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China approved 168 coal-fired power plants in 2022, the most rapid expansion of the country’s coal-fired power capacity since 2015, according to a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) and Global Energy Monitor (GEM) Monday. Chinese companies began constructing 50 gigawatts (GW) worth of coal-fired power capacity in 2022, more than triple the rest of the world put together and spiking 50% from 2021, according to the report. Conversely, President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is expected to lead to the retirement of 30 GW to 60 GW of U.S. coal-fired power...

Commissioners promise to 'scrutinize this to a degree we've never done before' ... DENVER — State regulators with the Public Utilities Commission questioned Xcel's proposal for an electric rate hike in Wednesday's meeting, following "unprecedented" comments objecting to the proposed increase. Xcel has proposed a $312.2 million revenue increase, which would result in an 8.2% increase ($7.33/month) for the average residential customer. The commission has suspended the effected date of the higher rates, while the case was scheduled to be taken up again to set procedures in early February. Commissioner John Gavan called for the commission to "scrutinize this to...

Customers across Colorado could see higher electric and natural gas bills if regulators approve proposals by utilities to recover costs from a winter storm that had them scrambling along with many other companies to buy enough fuel to make it through the freezing weather. During its meeting Wednesday, the Colorado Public Utilities Commission will consider the next steps after receiving applications from Xcel Energy-Colorado and Black Hills Energy, which have proposed spreading out the expense for customers over at least a year. The PUC is reviewing how utilities prepared for the weather in February. The frigid weather that gripped the...

Angry utility customers in places like Grand Valley and Grand Mesa pen poison letters: “It’s a monopoly! Reduce obscene CEO pay!”. When Grand Valley Power CEO Tom Walch gets worked up explaining what he sees as the avarice and ignorance of Xcel Energy and worries he is not conveying his rage, he pulls out a letter from an angry co-op customer and starts reading. “They shouldn’t unload this blunder on customers who happen to be on their electrical grid,” Walch recites. “This is going to hurt a lot of businesses here and elsewhere that are already hurting due to the...

News Releases Senator Murray Slams President Trump’s Plan to Prop Up Coal While Moving U.S. Backward on Efforts to Combat Climate Change Aug 21 2018 (SEATTLE) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) issued the following statement on President Trump’s announcement to replace President Obama’s Clean Power Plan with a version that will do little to reduce emissions or transition to renewable energy sources in order to address climate change, while simply continuing business as usual at coal plants.“Once again, President Trump is putting profits for his well-connected friends ahead of the health and well-being of the millions of...

When it comes to coal, the United States is what the Middle East is for oil. That fact is not lost on an industry competing for relevancy at a time when it’s undersold by natural gas and renewable energy. It’s not lost on the coal-producing towns in the nation that have long relied on the mineral for jobs and economic development. And it’s certainly not lost on Greg Merle, whose company is pitching what he hopes — what he believes — might just be the answer for a declining industry desperate to remain viable. Merle is the president of Riverview...

Enzymatic liquid membrane design and mechanism of carbon dioxide capture and separation. The Sandia/University of New Mexico membrane is fabricated by formation of 8-nanometer diameter mesopores. Using atomic layer deposition and oxygen plasma processing, the silica mesopores are engineered to be hydrophobic except for an 18-nm-deep region at the pore surface which is hydrophilic. Through capillary condensation, carbonic anhydrase enzymes and water spontaneously fill the hydrophilic mesopores to form an array of stabilized enzymes with an effective concentration greater than 10 times of that achievable in solution. These catalyze the capture and dissolution of carbon dioxide at the upstream surface...

Guest post by David Middleton THE 240MWE FACILITY IS THE LARGEST POST-COMBUSTION CARBON CAPTURE PROJECT IN THE WORLD WASHINGTON, D.C. — Secretary of Energy Rick Perry took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony today to mark the opening of Petra Nova, the world’s largest post-combustion carbon capture project, which was completed on-schedule and on-budget. The large-scale demonstration project, located at the W.A. Parish power plant in Thompsons, Texas, is a joint venture between NRG Energy (NRG) and JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration Corporation (JX).“I commend all those who contributed to this major achievement,” said Secretary Perry. “While the Petra Nova...

It’s been a wild month for the U.S. coal In reality, new technologies mean coal power can be made cleaner than ever. By the EPA’s own measure, emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants released by coal plants have fallen by more than half over the last 40 years. There have been tremendous breakthroughs in clean coal technology, which uses carbon capture and storage (CCS) to remove the vast majority of carbon dioxide from coal power emissions. If this technology were given a genuine chance rather than being written off as a myth, clean energy might not have to mean...

What if an attack on coal was like an attack on Mom or apple pie? Now, granted, coal would make a lousy mom or even pie, but coal is what helped make America great. And at least one presidential contender is for Making America Great Again via including an avenue through coal country. West Virginia voters are certainly hopeful. See results of Tuesday’s voting for confirmation. Coal has traditionally been the muscle to hoist America above foreign competitors because of its relative low expense and high energy content. But, typical of the contemporary climate, that which was yesterday’s hero is...

The war has been waged on several fronts for nearly a decade, and the aggressors are poised to declare victory over the wounded U.S. coal industry. After powering the Industrial Revolution and helping to turn the U.S. into the world’s top economic power, coal now seems to be drowning in what environmentalists call a “deadly cocktail” — a rabid, politically potent anti-fossil fuels movement, the rise of cheap, abundant, relatively clean domestic natural gas and an Obama administration that freely admits it wants to decrease coal use in America through a host of new rules. That near-perfect storm is taking...

On the banks of the Illinois River, about 60 miles west of the state capital in Springfield, an old coal-fired power plant sits waiting for its future to arrive. First opened in 1948, it's been dormant since 2011, when its owner, St. Louis-based Ameren, shut down the plant rather than retrofit it to meet federal standards. Last year workers came to give it a makeover. Using almost $1 billion in stimulus money, the project was supposed to become the poster child for clean-coal technology. Rather than spewing into the sky, the carbon dioxide produced as the plant burned coal would...

When the temperature dips below freezing, reliable electricity becomes more than a matter of convenience but a matter of life and death. Unfortunately, the reliability of our electric grid is at-risk due to EPA regulations that are shutting down America’s coal plants.Existing EPA regulations already have led to the scheduled shutdown of nearly 20 percent of the U.S. coal fleet. EPA’s newest carbon regulations being finalized this summer will lead to even more shutdowns. With coal responsible for generating nearly 40 percent of America’s electricity, these shutdowns will further strain our nation’s electricity grid and could leave many Americans in...

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Clean Coal Technologies Inc. is almost ready to resume construction on a test plant in Oklahoma after being delayed by winter weather earlier this year. Winter weather has delayed construction of a clean coal test plant, but officials with the company behind the technology remain confident in its success. Clean Coal Technologies Inc. had hoped to have its pilot plant operational by early this year, but CEO Robin Eves said “one of the worst winters on record” put the project behind schedule. “On many days, the workers simply could not reach the facility,” he said in a webcast last week....

The Texas electric grid operator extended its call for residents and businesses to conserve power until Tuesday morning as a late arctic cold front that barreled as far as South Texas boosted the state's electricity consumption to a monthly record on Monday. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state's primary grid, had issued a public call for conservation on Sunday evening, citing freezing temperatures that would strain available generation capacity. "With the continued cold weather, we expect conditions to remain tight, especially during the early evening tonight and early morning hours tomorrow," said Dan Woodfin, director of system...

A technology for generating electricity from coal without pollution achieves a milestone. Coal is abundant and cheap, but burning it is a dirty business. This week researchers at Ohio State University announced a milestone in the development of a far cleaner way to use the energy in coal—a process called chemical looping that has the potential to reduce or eliminate a wide range of pollutants, including carbon dioxide and smog-forming nitrogen oxides. One version of the technology ran continuously for over a week in a 25-kilowatt test facility, the researchers reported, the longest any such process has run. The successful...

Basin Electric Power Cooperative (Basin Electric), through its for-profit subsidiary, Dakota Gasification Company (Dakota Gas), owns and operates the Great Plains Synfuels Plant (Synfuels Plant). The Synfuels Plant is the only commercial-scale coal gasification plant in the United States that manufactures natural gas. It is also the cleanest energy plant operating in the state of North Dakota, according to a comparison of emissions data available from the North Dakota Department of Health

Two weeks ago, the Obama campaign quietly edited its website to highlight the president’s support for “clean coal.” In place of a section for “energy efficiency” with no mention of coal, BarackObama.com now boasts that the stimulus package “invested substantially in carbon capture and sequestration research.” The administration’s position on coal has, shall we say, evolved. In 2001, the EPA released an endangerment finding stating that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide threaten public health and the environment by contributing to climate change and that therefore they could be regulated under the Clean Air Act. Since then, as Bryan Walsh...

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued a record of decision that will allow federal funding to help build a 400 MW plant that combines an integrated gasification combined-cycle system with urea production and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. The Summit Texas Clean Energy Project will be partially funded with $450 million from DOE’s Clean Coal Power Initiative. The plant, owned by Summit Texas Clean Energy LLC, will produce power by converting subbituminous coal into hydrogen-rich synthesis gas andcarbon dioxide (CO2). The syngas and steam will be fed to the combined-cycle combustion and steam turbine generator to produce 200...