Funds to modify a coal-fired powerplant to capture and sequester carbon dioxide are coming from an unusual source. The Dept. of Agriculture has approved a $300-million loan through its Rural Utilities Program to Basin Electric Power Cooperative, a North Dakota wholesale power power cooperative, for what is billed as the first project of its type in the country to operate on a commercial scale. A 120-MW slipstream of Antelope Valley Station Unit 1, fueled by lignite, will be processed to capture 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide per day at the plant near Beulah, N.D. The carbon dioxide will be piped

Renewable energy is the big energy industry winner in the stimulus bill signed into law on Feb. 17. By ENR’s estimate, the new law provides $30.6 billion in energy-related spending and tax incentives. But a provision for $50 billion in federal loan guarantees to build new nuclear power plants was dropped from the bill that emerged from the conference reconciling the House and Senate versions. Ties That Bind. Bill aims to stimulate smart-grid development but doesn’t focus on projects. While welcome, cash, tax credits and loan guarantees may not be what’s most needed. “The renewable-energy industry is doing fairly well,

Gainesville Regional Utilities will become the nation’s first utility to offer a feed-in tariff for generation of electricity from solar photovoltaic energy. Starting on March 1, the Florida municipal utility will sign new power purchase agreements for up to 4 MW per year. Sellers with a building- or pavement-mounted installation will receive a guaranteed fixed rate of 32¢ per kilowatt-hour for 20 years. The rate for a free-standing installation will be 26¢ per kWh. GRU has a program offering a rebate of $1.50 per installed watt, with up to 14¢ per kWh paid for excess power sold back to the

Even before completion, the new National Enrichment Facility is being expanded. Parsons Corp., Pasadena, Calif., was awarded a two-year contract to provide engineering, construction and construction management to expand Louisiana Energy Services’ $3-billion uranium-enrichment facility in Eunice, N.M. The plant is one of three now being built in the U.S. to enrich uranium fuel for nuclear powerplants using energy-efficient gas-centrifuge technology instead of gaseous-diffusion technology.

Five tidal power schemes, the biggest able to generate 5% of U.K. electricity demand, have been shortlisted for the Severn Estuary, the long sea inlet that separates Wales and Cornwall in the southwest of England. The government's inclusion of a full, $30-billion barrage across the estuary has angered environmental groups. Slide Show DECC Fleming Lagoon's design, looping out from one shore, would not obstruct tidal flows as much as a barrage. Having eliminated five schemes, the Dept. of Energy and Climate Change will now consult on its shortlist till April, aiming to select its preferred option early next year. A

Wood, coal, gas and oil have long-fueled societies since prehistoric times but they all emit carbon dioxide and all are finite. Today, rapid economic growth is straining the Earth’s ability to meet demand for these fuels, and rising greenhouse-gas concentrations are threatening the climate’s stability. Clean, renewable energy alternatives are being proposed to replace these fuels, but many have limitations: Wind may not blow when demand is up, the sun shines only part of the day and drought can cripple a hydropower plant. Because fossil fuels are still abundant and relatively cheap, they will continue to provide the bulk of

Fusion is the sun’s energy source. It is essentially inexhaustible, and that’s a major reason for the interest in developing fusion technology to generate power. In the sun, light nuclei such as hydrogen, under extreme gravitational pressure and excited by temperatures of 10 million to 20 million°C, collide with such force that they are fused into heavier ones. The fusion generates heat, maintaining the high temperature and keeping the reaction going. Slide Show Photo: Agence Iter France Related Links: International Program Aims To Develop Energy Supply Without Limit Fusion in earth’s lower pressure requires a much higher temperature of 100

The Shaw Group Inc. and Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC have signed a contract for engineering, procurement and construction of a two-unit nuclear powerplant at a greenfield site in Levy County, Fla. Progress Energy Florida Inc., the owner, expects to receive a combined construction and operating license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by early 2012. Current plans are for operation of the plant in the 2016-18 time frame, after which Progress Energy will retire its two oldest coal-fired units at the Crystal River Energy Complex in Citrus County, Fla. The new units will be AP1000 pressurized-water reactors, rated at 1,105 MW.

The nuclear industry is sprinting to build nuclear-enrichment plants in the U.S. before its supply of en-riched uranium dries up in 2013. Bethesda, Md.-based USEC Inc. is building a $3.5-billion enrichment plant at the site of its shuttered plant in Piketon, Ohio. Louisiana Energy Services (LES), a subsidiary of U.K.-based Urenco Ltd., is building a $3-billion enrichment plant at a greenfield site in Eunice, N.M., and Paris-based Areva is seeking approval to build an enrichment facility at a greenfield site near Idaho Falls at cost of more than $2 billion. Photo: USEC Inc. March 2008 saw first concrete placed for

The pace of oil-and-natural-gas-related engineering and construction work has been nothing short of frenetic over the past several years, with global engineering and construction giants scrambling to find qualified professionals to staff a slew of multibillion-dollar projects. But the combined effects of falling energy prices, a slumping global economy and the lingering credit crisis are raising doubts about whether the world’s largest energy companies will continue to keep their capital investments flowing in 2009 and 2010. Photo: Nancy Groce, Smithsonian Institution Projects in Alberta’s oil-sands fields are being scaled back. Related Links: 2008 Top Global Sourcebook The international market for