May 26, 2009

The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) today formally adopted the rules governing interconnection and net metering standards.  It also approved modified uniform forms to be used on an interim basis for Category 1 (20 kilowatts and under) interconnection and net metering standards.

"With net metering rules now formally in place, electric customers across the state can now add small, renewable energy electric generation projects onsite and get credited for the energy they produce in excess of their needs - at the full retail rate," said MPSC Chairman Orjiakor Isiogu.

May 26, 2009

The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) today approved a modified version of Consumers Energy Company's proposed renewable energy plan (REP) and its energy optimization (EO) plan and surcharges, as required by Public Act 295 of 2008.

Under the approved, modified REP, the utility is authorized to implement its REP surcharge beginning Sept. 1.  Residential customers will see a monthly $2.50 REP surcharge.

May 22, 2009

Demand for enriched uranium is escalating. Three facilities in the works will help fill a gap that will hit in 2013, when an agreement with Russia to supply the material for U.S. nuclear power plants expires.

The nation's existing fleet of 104 reactors must find alternative sources of uranium. Recently, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission had 27 applications for new ones. Some of those could come online as early as 2015, and the companies must line up their supplies well in advance, said John Donelson, vice president of marketing and sales for USEC, which is building a massive enrichment plant using new gas-centrifuge technology in Piketon, Ohio.

May 20, 2009

Russia, the biggest country in the World by area and the fourth-biggest by installed electricity generating capacity, is nearing a significant milestone. By next year -- unless the global recession continues to dampen demand -- it should again reach the level of electricity consumption it had in 1990, all of 20 years ago.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the transition from Communism hit the entire Russian economy. In a sense, the subsequent decline in demand was a good thing, because years of inadequate investment had left the Russian power industry with aging and inefficient plants. But as the economy has grown in recent years, and particularly as it surged on the back of skyrocketing prices for oil and gas, the lack of investment in power has become a hindrance. Russia has the world's largest reserves of natural gas and eighth-largest oil reserves.

May 18, 2009

Congress is moving steadily toward carbon constraints. Such emissions are likely to be controlled through a free market system in which carbon credits are traded. In such a world, some utility researchers are saying that a place exists for both new coal generation and older units that can be economically retrofitted to better the environment.

While the older coal-fired plants pale when compared to modern power facilities, the aging plants won't likely be retired anytime soon. Utilities with those plants say that they need the capacity. They also reason that it is cheaper to retrofit them with pollution controls than to replace them altogether -- improvements that can involve either the use of newer supercritical coal units or pending but ultra-clean coal-gasification plants.