Electric generation capacity losses resulting from nuclear plant outages spiked in early September as a result of earlier than expected maintenance, adverse weather conditions and early retirement, according to the EIA’s latest data. Hurricane Florence caused a nine-day unscheduled outage at the 1,870-megawatt Brunswick Nuclear Plant in North Carolina, which was forced to safely shut…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff issued a draft environmental assessment for NextDecade Corporation’s Rio Grande LNG Project finding that the project would result in some adverse environmental impacts, which would be reduced to less than significant levels, according to the agency’s Oct. 12 announcement. The staff said it has developed other site-specific mitigation measures…
President Donald Trump directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin the process of lifting restrictions on the sales of E15 gasoline, a fuel blend containing gasoline and 15 percent ethanol, during summer months, according to an Oct. 11 news release from the White House. Currently, the sale of E15 is restricted during summer months…
Denmark-based Ørsted A/S will buy Deepwater Wind LLC, which owns the first U.S. offshore wind farm, the 30-megawatt Block Island farm off the Rhode Island coast, according to the company’s Oct. 10 press release. Ørsted entered into an agreement with U.S.-based D.E. Shaw Group to buy a 100 percent stake in Deepwater Wind, resulting in…
President Donald Trump nominated Bernard L. McNamee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the term ending June 30, 2020, to fill the vacancy resulting from Commissioner Robert Powelson’s resignation in August, according to an Oct. 9 release from the agency. McNamee currently serves as the Executive Director of the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of…
GE Capital entered into an agreement to sell a $1 billion portfolio comprised primarily of equity investments in energy assets to funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management LLC, according to the company’s Oct. 8 press release. The sale includes 20 investments in renewable energy, contracted gas-powered generation, and midstream energy infrastructure assets in…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Oct. 5 authorized Pine River Wind Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Invenergy Renewables LLC, to sell its 161-megawatt wind generation project to DTE Electric Company. The wind facility, which is under construction, will be interconnected to the transmission system controlled by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc.’s market. DTE…
Dominion Energy Inc. and SCANA Corporation on Oct. 4 submitted an agreement to the North Carolina Utilities Commission detailing customer protection measures to advance their merger deal. Under the settlement, SCANA-owned Public Service Company of North Carolina Inc., a gas distribution company, would refund $3.75 million of its 2017 revenues, raise its charitable contributions in…
The state of Michigan and Canadian company Enbridge Inc. signed an agreement under which the company would replace the Line 5 petroleum pipeline segment that crosses the Straits of Mackinac with a multi-utility tunnel beneath the Straits, according to an Oct. 3 press release from the Michigan Governor’s office. Enbridge agreed to bear the costs…
Uranium purchases by U.S. commercial nuclear power plants totaled 43 million pounds of triuranium octoxide last year, 15 percent lower than 2016 and the lowest since 1998, according to an Oct. 3 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Triuranium octoxide, called yellow cake, represents the first step in nuclear fuel production. The agency attributed…
U.S. net natural gas exports averaged 0.87 billion cubic feet per day during the first six months of this year, more than double the amount during all of 2017, which marked the first time the U.S. became a net exporter in almost 60 years, according to an Oct. 1 report from the U.S. Energy Information…
The U.S. Energy Department announced the funding to support research partnerships that will facilitate next-generation technologies to advance cybersecurity and resilience of the electric grid and oil and natural gas infrastructure, according to an Oct. 1 press release. The projects will take innovative approaches such as redesigning existing architecture that makes the grid vulnerable to…
