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FES Will Close Mansfield Coal Plant Early

August 13, 2019

FirstEnergy Solutions (FES) said it will close the Bruce Mansfield power plant in Pennsylvania in November, two years ahead of the previously scheduled closure for the facility’s remaining coal-fired unit.

FES in a statement August 9 cited a “lack of economic viability in current market conditions” for the decision to shutter the 830-MW Unit 3, which had been set to close in June 2021. Units 1 and 2 at the plant, each with 830 MW of generation capacity, were taken offline in February, just more than a year after a fire at the plant damaged equipment. Those units also had been scheduled to close in June 2021.

FES in a press release Friday said “deactivation activities” at Bruce Mansfield should be complete by May 2020. The group filed for bankruptcy in March 2018, as the company sought an “orderly financial restructuring.” FES at the time said both its coal-fired and nuclear power plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania were unprofitable.

Company officials in a statement Friday said, “The [Bruce Mansfield] deactivation will be safely and responsibly conducted in accordance with relevant regulations and guidelines.…

DOE Speeds Up Development of Experimental Fast Reactor, Sustain Flagging U.S. Nuclear Sector

August 9, 2019

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The Department of Energy (DOE) officially launched development of its Versatile Test Reactor (VTR), a fast reactor that will foster experiments with much higher neutron energy and flux compared to the nation’s existing 35 research reactors to develop advanced nuclear fuel for future nuclear power plants in the U.S. The facility, it says, is necessary to keep the nation technologically competitive with China and Russia.

The agency on Aug. 5 published a Notice of Intent in the Federal Register announcing it would develop an environmental impact statement (EIS) to study impacts of building the novel experimental reactor. The DOE will accept public comment on what the draft EIS should include until Sept. 4, and it plans to issue a draft EIS analysis within “the next several months” for public comment.

On Monday, the DOE also announced that it is considering two locations for the VTR: Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in eastern Idaho, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in eastern Tennessee. Two sites, INL and the Savannah River site in South Carolina, are also under consideration for the fabrication of the fuel needed to run the VTR.…

How Nevada Is Leading the Renewable Energy and Battery Storage Charge [PODCAST]

August 6, 2019

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Renewable energy and battery storage are hot topics in the U.S. today. Lawmakers throughout the country debated various new energy policies during the 2019 legislative session. Nevada is among the states leading the way forward. Several new laws were passed in the state that will affect power companies and consumers for years to come.

Curt Ledford, a Nevada-based attorney who is a partner with Davison Van Cleve PC, was a guest on The POWER Podcast. Ledford’s practice is focused on utility, administrative, corporate, cooperative, and regulatory law, as well as general matters affecting energy developments, generation facilities, renewable energy, and Nevada’s utilities.

On the podcast, Ledford touched on several legal and legislative developments that occurred recently. Among the topics were changes to Nevada’s fundamental utility ratemaking structure and changes to the state’s open access for large customers. He also elaborated on an update to the state’s renewable portfolio standard, which requires 50% of Nevada’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2030.…

RWE Will Close Wales Plant, Leaving UK With Four Operating Coal Units

August 4, 2019

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German utility RWE on August 1 announced it will close its last coal-fired power plant in the UK. The closure of the Aberthaw B power station in south Wales, scheduled by the end of March 2020, means just four coal plants will be operating in the UK. The plant originally was scheduled to be shuttered in 2021.

Roger Miesen, chief executive of RWE’s generation business, said in a statement Thursday: “This is a difficult time for everyone at Aberthaw power station. However, market conditions made this decision necessary.”

The UK has been moving on from coal-fired generation over the past few years, and less than 5% of the country’s power came from coal last year. The UK earlier this year went a week without using any electricity from coal.

The UK government has said all coal-fired generation in the country must end no later than 2025 to help meet climate targets. Several plant closures have been announced in recent months; EDF Energy, the London-based utility, in February said it would close its Cottam coal plant in September.…

PG&E Asks Bankruptcy Judge to Back Restructured Power Deals

August 2, 2019

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California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has asked the judge overseeing its bankruptcy case to support restructured deals with some of the utility’s power suppliers in an effort to reduce the price PG&E pays for those companies’ electricity.

The fate of $ 42 billion worth of long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) is a key component of PG&E’s bankruptcy and is being closely watched by the power industry, which relies on long-term power contracts to attract financing.

PG&E’s court filing comes just weeks after California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a measure to create a $ 21 billion state wildfire fund, designed to help the state’s three investor-owned utilities pay for damages resulting from wildfires in the state.

Allan Marks, a partner in the Los Angeles office of global law firm Milbank LLP, working in Milbank’s Project, Energy and Infrastructure Finance practice, told POWER, “In general, [the wildfire fund] is designed to provide liquidity if utilities aren’t able to handle wildfire claims without becoming insolvent.”…

Investments in Energy Storage Grow as Battery Costs Fall

July 31, 2019

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A new report released July 31 details continued growth in global energy storage, driven by lower costs for lithium-ion batteries.

Research company BloombergNEF (BNEF) in its latest forecast published Wednesday said energy storage installations worldwide will grow across the next two decades, from the 9 GW/17 GWh of capacity deployed as of last year, to 1,095 GW/2,850 GWh by 2040, as battery costs fall by half by 2030 compared to today’s levels. It said two markets—stationary storage and electric vehicles—will drive demand for batteries.

BNEF said most of the new energy storage capacity for the power market is likely to be grid-scale.

Yayoi Sekine, a co-author of the report, in a news release said the latest research has “two big changes,” noting that “this year … we have raised our estimate of the investment that will go into energy storage by 2040 by more than $ 40 billion,” with BNEF forecasting $ 662 billion will be invested in storage over the next 20 years.…