Finance News

NET Power secured funding and agreements for its $140 million, 50-MW demonstration power plant, that produces no greenhouse gas emissions and includes full carbon capture without requiring carbon capture equipment. The project is funded by a combination of cash and in-kind contributions from Exelon and CB&I. Toshiba has begun manufacturing a CO2 turbine for the project. Operations, maintenance and development arrangements have been completed with Exelon.

Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) and partners Marubeni and Toyota Tsusho closed financing with GE Energy Financial Services and 14 other lenders for the $775 million CPV St. Charles Energy Center under construction in Charles County, Maryland. Financial details were not disclosed. Located 25 miles southeast of Washington, DC, the CPV St. Charles Energy Center is a 725- MW combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plant using two GE 7F.05 gas turbines and a GE D400 steam turbine.

Exelon agreed to buy fuel-cell power plants with 21 MW of capacity that Bloom Energy plans to install at 75 corporate sites in four states. Commercial customers including AT&T will purchase the electricity for each plant’s ability to provide power locally with less pollution and more reliability than the grid. Fuel cell generators produce electricity where it’s consumed from natural gas through a chemical reaction that produces fewer carbon emissions than plants that burn fuel.

Juhl Wind and 8030 Companies formed a joint venture to acquire existing wind farms and additional generating assets in the United States and Canada. Operating under the Juhl Wind name, the partnership expects to buy 260 MW of older wind farms over three years. The company might purchase projectstotaling 60 MW of capacity in 2013 and 100 MW in two subsequent years.