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Regulators in North Carolina have approved Duke Energy’s plan to replace some of the utility’s coal-fired units with natural gas-fired generation. The North Carolina Utilities Commission in December issued orders […]
The post Officials Approve Duke Energy’s Plan to Replace Coal with Gas-Fired Units appeared first on POWER Magazine.
A government agency in Russia has published a draft plan for the expansion of nuclear power in the country that calls for construction of as many as 34 new reactors […]
The post Russia Plan Calls for 34 New Nuclear Reactors by 2042 appeared first on POWER Magazine.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed a plan that would keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant open into 2035, a decade beyond the facility’s current closure date.
The proposal, which in part includes giving plant owner Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) a forgivable $ 1.4-billion loan, was included in a draft legislative package sent to state lawmakers late on Aug. 11. The bill has not yet been introduced in the state legislature. The current legislative session ends Aug. 31, though Newsom could call for a special session beyond that date to consider the plan.
The proposal was confirmed by Newsom spokesman Anthony York, according to Associated Press. The news service reported the bill “says impacts of climate change are occurring sooner than anticipated and are simultaneously driving up electrical demand while reducing power supplies.”
“The governor has been clear for months about the potential need to extend the life of Diablo Canyon,” York said. The spokesman said the governor has stressed the importance of all energy options to maintain a reliable power supply, and “this proposal reflects the continued need to keep that flexibility.”…
Chicago’s public buildings could all be powered by renewable energy under a plan announced by Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Aug. 8.
The mayor, along with Illinois Gov JB Pritzker, on Monday said the city has an agreement with Chicago utility Constellation Energy, along with Massachusetts-based Swift Current Energy, a renewable energy developer. The two spoke at a news conference at the Chicago Urban League. The deal would make Chicago one of the world’s largest cities to commit to using 100% renewable energy.
“I am incredibly proud to advance this commitment to transitioning all city operations to 100% renewable energy by 2025,” Lightfoot said. “The signing of this agreement demonstrates that the City of Chicago is leading by example and driving high-impact climate action, building the clean energy workforce of the future and equitably distributing meaningful benefits to foster the local clean energy economy for all.”
Construction of projects related to the plan is set to begin by year-end.…
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a report at the end of February titled “Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.” Among the warnings found in the 3,675-page report is that human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting the lives of billions of people around the world, despite efforts to reduce the risks.
“When we look at the quantitative evidence, we clearly see that global average temperatures and sea levels have risen over the last 150 years, and that we are still on that trend. We also see that climate models cannot replicate historical observed global and continental changes without the human-related inputs, such as greenhouse gas emissions and land use activity,” Dr. Steven Rose, senior research economist and technical executive in the Energy Systems and Climate Analysis Group at the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), who was also one of the lead authors of the IPCC report, told POWER.
“The evidence that climate change is affecting society and ecosystems has grown and is continuing to grow.…
A California developer of concentrated solar power (CSP) systems has announced an innovation that it says combines the company’s technologies to turn existing oil wells into energy storage sites that can provide clean energy.
Hyperlight Energy on Feb. 24 said it was launching Tectonic Sun, an electricity generation technology that when paired with the company’s Hylux solar thermal solution can provide “zero-carbon electricity” from oil wells “while reducing emissions during the extraction process at enhanced oil recovery [EOR] sites.” Hyperlight on Thursday said the new system “is capable of providing emissions-free power with 80% capacity factor for use at any time of day or night throughout the year.” (Go here to view a video detailing how the technology works.)
The company has a technology demonstration project, Tectonic Sun Alpha, at a Hathaway oil drilling site in Bakersfield, California. Hathaway is an independent, Bakersfield-based drilling company that operates six oil and gas fields in Kern County, California.
“The industry is increasingly embracing the concept of cost reduction through repurposing oil wells, as shown by the Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technology Office [GTO] recently announced group of projects aiming to use old oil wells to access traditional geothermal-based heat, and Southern Company’s research collaboration with innovator Petrolern, to ‘Convert Oil Wells to Geothermal Resources’,” said John King, CEO of Hyperlight Energy.…