Illinois

Stronger Illinois emissions standards and more alternative energy incentives have led Dallas-based Vistra Energy Corp. to announce it will retire four coal-fired generation plants with about 2,000 MW of capacity before the end of the year.

Chicago-based J Power USA, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Electric Power Development Co., Ltd., has begun construction of a 1,200 MW combined-cycle natural-gas fired power plant in Will County, IL, near Chicago, which is the largest residential heating market in the United States and a major natural gas hub.

Incentives for nuclear power plants being advanced in various parts of the country appeared to gain ground Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Electric Power Supply Association’s (EPSA) petition challenging state subsidies for the facilities in New York and Illinois.

The Electric Power Suppliers Association (EPSA), which overwhelmingly represents independent natural gas-fired electricity generators across the country, has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its challenge against subsidies for nuclear power plants in New York and Illinois.

Kinder Morgan Inc. was working with Illinois and federal agencies after a “suspected third-party line strike” caused natural gas to be released on a 20-inch diameter lateral of the Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America (NGPL) system in Lee County, IL.

Two months after regulators in Illinois issued the state’s first permit for high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking), the Kansas-based company that received the permit has returned it, citing “burdensome, time consuming and costly” regulations, but also commodity prices.

Two trade associations have filed a joint amicus brief in a federal appeals court in Chicago, arguing that the Illinois Zero Emissions Credit (ZEC) program unlawfully discriminates against natural gas and undermines competitive wholesale power markets.

Regulators in Illinois have approved the first permit to allow high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) within the Illinois Basin.

Illinois regulators last Wednesday voted unanimously to continue what is turning out to be a multi-year investigation of the multi-billion-dollar, 20-year effort by Peoples Gas utility in Chicago to replace more than 2,000 miles of aging pipelines that have become more albatross than opportunity for Milwaukee-based WEC Energy Group Inc.