Although the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party will undergo a transition, national policies will continue to prioritize climate-change and environmental issues, with an unwavering focus on clean, efficient approaches to producing and consuming energy.
California officials are looking to streamline the development of transmission lines to access more geothermal power, the state's largest baseload source of in-state renewable energy. At least two geothermal projects have been stalled by lack of transmission access to the grid; several more are in the queue waiting for transmission.
Star and Northeast Utilities have agreed to purchase 129 MW from the Cape Wind offshore wind farm as a condition of the utilities' pending merger, according to a deal announced on Feb. 15 by Massachusetts officials.
With federal approval to build the first U.S. nuclear reactors in 30 years granted on Feb. 9, two units in the state of Georgia set to generate 2,200 MW of power will proceed. However, the nuclear industry sees future growth in a more scaled-down version known as the small modular reactor, or SMR. Firms already are developing SMRs, ranging in size from 45 MW to 300 MW.
As detailed engineering progresses, Canada's Imperial Oil is evaluating plant contractor bids following its decision to rekindle plans to construct a $2-billion expansion to its Cold Lake facility operation in northeastern Alberta's oil-sands region. The revised plan includes a 170-MW cogeneration facility and a bitumen-processing plant to go on line by the end of 2014.
Construction of the first new U.S. nuclear reactors in more than 30 years will ramp up gradually following the Feb. 9 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission decision to approve a combined construction and operating license for two new units at utility Southern Co.'s Vogtle nuclear plant near Waynesboro, Ga.
The construction of new hydroelectric dams, geothermal wells and biomass projects are threatened if Congress does not approve an extension of the production tax credit. Renewable energy interests provided a stark warning in a conference call on Feb. 8 as they pushed for an extension of the PTC, which is set to expire at the end of February.
After the Tennessee Valley Authority successfully completed a lease-purchase agreement in mid-January that infused it with $1 billion to spend on capital construction, the federal power producer expects to begin working on a second transaction this spring.
The first new nuclear plant in the United States in more than 30 years got the final green light on Feb. 9, as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission authorized its staff to issue a construction and operating license for Georgia Power’s new nuclear units, Vogtle 3 & 4, near Waynesboro, Ga.
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