Exelon

Ready Or Not, Here Come MACT And CSAPR

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Congressional deadlock means two game-changing Environmental Protection Agency rules are poised to take effect unless a court stops them or the White House weighs in.

The rules will cost electric utilities and their ratepayers billions. But the utility industry itself is split between those that have invested to lower their air pollution ahead of federal regulation and say stricter standards can be met, and those who remain highly coal-dependent and contend the EPA is forcing changes so fast it will endanger electric reliability. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 15, 2011 at 10:30 AM

Face Off Over EPA Cross-State Rule

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A new US EPA rule to cut power-plant emissions is setting supporters including some states, three power companies and at least one city on a collision course with generators, public utility commissions, and other states that oppose the plans.

The Cross State Air Pollution Rule, finalized by the agency in July, requires 27 states in the eastern half of the US to make significant reductions in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide that crosses state lines and causes ozone and fine particle pollution in those areas. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 28, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Nuke Plants Stand The Test Of August

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It was a week that tested the nuclear industry’s strength, only months after a high-profile leakage cast a shadow over the entire sector.

Though Dominion’s North Anna nuclear plant in Northern Virginia shook in last week’s earthquake, and shut down automatically as a result; and although Southern Maryland Calvert Cliffs plant was knocked offline when Hurricane Irene blew a piece of aluminum siding into a transformer, nuclear plants along the East Coast largely remained operational and withstood the summer storms. Keep reading →

 /  Published September 2, 2011 at 6:00 AM

Smart Grid Sparks Pricing Debate In Illinois

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An increasingly energetic debate is emerging over who should pay for smart grid technology in Illinois.

If approved, the Energy Infrastructure Modernization bill will authorize a multi-billion dollar investment in the modernization of the state’s electric grid. But disagreement over who should foot the bill and whether customers will actually see financial benefits could lead to a veto by Governor Pat Quinn. The bill was proposed into the Senate at the end of May and has not come up for a vote yet. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 9, 2011 at 2:35 PM

US Energy Sector Buying Rather Than Building

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Deal activity in the US power and utilities sector nearly doubled in the first six months of 2011 over the preceding year as companies spent $52 billion to acquire new capacity rather than build their own.

Companies are “buying growth versus building new capabilities from within,” US power and utilities transaction services leader John McConomy for accounting firm PwC said in announcing the latest figures from the North American Power Deals report for the second quarter of 2011. Keep reading →

 /  Published August 9, 2011 at 6:00 AM

To Build Or Not To Build, New Jersey Asks

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A New Jersey fight over new electric generating capacity raised a wide range of fundamental power market issues as it intensified late last week.

New Jersey’s top utilities regulator clashed with the head of the grid manager PJM on Friday over plans to build three new gas-fired power stations in a bid to bring down high retail electricity costs. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 11, 2011 at 10:45 AM
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