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The United States Environmental Protection Agency has issued the final version of the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, which will replace the previous administration’s Clean Power Plan (CPP). The ACE rule sets emission guidelines for states when developing plans to cut CO2 emissions at their coal-fired power plants and identifies heat rate improvements as the best system of emission reduction (BSER) for CO2 at coal-fired power plants. States will have three years to submit their emission reduction plans. The EPA expects the ACE rule to cut CO2 emissions by 11 Mt in 2030, without harming coal-fired power plants that are facing the competition of gas and renewables.

The Clean Power Plan aimed to slash power plant CO2 emissions by more than a third from 2005 levels by 2030, which would have forced utilities to drop coal in favour of cleaner fuels like natural gas. The regulation was never enacted because of lawsuits by some states and was stayed by the Supreme Court in 2016.

Iberdrola has signed an agreement with Pavilion Energy for the sale of its long-term LNG supply portfolio, including more than 5 bcm/year of gas supply, sea transport and long-term regasification capacity contracts in the United Kingdom, as well as other gas supply related agreements. This divestment highlights a shift in Iberdrola’s gas supply strategy, that will now focus on short term supply.

The government of South Africa is preparing to announce additional support measures to struggling power utility Eskom. The government had pledged ZAR69bn (US$4.9bn) (ZAR23bn/year (US$1.6bn/year)) bailout over the next 3 years. In April 2019 the government decided to anticipate the bailout packaged promised to be transferred in April 2019 instead of August-October 2019.

The New York State Senate and State Assembly have adopted a climate bill, which mandates cutting CO2 emissions by 85% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels and offsetting the remaining 15%, to make the US state carbon-neutral by 2050.

The government of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro (18 million inhabitants), through the State Energy and Basic Sanitation Regulatory Agency (Agenersa), has approved new rules aimed at increasing competition in the gas market.

The French nuclear regulator Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (ASN) has mandated EDF to repair welds in the main steam transfer pipes of the 1,650 MWe Flamanville-3 EPR reactor before the reactor is commissioned. EDF expects to achieve the repair works by the end of 2022, which means that the reactor would not be commissioned before that date.

China is considering building up to 30 nuclear reactors worldwide over the next decade, as part of its Belt and Road initiative. So far, 41 Belt and Road countries already have nuclear power programmes or are considering developing them: Belt and Road nuclear projects could bring Chinese companies up to CNY 1,000bn (over US$145.5bn) by 2030.

The Indian state of Maharashtra has identified a new site in Raigad, around 100 km south of Mumbai, for a 1.2 mb/d (60 Mt/year) refinery project, that would also include a 18 Mt/year petrochemical complex.