Related Links: Broad Array of Offshore Firms Provide Help at Fukushima (subscribers only) Japan Earmarks Funds for Cleanup TEPCO Crews Try To Cool Damaged Reactors at Fukushima Powerplant (subscribers only) Thirty months after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that touched off multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in northeastern Japan, the government has decided the crisis is too big a job for plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. to manage.On Sept. 3, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that, instead of "ad hoc approaches," the government would formulate a fundamental solution. The government also announced it would
Related Links: Rerouted Keystone Pipeline Path Back for Another Round The US Shale Boom Is Termed Globally Unique, But With Worldwide Impacts Williams Partners L.P. will have to wait six months to learn whether federal regulators will approve its proposed 3.17-mile natural-gas pipeline project off the coast of the Rockaway peninsula in Queens. Williams had planned to start work on the $182-million Rockaway Delivery Lateral Project this month. But the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said in August that it would complete the project's final environmental impact statement on Feb. 28, 2014, with a 90-day authorization decision deadline slated for
PHOTO BY SOUTHERN CO. In August, construction continued on the Vogtle Unit 3 nuclear island. A Georgia Public Service Commission analyst says if the decision were made today, the plant would be gas-fired. Related Links: Vogtle Nuclear Plant Owners Seek Budget Hike, Extend Schedule Georgia Power's Vogtle Plant Under New Round of Criticism The economics of natural gas is putting pressure on builders of Georgia's $14-billion Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project, with Southern Co. and contractor CB&I facing heightened scrutiny as they deal with continuing cost and schedule overruns.Philip Hayet, a Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) analyst, summed up the
Power development Competitive Power Ventures, Silver Spring, Md., will move forward to build a 762-MW natural-gas-fired plant in southwestern Virginia after state regulators scaled back Appalachian Power Co.'s plans to buy capacity from out of state.The Smyth County project, set to cost between $850 million and $900 million, is set to be on line by mid-2015, officials say.Appalachian Power, an American Electric Power subsidiary, operates in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee. CPV also has proposed similarly sized plants in Maryland and New Jersey.
Related Links: Climate Change Plan Offers Opportunities for Innovation Two U.S. Offshore Wind Teams Deploy Lidar Units Connecticut is developing a road map for other states to follow with the recent launch of the nation's first statewide microgrid pilot program, analysts say. The program, part of Gov. Dannel Malloy's (D) plan to harden infrastructure against future storms, aims to maintain electricity delivery to critical government services and businesses during large-scale power outages, such as the one that struck the state last October as a result of Superstorm Sandy.The initiative has secured $18 million in funding, primarily through the state's Dept.
Related Links: Solar Sees Growth But Clouds Loom Fast-Tracked Mojave Projects Boost California Solar Output Israel Awards Contract for $1-Billion Solar Thermal Power Plant The world's largest solar thermal powerplant is nearing completion in the Ivanpah Dry Lake, 50 miles northwest of Needles, Calif. Comprising three units that will begin staged operation in the fourth quarter, the 377-MW Ivanpah complex will generate enough electricity for 140,000 homes and displace more than 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, says the owner-developer.BrightSource Energy Inc., Oakland, has power-purchase agreements in place with PG&E and Southern California Edison. By generating more than 1-million-MWh
Photo Courtesy PSHMSA Pipe put in place in 1948 split along a 22-ft section near the weld seam. Related Links: Arkansas Spill Zone Residents Await Plan to Return Home; New Leak in Missouri Investigators Probe Arkansas Pipeline Spill ExxonMobil's Pegasus pipeline break, which dumped more than 5,000 barrels of crude oil in a suburban Little Rock, Ark., neighborhood, was caused by a 65-year-old manufacturing defect, a metallurgical testing report shows.The recent report by Hurst Metallurgical Research Laboratory Inc., Euless, Texas, says "the presence of manufacturing defects," which resulted in "the reduction of the wall thickness in the upset zone of
Related Links: California Plant To Double U.S. Solar Thermal Power Production Solar Industry Races Subsidy Sunset Solar Energy Industries Association It has been a good year for solar so far. The Ivanpah project is only a part of the 900 MW of concentrating-solar power capacity expected to be commissioned in the U.S. in 2013, according to the "U.S. Solar Market Insight Q1 Report" published by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), a solar advocacy organization. But the rise in concentrating-solar and photovoltaic (PV) projects may represent a rush to secure a crucial federal tax credit before it expires in 2016.Introduced
Photo courtesy of Tanzania Presidential Library President Obama discusses new 'Power Africa' initiative at the Symbion powerplant in Tanzania Related Links: White House Fact Sheet A new technical and financial support program announced by President Obama during a recent trip to South Africa will enable six sub-Saharan countries to generate an additional 10,000 megawatts of renewable power.The $7-billion Power Africa initiative will support, in its first phase over the next five years, renewable-energy projects in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Liberia, Ethiopia and Nigeria.In addition, private renewable-energy developers will invest $9 billion for generation of another 8,000 MW over the same period
Photo by AP/Wideworld Regulators were sharply critical of the California utility PG&E after a 2010 gas-pipeline explosion Related Links: Natural Gas Boom Drives Pipeline Upgrades NTSB's San Bruno Blast Study Focuses on Pipe Weld Seams California utility regulators have proposed a $2.25-billion fine against PG&E for a 2010 natural-gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, but the San Francisco-based utility claims the true cost to its shareholders would approach $4 billion, including money already spent on safety upgrades.The 30-in.-dia pipeline rupture killed eight people, injured 58 and decimated a residential neighborhood in the Bay Area suburb.Earlier this year, the California Public
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