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
A U.S. project to capture carbon dioxide emissions from a large North Dakota coal-fired power plant and bury the CO2 on site has suffered a major blow with the withdrawal of Canadian pipeline and energy company TC Energy (née TransCanada Corp.). Project Tundra at Minnkota Power Cooperative’s elderly, two-unit Milton R. Young lignite plant near … More North Dakota CO2 capture project stumbles as key player opts out
For decades, a governing business paradigm for electric utility companies has been the “duty to serve,” or “obligation to serve.” This, distilled, is a moral and legal requirement to make no distinction among customers seeking new electric services. Is it outdated? A 2008 paper by a Michigan Public Service Commission staffer described the dictum: “A … More Is “obligation to serve” an obstacle to fair electric markets?
A little-notice decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last month (Nov. 12) could potentially overturn how federal agencies make many decisions on environmental issues under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). It could also impact how incoming President Donald Trump attempts to assert White House power over government agencies. The … More Are presidential executive orders binding on federal agencies?
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last month (Nov. 20) granted non-power construction permits to Kairos Power for the second of its two Hermes “advanced” small modular reactor projects. The construction permit for the two-reactor test project Hermes 2 came just 11 months after NRC granted a construction permit for an earlier single reactor test project, … More Hermes “advanced” SMR advances, but questions remain