PacifiCorp of Portland, Ore., has closed Unit 3 of the elderly Naughton coal-fired generating plant in Kemmerer, Wyo., taking 384 MW of power out of service at the three-unit, 832-MW station. The unit went into service in 1971. The first 192-MW unit went into service in 1963. Economics are the culprit in the Naughton closure. … More Western coal roundup: Big plants face big problems
A Department of Energy no-bid contract for advanced uranium enrichment has a key Senate Republican balking at the award. For some long-time observers of the troubled tale of uranium enrichment in the U.S., the deal suggests that DOE is interested in saving Centrus Energy, a Maryland-based firm that is the spawn of the government’s ancient … More DOE $115M, no-bid U enrichment contract causes sparks
Almost alone among western democracies, the UK has been pursuing new nuclear power plants. Market forces have intruded, as Great Britain’s foreign partners in nuke development – primarily Japan’s Toshiba and Hitachi, and France’s EDF – have seen the UK’s ambitious nuclear plans unravel. Now, Britain’s inability to work out how it will exit from … More Brexit puts the UK nuclear program in a pickle
United Power, a large rural electric distribution co-op serving a portion of the Denver metro area, is in a dispute over battery storage with United’s principal power supplier, Tri-State G&T Association. The wrangle involves the impact of United’s use of its new Tesla battery array. The dispute is important not only in itself, but could … More Colo. battery storage kerfuffle may have wider implications
Pacific Gas and Electric finds itself in a Kafkaesque legal situation. It faces an upcoming Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing while, at the same time, a federal judge overseeing its probation in a criminal case has suggested he might order the San Francisco-based utility to take steps that could render the bankruptcy protection moot. It could … More PG&E’s legal nightmare
The bid to take over South Carolina’s battered state-owned electric generation and transmission public power system, Santee Cooper, gets “curiouser and curiouser”, to steal from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. According to the always aggressive, sometimes snarky, statewide political news blog FITSNews (motto: “Unfair and Imbalanced”), Florida-based NextEra Energy’s CEO James Robo has made South … More South Carolina nuclear debacle ‘curiouser and curiouser’
More news from the South Carolina nuclear fiasco, the gift that keeps on giving for energy reporters. The state Public Service Commission has reversed itself and concluded that the former SCANA Corp., lead utility on the failed V.C. Summer nuclear project (and now a division of Dominion), lied about progress at the nuke in order … More SC nuke fiasco in the news again
Rookie Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), bright, brash, and ambitious, has the left bank of the Potomac abuzz with her nascent “green new deal” (GND). Before even being sworn in to the 116th Congress, she launched a proposal to commit the U.S. to 100% renewable energy within 10 years, along with an economic stimulus including a … More Green New Deal: Not quite what meets the eye?
Facing potentially devastating liabilities from California’s Camp Fire in November, Pacific Gas and Electric has dumped its CEO and, this morning, announced it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Yesterday, the company said CEO Geisha Williams, who headed the troubled San Francisco utility for less than two years, was stepping down immediately. PG&E said … More PG&E unloads CEO, will file for bankruptcy
Pressed by congressional Democrats and national environmental groups to stay away from anything that comes before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that smells of the Trump administration’s ill-fated attempt to rescue a foundering coal industry, new Commissioner Bernard McNamee says “maybe.” In a letter to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) this week, McNamee said that … More FERC’s McNamee on fuel recusals: Will he or won’t he?