A diverse group of interests including The Nature Conservancy and the Solar Energy Industries Association have agreed on policies to advance large, utility-scale solar photovoltaic power development. The agreement, “Collaboration Agreement on Large-Scale U.S. Solar Development: Integrating Climate, Conservation and Community” and brokered by Stanford University’s Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, is designed to … More Big Solar Gets Big Boost

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last Friday (Oct. 6) rejected a preliminary permit for a large hydroelectric pumped storage project on the Susquehanna River near York, Pa. The commission said the application by York Energy Storage for a $2.1 billion project repeatedly failed to respond adequately to questions the FERC staff raised about the filing. … More Hydro Making Slow-Motion Waves at FERC

NuScale Power has landed a deal with privately-owned blockchain data center developer Standard Power to provide two planned data centers in Pennsylvania and Ohio, 924-MW each, with electricity from arrays of NuScale’s 77-MW VOYGR small modular reactors, 12 for each data center. NuScale’s partner ENTRA1 Energy has the exclusive rights to develop, manage, own and … More Nuclear Merry-Go-Round: NuScale, Vogtle, Palisades

Offshore wind in the U.S. has encountered an economic tsunami. Long-standing power purchase agreements (PPAs) going back years, the financial foundations for nascent wind projects, are cratering. A new U.S. government offshore wind site auction failed to attract substantial interest. On Monday (Oct. 2), Connecticut-based Avangrid, a U.S. subsidiary of Spain’s Iberdrola, announced it was … More U.S. Offshore Wind Faces Stormy Weather

“Rolling coal” by diesel trucks may cost online marketeer eBay $1.9 billion, according to a U.S. Justice Department filing last Wednesday (Sept. 27). The DOJ complaint in federal court in Brooklyn was based on information from the Environmental Protection Agency. The complaint included other eBay merchandise EPA targeted as illegal. According to DOJ, eBay sold … More ‘Rolling Coal’ Could Crush eBay

A group of Nantucket, Mass., opponents of an 800-MW offshore wind project – Vineyard Wind – have launched a last-ditch attempt to scuttle the $4 billion, 20 years in the planning, wind farm. The project is about 15 miles equidistant from Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. It would be the first commercial-scale offshore wind project in … More Locals Launch Unlikely Vineyard Wind Challenge

The Biden administration and 25 state governors who make up the U.S. Climate Alliance last week (Sept. 21) announced a goal to increase the number of heat pumps in American homes by 2030 from 4.7 million to 20 million. The nearly five-fold increase would be driven by a 30% federal tax credit, up to $2,000, … More White House, Govs Pumping Heat Pumps

New Mexico and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Safety Administration (the agency’s mammoth weapons program) are in a dispute over cleanup of nuclear weapons waste at DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. NNSA wants to cap and backfill unlined pits and shafts filled with liquid radioactive and chemical legacy wastes from the weapons program, … More New Mexico, DOE Spar Over Los Alamos Nuke Waste Disposal

Two major high-voltage direct current (HVDC) underground electric transmission projects are moving forward in New York City and Iowa. Is this the future of long-distance transmission? New York City last week (Sept.2) saw the beginning of a key element in an innovative power transmission line connecting clean Canadian hydro to the city’s distribution system. Workers began … More HVDC Trends in Terrestrial Transmission

The U.S. natural gas system – from production, to pipelines, to customers, including electric generating plants – is unable to provide reliable electric service during winter storms. That’s the unavoidable conclusion of a joint Federal Energy Regulatory Commission-North American Electric Reliability Corp. analysis of 2022 “Winter Storm Elliott” unveiled at the commission’s meeting yesterday (Sept. … More FERC Dissects Gas Unreliability