Dominion acquired the CID Solar Project from EDF Renewable Energy (EDF RE). The asset sale agreement will close upon completion of installation, after which EDF RE will manage the commissioning and place the project in service. CID Solar Project, located on 200 acres of private land in eastern Kings County, California, was developed by EDF RE and is designed as a 27 MWp / 20 MWac ground-mount facility comprised of First Solar Series 3 solar photovoltaic modules with horizontal single-axis trackers.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded The University of Texas at Austin a $12 million grant to fund carbon storage research aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The four-year DOE grant will fund a carbon storage research project at the university’s Center for Frontiers of Subsurface Energy Security. This grant is a renewal of the department’s five-year, $15.5 million research grant to the center in 2009.

First Wind finalized four 20-year PPAs with Rocky Mountain Power, a division of PacifiCorp and part of Berkshire Hathaway Energy. As part of the PPAs, Rocky Mountain Power will buy the output of the planned 320-MW Four Brothers solar development, which includes four, separate fully permitted 80-MW project sites. Rocky Mountain Power’s purchase is made in connection with its obligation under the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, or PURPA, and follows seven similar PURPA agreements for First Wind’s 20-MW Seven S

Southern Research Institute completed a facility to study solar PV systems. The facility, the Southeastern Solar Research Center (SSRC), will house numerous research efforts beginning with an EPRI project focused on solar PV system orientation, tracking and aging.

Itron and Milsoft integrated Itron’s smart grid and AMI software and Milsoft’s outage management system (OMS). This collaboration enhances Itron Total Grid, a combined managed services and smart grid offering, and expands capabilities for the public power sector. The integrated systems enable Milsoft’s OMS to request data from all AMI meters from Itron’s multi-commodity systems. Furthermore, Milsoft OMS, through MultiSpeak, can determine the communication status of Itron’s meters.

Pacific Future Energy plans to build and operate the world's greenest refinery on British Columbia's north coast. The $10 billion refinery is being designed to be built in modules, each processing 200,000 barrels of bitumen per day. The bitumen will be converted into gasoline, diesel, kerosene and other distillates. When all of the project modules are complete, the facility will process up to 1,000,000 barrels per day, starting with the first phase of 200,000 barrels per day. 

Vista Solar completed a 118-kW high efficiency SunPower solar power system for national builder DPR Construction. The system, which was designed, engineered and installed by Vista Solar, is expected to generate at least 158,000 kW hours of energy each year. To generate the maximum amount of power within limited roof space, Vista Solar installed high-efficiency SunPower X21/345 solar panels.

Landis+Gyr signed a definitive agreement to acquire GRIDiant Corporation, a utility analytics company focused on the electric distribution grid. GRIDiant's analytics suite will be integrated into Landis+Gyr's advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), distribution grid management and cloud-based solutions for utility customers. The influx of data from advanced metering, intelligent sensors and other distribution devices can challenge a utility's ability to utilize data for planning and operational performance.

PPL Corporation and Riverstone Holdings LLC announced a definitive agreement to combine their merchant power generation businesses into a new stand-alone, publicly traded independent power producer. The new company, which will own and operate 15,320 MW of generating capacity, will be called Talen Energy Corporation.