Duquesne Light signed a contract with Itron for the deployment of Itron’s smart metering solution across the utility’s entire service territory. The contract signing follows approval from Duquesne Light’s board of directors and Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PAPUC). Itron will replace the utility’s existing 625,000 electricity meters, implement back-office data collection software, supply critical network communications infrastructure, and provide comprehensive professional services.

As part of its efforts to develop a voluntary framework to improve cybersecurity in the nation's critical infrastructure, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) posted a draft outline of the document to invite public review and gather comments. The executive order calling for NIST to develop the framework directs the agency to collaborate with the public and private sectors.

ComEd selected GE to deliver approximately four million smart meters from 2013 to 2021 in a deal worth more than $200 million.

REC announced three new utility scale installations in North Carolina. The projects, developed, engineered and constructed by Strata Solar are Rock Farm, 6.65-MW, Mt. Olive Farm, 6.65-MW, and AM Best Farm, 6.4-MW. Collectively these farms are powered by 81,000 high-performing REC 250 Peak Energy solar panels and generate 31,320 MWh’s of solar energy annually. These ground-mounted installations each cover an approximate area of 16 hectares and were commissioned in the first half of 2013.  

ClearSign Combustion executed a letter of intent to enter into a multi-phase commercial development agreement with a waste and energy services company. Phase one of the anticipated three-phase agreement began in July with testing in ClearSign's Seattle combustion test facility. Subsequent phases would include full-scale testing and evaluation at a larger US-based facility. Additional contract details will be disclosed upon execution of the definitive agreement. 

Alstom was awarded a contract worth more than $90 million CA for Hydro-Québec’s La Romaine 3 power house, one of four new power houses that make up the 1,550-MW La Romaine hydroelectric complex, located on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. The scope of the contract includes the supply of two 200-MW vertical Francis turbine-generator units complete with butterfly valves and regulation systems. Alstom will install and commission the equipment at the La Romaine 3 site. This contract was booked during first quarter of fiscal year 2013/2014.

TRC Companies acquired Georgia-based Utility Support Systems (USS), a professional engineering company primarily supporting the power/utility market. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. USS reported net revenues of $11.5 million in 2012. TRC expects the transaction to be earnings accretive in fiscal 2014.

Southern California Edison (SCE) served a formal notice of dispute on Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Mitsubishi Nuclear Energy Systems (together, Mitsubishi) which seeks to hold Mitsubishi accountable for designing and manufacturing defective replacement steam generators (RSGs) at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). Although Mitsubishi warranted the generators would operate reliably for 20 years, SCE was required to take SONGS offline in January 2012 when one of the Mitsubishi RSGs experienced a radioactive coolant leak after less than a year of operation.

Alstom won a long-term service contract to update GDF SUEZ Energy North America’s power plant fleet.