B&W Vølund Awarded Contracts for More Than $200 Million for Biomass Power Plant in Wales

Babcock & Wilcox’s Denmark-based subsidiary, Babcock & Wilcox Vølund A/S, was awarded contracts by Margam Green Energy Ltd. for more than $200 million to engineer, procure and operate a state-of-the-art biomass power plant in Margam, Wales. B&W Vølund's consortium partner, Interserve Construction Ltd., will build the plant. The plant will be designed to burn 335,000 tons of wood waste biomass annually and generate approximately 40 MW of electricity.

FPL Plans to Install More Than 1 Million Solar Panels at Three Solar Power Plants

Florida Power & Light (FPL) plans to build substantially more solar energy capacity as part of its ongoing strategy of advancing clean energy while keeping electricity affordable for customers. Before the end of 2016, FPL intends to build three new solar PV power plants that are being designed to cost-effectively complement other major system improvements, which include the retirement of some of the company's oldest fossil fuel-burning units and the continued investment in clean, fuel-efficient, 24-hour

Siemens Delivers Three F-Class Gas Turbines to Peru

Siemens received an order for three SGT6-5000F gas turbines from Peru. The turbines will be used in the project Nodo Energético del Sur - Planta N° 2 Región Moquegua consisting of three simple cycle power plants. The customer is the power utility EnerSur, the contractor being Técnicas Reunidas and JJC. The commercial operation date is scheduled for March 2017. The three new plants will be installed in Ilo, which is a seaport in the Moquegua region, the southern part of Peru.

sPower Purchases Nearly 162MW Beacon Solar Projects from Hecate Energy

sPower, developed an agreement with Hecate Energy, a leading power developer, to develop and own/operate solar PV projects. The first joint initiative is the sale to sPower of a 162-MW portfolio comprised of three projects named Beacon 1, Beacon 3 and Beacon 4. The utility scale projects, near Mojave, Calif., in Kern County, will be designed and built by Hecate, then jointly owned and operated by sPower and Hecate. Groundbreaking is scheduled for Q3 2015, with COD from March to July 2016.

Alstom's Latest Demand Response Management System to Manage New DR Systems for NV Energy

Alstom recently released its latest demand response management system (DRMS) to NV Energy to provide new, advanced functions for the utility's demand response (DR) programs. The latest version of e-terraDRBizNet provides advanced functions to interface with both proprietary and industry standards-based customer devices; this includes the likes of Cooper Power Systems, Carrier/United Technologies, and Corporate Systems Engineering for existing operational load management systems, and Building

Emera Completes Sale of Interest in Northeast Wind

Emera closed the sale of its 49% interest in Northeast Wind Partners II (Northeast Wind) to First Wind Holdings (First Wind) has closed. The proposed sale was announced in November 2014. Northeast Wind owns and operates 419 MW of wind generating assets located in the northeast United States. First Wind purchased Emera's interest in Northeast Wind for $223.3 million. Emera's carrying value of its 49% interest as of December 31st, 2014, was $204.4 million.

Digest (February 2015)

Europe’s largest battery-storage project was officially opened in England; CODA Energy announced operation of the largest behind the meter lithium-ion energy storage system in the Los Angeles basin; FERC approved construction of Constitution Pipeline’s natural gas pipeline to New York and New England markets; FERC approved a facilities construction agreement for Minnesota Power’s Great Northern Transmission Line; General Electric received an order from the Tennessee Valley Authority for two high-efficiency 7HA.02 gas-fired turbine generators; A Renewable Energy Southern Company subsidiary plans to develop a 131- MW PV solar project in Georgia; GE Global Research and others partnered on a research project to improve reliability and resiliency of electricity delivery in northern New York; Duke Energy Renewables acquired the Halifax Solar Power Project from Geenex and ET Solar Energy;  Dominion Resources agreed to purchase Carolina Gas Transmission from SCANA Corp.; and others...

Early Clean Power Planning

A hedging strategy for sec. 111(d).

While the public comment period on EPA’s Clean Power Plan proposed rule has closed, there are still opportunities to engage in the federal policymaking process before the summer 2015 release of the final rule.

PJM's Three-Way Proposal

A re-defined capacity product, revised parameters for generator performance, and a new role for demand response.

The proposal creates a new capacity product called the “Capacity Performance Resource.”

Playing Safe with Capacity Markets

PJM would minimize risk, but so did regulation.

Changes envisioned by PJM call for ever more structured markets, further reducing the scope of the competitive landscape from which RTOs arose. They may produce a system that is actually more costly and less innovative than regulation.