidy

The U.S. Senate last week (Dec. 12) confirmed the Biden administration’s choice of Matthew Marzano to fill a vacant seat on the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, by a 50-45 partisan vote. Outgoing Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema was the only Democrat voting no. No Republicans supported the nomination. Marzano, the first NRC member with hands-on … More Around the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: New commissioner, fusion rules, Urenco

Despite yowls from climate activists, natural gas in the U.S. is doing well and looking at a likely boom in new gas-fired electric power plants. According to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration, “Five states produced more than 70% of the record 113.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of U.S. marketed natural gas … More Natural gas faces happy days in the U.S.

Has California’s enthusiasm for solar power gone too far? That question is being asked as the state is curtailing large amounts of solar generation and paying other states to take the Golden State’s solar excess. The Los Angeles Times last month (Nov. 24) reported, “In the last 12 months, California’s solar farms have curtailed production … More Negative electric prices: California pays others to take surplus solar power