Refinery Files for Permit to Build $100 million Hydrogen Plant PBF Energy, owners of the state’s only refinery, is seeking permission to build a $100 million hydrogen plant as part of a plan to begin refining ultra-low sulfur fuel at the Delaware City facility. PBF applied to the Department of Natural...

Legislators May Be Waiting for Quinn to Leave Before Bill is Sent Quinn Commonwealth Edison and Ameren stand to win an important victory in their attempts to get continued authorization to charge customers for smart grid improvements. The state legislature easily passed a bill in December allowing the utilities to...

By Ted Caddell (Click to zoom) A North Carolina environmental group last week asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to force Duke Energy and other utilities in the Southeast to form a regional transmission organization to share power reserves, rather than keep building new generating plants and boosting prices to...

By Michael Brooks Brunswick Nuclear Plant (Source: Duke) The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week approved Duke Energy Progress’ $1.2 billion purchase of 700 MW of generation from the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency. The deal will give Duke NCEMPA’s share of the Brunswick and Shearon Harris nuclear plants...

Low Oil Prices not Expected to Slow Fracking Next Year Despite a drop in oil prices brought on in part by increased U.S. production, oil and gas exploration is still expected to begin in southern Illinois, according to industry officials. “We are going to continue with our evaluation in Illinois...

State Reviewing Company’s Plan to Use Corn-Based Ethanol at New Plant State environmental officials have agreed to a special review of a company’s plan to make ethylene oxide at a proposed riverfront plant south of Wilmington rather than import the hazardous chemical on rail cars from Gulf Coast refineries. Croda, a...

By Ted Caddell Duke Energy this month filed a plan with North Carolina environmental agencies to remove millions of tons of coal ash from four sites in the state, the beginning of a multi-year $3.4 billion remediation effort. Duke, which reported operating revenue of $26.4 billion last year, has not...

Judge Rules Energy Future Can Auction its Oncor Holdings A state bankruptcy court judge has ruled that Energy Future Holdings can begin accepting bids for its majority stake in Texas transmission company Oncor. Energy Future, which has declared bankruptcy, is selling off its 80% share in Oncor, which has 120,000 miles...

By Michael Brooks The joint operating agreement between PJM and Duke Energy Progress should be revised to reflect the 2012 merger between Duke Energy and Progress Energy and eliminate Progress’ favored treatment on interchange pricing, according to the RTO’s Independent Market Monitor. The Monitor filed a protest Oct. 24 urging...