The California Public Utilities Commission last week (May 9) adopted a sweeping new statewide electric rate design, imposing a $24.15/month fixed customer charge aimed at recovering fixed utility costs combined with lower volumetric rates for customers of the state’s three large investor-owned electric companis. The new rate design, the CPUC stressed, is based on the… More CPUC Oks new electric rate design, nixes PG&E generation spinoff

Jupiter, Fla.-based Holtec International (with most of it located in New Jersey) is setting out to be the Swiss Army knife of nuclear energy, the be-all and end-all of the business of radioactivity. Will the company’s private structure and secretiveness hamper its ambitions? On May 1, Holtec announced its latest atomic venture, a wholly-owned subsidiary,… More Holtec’s ambitions: an engine that knows no rest

Literally. And it couldn’t have come at a worse time. Last week Kathy Chandler, a resident of Bent Mountain, Va., a small rural community that overlooks the scenic Roanoke Valley, while taking a walk noticed muddy water running through her pasture. Knowing that the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline was constructed through the area, she contacted… More Mountain Valley Pipeline springs a leak

An ambitious Canadian project to collect carbon dioxide from a coal-fired power plant has underperformed for nearly a decade, according to a new analysis from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. Despite optimistic claims from the operator of the Saskatchewan project, SaskPower, the carbon capture and storage project on a 115-MW coal-fired unit… More IEEFA dings Canadian CCS underperformance

California utility giant PG&E’s move to raise capital by selling 49.5% of its non-nuclear generation to investment behemoth KKR for somewhere around $3 billion is scheduled to come before the California Public Utilities Commission next week (May 9). Its fate is uncertain. The KKR deal, announced Wednesday (May 1), would see the utility, which has… More PG&E-KKR asset spinoff plan faces CPUC scrutiny

It’s time to temper the enthusiasm for a large fleet of small nuclear reactors populating the globe, according to Sharon Squassoni, George Washington University research professor of international affairs. Her work at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs focuses on nuclear energy and weapons. In a report – “New nuclear energy: assessing the national security… More Is a swarm of SMRs dangerous?

It didn’t take long. Less than a day after the Environmental Protection Agency announced its latest move to remove CO2 produced by coal-fired power plants, Wyoming Republican Gov. Mark Gordon told his attorney general to look into forming a coalition of coal states to challenge the rules in court. Cowboy State Daily quoted Gordon, “We… More Commentary: Biden EPA doubles down on risky carbon capture

The Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency yesterday (April 25) announced a comprehensive package of rules aimed squarely at coal-fired electric generating plants and secondarily at natural gas generation. The new rules will generate legal challenges from industry and several states in multiple federal jurisdictions. They are likely to end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.… More New EPA rules target coal-fired plants and, to a lesser degree, gas

California legislators Monday (April 22) rejected by one vote a bill that would have expanded an existing ban on public utility companies charging customers for spending on lobbying and attempting to influence the public. The major target of the legislation was Pacific Gas & Electric, which lobbied heavily against the measure. The state Senate Committee… More Calif. solons nix reform of utility influence spending

The U.S. Department of Energy last week unveiled two reports focused on the crucial interstate electric transmission system, proposing both a roadmap for getting onto the grid and how strengthen the road itself. The inadequate U.S. high-voltage grids are perhaps the greatest obstacle to a low-carbon electric future. Last Tuesday (April 16), the agency rolled… More DOE looks at the road and the roadmap to better electric transmission