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The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued an emergency order to delay the closure of Consumer Energy’s 1,560-MW J.H. Campbell coal-fired power plant in West Olive, Michigan, citing urgent reliability concerns […]
The post DOE Issues Rare Emergency Order to Delay Michigan Coal Plant Retirement Amid MISO Grid Risk appeared first on POWER Magazine.
The largest nuclear reactor in France is finally providing power to the country’s grid, more than a decade after it was expected to enter commercial operation. Flamanville 3, an EPR […]
The post Flamanville 3 Reactor Online in France After 12-Year Delay appeared first on POWER Magazine.
The post Southern Announces Delay in Testing at Vogtle appeared first on POWER Magazine.
Southern Co. has announced another delay in hot functional testing for the first unit of its two-unit expansion at the Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia.
The utility in a March 19 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said its subsidiary Georgia Power “now expects the start of hot functional testing for Unit 3 will be delayed into April.” The filing said that Southern Nuclear, the nuclear power subsidiary of Southern Co., “continues to target a November 2021 in-service date for Unit 3,” though it also said “the schedule is challenged and… a delay is likely and could add one month or more to the Unit 3 in-service date.”
Georgia Power said it estimates delays beyond November “would result in additional base capital costs for Georgia Power of approximately $ 25 million per month.” The project, first approved by state regulators in 2009, with an original estimated cost of about $ 14 billion, now projects to enter commercial operation about five years after initial expectations.…
The post COVID-19 May Delay Vogtle Nuclear Expansion appeared first on POWER Magazine.
Southern Co. in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 1 said the COVID-19 pandemic “could disrupt or delay construction, testing, supervisory and support activities” at the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project in Georgia.
The company in the filing said, “It is too early to determine what impact, if any, the COVID-19 outbreak will have on the current construction schedule or budget” for the two new nuclear reactors at the site near Waynesboro, Georgia. Southern said state and federal government actions designed to slow the spread of the virus, such as stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders, could bring disruptions to both the labor pool and supply chains.
The company said effects of the coronavirus pandemic “could disrupt or delay construction, testing, supervisory and support activities at Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4.”
John Kraft, a spokesperson for Georgia Power, the lead utility on the project, told POWER on Wednesday that “Construction work continues at the site under continuing enhanced protocols designed to reduce worker-to-worker contact and keep areas that workers frequent, cleaned and sanitized. …
Kevin McIntyre, freshly sworn in as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), has asked the Department of Energy (DOE) for a 30-day extension for the commission to act on the proposed Grid Resiliency Pricing Rule.
FERC is required to take final action on Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s September 28-issued notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) within 60 days following publication in the Federal Register, which occurred on October 10. Under that timetable, FERC’s vote on the rule would be required by Monday, December 11.
In a letter dated December 7—the same day McIntyre was sworn in as FERC’s chair to replace interim chair Neil Chatterjee—McIntyre said that FERC had received more than 1,500 solicited comments and reply comments on the controversial NOPR. FERC had also sworn in two new members within the last two weeks, returning to its full complement of five members on Thursday for the first time since October 2015, he noted.
FERC’s membership now includes three Republicans—McIntyre, Chatterjee, and Robert Powelson—and two Democrats, Cheryl LaFleur and Richard Glick.…