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World’s largest offshore wind farm opens off northwest England
The world’s largest offshore wind farm will open on Thursday off the northwest coast of England when Danish energy group Orsted unveils the Walney Extension project. The wind farm has a capacity of 659 megawatts (MW), enough to power almost 600,000 homes, and overtakes the London Array off England’s east coast which has a capacity of 630 MW. [ read more … ]
Coal industry hands another rescue plan to DOE
The Trump administration today received the second coal rescue plan in as many days from an industry-led panel. The National Coal Council’s “Power Reset” lays out steps the industry hopes will “stem the tide” of retirements of coal-fired power plants. [ read more … ]
How Affordable Clean Energy is playing out
EPA’s own estimates on its proposed Affordable Clean Energy plan to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants is turning off voters, a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll found. [ read more … ]
Policy & Politics
DOE, industry to prepare cyber emergency plans
The Department of Energy and U.S. grid operators need detailed emergency operating plans to combat a state-backed cyberattack, says a former Defense Department official. Further, he says, “harsh and politically contentious” options should be on the table when there’s a cyber crisis to ensure the power is left on for critical military, energy and public safety needs. [ read more … ]
Regional grid resistance doesn’t spell end of debate — Wellinghoff
Lawmakers’ hesitance need not spell the end of the debate, advocates of closer ties said yesterday. It’s the third year that California lawmakers have considered the creation of a regional electricity market. The prospect of a Western RTO has long tantalized utilities and regulators for its potential to encourage wind and solar development in California’s neighboring coal-heavy states. Many mainstream environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and Union of Concerned Scientists, were also on board. [ read more … ]
Trump taps critic of climate science as top adviser
William Happer, a physics professor and vocal critic of mainstream climate science, has joined the White House as a top adviser. Happer, 79, told E&E News in email that he began serving yesterday on the National Security Council as the senior director for emerging technologies. NSC officials confirmed Happer’s new role but declined to provide further detail about the appointment, which CNN first reported. [ read more … ]
EPA targets 3 big Obama rules after Pruitt exit
In rapid succession, the Trump administration last month took aim at a trio of President Obama’s biggest air pollution and climate change rules. EPA signaled last week that it will overhaul Obama’s toxic air pollution limits for power plants. That came on the heels of announcements earlier in August that the agency is moving to ease fuel efficiency standards for cars and to issue a weaker version of Obama’s signature climate change rule for electric utilities. [ read more … ]
White House cut climate warnings from rule on power plants
The Trump administration scrubbed references to climate change from its proposed Clean Power Plan replacement, new documents show. A draft of EPA’s Affordable Clean Energy proposal referenced the overwhelming scientific consensus that greenhouse gas emissions were worsening climate change and endangering public health, according to documents released on the site Regulations.gov. Those statements were nixed during an interagency review led by the White House. [ read more … ]
FERC lets PJM delay next capacity auction from May to August 2019
he Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last Thursday accepted a request from grid operator PJM Interconnection to delay its next capacity market auction from May to Aug. 14-28, 2019, as it redesigns its market rules. FERC invalidated PJM’s capacity market rules in June and last month the grid operator asked the federal agency to allow it to delay its next auction if the regulators could not approve new market rules by the end of the year. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.