Rendering Courtesy of NRG Energy Petra Nova Holdings The technology will be built alongside the existing W.A. Parish station, near Houston, and could be a model for other plants. + Image Rendering Courtesy of NRG Energy Petra Nova Holdings Related Links: Clean Coal: Is Carbon Capture and Storage Fossil Fuels' Best Hope? A top official at the U.S. Dept. of Energy says a planned $1-billion carbon-capture project on a large coal unit near Houston represents "a major milestone" in the DOE's effort to maintain coal-fired generation as a viable way to meet energy needs and carbon-emission regulations.Christopher Smith, principal deputy

Related Links: Southern Co. Refuels Coal Fleet With Gas In a move that could lead to widespread gasification of lignite—a lower grade of coal that is widely available—utility Southern Co. has signed a memorandum of understanding with Shenhua Group, China's largest coal producer and a large power generator, to collaborate on the research, development and deployment of the Atlanta firm's gasification technology."While we are still early in our market development process, we believe there will be strong worldwide demand" for the firm's transport integrated technology, or TRIG, the technology to be used at Mississippi Power's new 582-MW integrated gasification combined-cycle

Related Links: The U.S. Energy Policy Finally Emerges Texas Bullish on Energy Low-Cost LNG, Stricter Air Rules Mean Fewer New Coal-Fired Powerplants Panda Power Funds, capitalizing on the need for highly efficient generating capacity in two key electricity markets, is building and planning more new natural-gas-fired combined-cycle units than anyone else in the U.S. right now. Working with some of the nation's top engineering-procurement-construction contractors in the energy arena, Panda, a Dallas-based private equity firm and independent power developer, is building three 758-MW plants to serve the Electric Reliability Council of Texas region and undertaking four projects, totaling 3,267 MW,

Photo Courtesy of Southern Co. Four coal units at Alabama Power's Plant Gaston will soon burn gas. Related Links: The U.S. Energy Policy Finally Emerges Utility Seeks Union Assistance As Kemper's Troubles Mount Cost Pressures, Delay Worries Sour Two Southern Co. Projects For decades, Southern Co. has been one of the nation's largest electric utilities and one of the leading consumers of coal. Southern believes coal-fired capacity should remain part of its generation mix. Its Mississippi Power subsidiary—one of four utilities Southern owns—is building what may be one of the last coal-based units in the U.S.: a 582-MW integrated gasification

Photo Courtesy of Pacificorp The Boardman-to-Hemingway transmission project, first proposed in 2000, is not expected to complete until 2020. The project was placed on the Obama administration's list of projects to accelerate in 2011. Related Links: Project Website Information on Interagency Rapid Response Team for Transmission An Obama administration effort to expedite federal agencies' review of the proposed 300-mile, 500-kV Boardman-to-Hemingway transmission line through parts of eastern Oregon and southern Idaho has had both positive and negative effects on advancing the project, according to Idaho Power, the utility that started planning the project several years ago.Doug Dockter, manager of 500-kV

Related Links: Pipeline Bursts Heat Up Safety Questions Over Keystone XL Pipeline Advocates Question Crude-by-Rail Safety State Dept. OIG report A report dismissing complaints about the U.S. State Dept.'s selection of Environmental Resources Management to prepare the final supplemental environmental impact statement for TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline has spurred calls for a new look at the department's contractor selection process.The State Dept.'s Office of Inspector General said in a report released on Feb. 26 that the selection of ERM "substantially followed" the department's rules, despite complaints from Keystone XL opponents who said ERM previously had performed work for TransCanada

Cristina Tzintzún, executive director of the 12-year-old Workers Defense Project (WDP), is making progress in her uphill battle to improve working conditions and pay for very low-income workers in Texas, most of them involved in construction and many of them undocumented immigrants.

Photo by AP Wideworld With a full pipeline of chemical projects on the drawing board, capital investment is likely to peak in 2016-17, say analysts. -- Related Links: Low-Cost LNG, Stricter Air Rules Mean Fewer New Coal-Fired Powerplants Fluor-JGC Venture Wins Big Canada LNG Project Hot Markets: U.S. LNG Terminals Shale-gas Project Boom Drives Solutions to Shortfalls in Craft, Tech and Management Jobs The strong economic drivers behind well over $100 billion of planned U.S. petrochemical plants and liquefied-natural-gas export terminals likely will overpower any challenges posed by shortages of skilled craftspeople or specialized equipment.That is the consensus of experts

Phto by AP Wideworld The days may be numbered for coal-fired powerplants, such as the Falkirk plant in Underwood, N.D. Low-cost natural gas and tighter emissions regulations mean future plants will be fired by other fuels. Related Links: Biomass Gaining a Niche as Coal-fired Plants Converted In Finalized Clean Air Rules, EPA Clamps Down on Coal-fired Powerplant Emissions Tightening federal environmental rules and low natural-gas prices are combining to spur the biggest boom in gas-fired powerplant construction in a decade. Scores of utilities and independent power companies across the U.S. are either building or planning new gas-fired units, most of

Related Links: Shale Plays Pump Up Pipeline Sector The US Shale Boom Is Termed Globally Unique, But With Worldwide Impacts Shale-gas Project Boom Drives Solutions to Shortfalls in Craft, Tech and Management Jobs The U.S. shale oil and natural-gas development boom is spurring tens of billions of dollars in design and construction work, speakers and panelists told attendees at the ENR Energy Construction Summit in Houston on Nov. 15.John Chevrette, president of the management consulting division at Black & Veatch, in his morning keynote address, said the shale boom is already creating large volumes of work for engineers and contractors