Minnesota Power completed commissioning the latest phase of its Bison Wind Energy Center. The 205-MW expansion makes it the largest wind farm in North Dakota. All 64 turbines within the 35-square-mile boundaries of Bison 4 are now generating renewable energy, which is delivered to the company's customers via a 465-mile direct current transmission line linking Center, N.D., and Duluth, Minn. In total, the nearly 500 MW produced by Bison's 165 turbines rank it as North Dakota's largest wind farm in terms of electric generating capacity. 

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and DuPont partnered to generate power and steam at TVA's Johnsonville site in Humphreys County, Tenn. The two companies recently agreed on a plan to convert an existing, limited-use combustion turbine at Johnsonville into a highly efficient combined heat and power, or CHP, plant. With TVA retiring the last four coal-fired units at Johnsonville by the end of 2017 under its clean-air agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency, a new steam source had to be found.

Appalachian Power plans to rebuild the existing South Bluefield-Wythe 69-kV transmission line and add additional improvements to strengthen the transmission infrastructure in Southwest Virginia. The approximately 21-mile transmission line will be upgraded from the current 69 kV to 138 kV standards to provide enhanced system reliability, operational flexibility and allow for future economic development in the area. Appalachian proposes to begin work in 2016 and complete it in 2018.

Consumers Energy selected Accenture to deploy new mobile workforce management (MWFM) software from Ventyx, an ABB company, to help field workers improve safety, productivity and customer experience. Accenture will implement the latest release of Service Suite with optimized, automated dispatching, for schedulers, dispatchers, field crews and supervisors. This will replace Consumers Energy's legacy mobile workforce management system.

The California Independent System Operator (ISO), the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California Energy Commission (CEC) unveiled a comprehensive roadmap to assess the current market environment and regulatory policies for connecting new energy storage technology to the state's power grid. Technology to store energy is vital to optimizing the grid, increasing renewable energy sources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

MidAmerican Energy completed work on four of the five wind farms that make up its 1,050-MW Wind VIII project. The three wind farms completed in 2014 - Lundgren in Webster County, Macksburg in Madison County and Wellsburg in Grundy County - account for a total of 511.4 MW of wind generation capacity, to go along with the 44.6 MW of generation capacity at the Vienna II wind farm in Marshall County, which was completed in 2013. The final piece of the Wind VIII project - the 495-MW Highland wind farm in O'Brien County - will be finished by the end of 2015.

SunEdison and Omnigrid Micropower (OMC Power) signed a framework agreement to develop 5,000 rural projects, representing 250 MW of electricity, throughout India over the next three to five years. Building upon the 36-kW micro power plants OMC Power has already put in place across India as part of a sustainable and reliable rural electrification plan, this partnership will bring electricity to 10 million additional people.

RES America Developments entered into a 20-year PPA with Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative (Wolverine) for 114 MW of wind energy and associated renewable energy credits in the Thumb of Michigan. The wind power will be sourced from the Deerfield Wind Energy project, which is located in Huron County, Michigan. RES Americas developed and will construct the project and Wolverine, which is owned by and supplies wholesale electric power to seven members, will be the recipient of the 114 MW of electricity generated by the project.

Dominion closed on the acquisition of the CID Solar Project near Corcoran, Calif., from EDF Renewable Energy. The companies announced the purchase and sale agreement in June 2014. The 20-MW facility completed the conditions of the acquisition and closed on Dec. 11, 2014. It commenced operations on December 22. The project provides power to the San Francisco-based electric utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) under a 20-year PPA. Terms of the CID transaction are not available.

TerraForm acquired 21 U.S. distributed generation solar power plants comprising 26 MW from SunEdison through a series of transactions valued at $47 million. The 21 power plants have long-term contracts with an average remaining life of 20 years. The portfolio has high quality counterparties including municipalities, schools and businesses and is geographically diverse, with plants located in seven US states. TerraForm has funded the purchase of these call right projects with cash on hand.