The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced the first step in the development of a cybersecurity framework for critical infrastructure protection, a set of voluntary standards and best practices to guide industry in reducing cyber risks. Pres.

MISO’s board of directors approved the applications of four new transmission-owning members: Cleco Power, Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government, Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, and Prairie Power. As a fully integrated transmission-owning member of MISO, each will participate in MISO’s competitive energy markets and system planning and operating functions.

Siemens won a €300-million ($393-million) order to supply a single-shaft power island with H-class technology for the 600-MW Samsun Cengiz Enerji combined-cycle power plant in Turkey. The customer is Cengiz Enerji Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., an independent power producer that will build and operate the plant. Siemens says the plant will generate power with an efficiency of almost 61 percent. Commissioning is scheduled for the start of 2015.

M and B Switchgears Ltd. in Madhya Pradesh, India, awarded a contract to AEG Power Solutions to provide inverters for a 30-MW solar power project. Delivery is expected in the first quarter of 2013. M and B Switchgears Ltd., a major transformer manufacturer, signed an agreement with the government of Madhya Pradesh last October to develop nearly 100 MW of solar power plants throughout the state.

Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, BP Wind Energy and community leaders dedicated the new Auwahi wind facility on Ulupalakua Ranch in Hawaii. The 21-MW Auwahi Wind facility is BP and Sempra’s first alternative energy venture in Hawaii. The project features a 4.4-MWh grid battery system, which at its peak, can sustain 11 MW of capacity for approximately 25 minutes. The battery system helps regulate and sustain power to Maui Electric Co.’s grid during light wind conditions. 

Babcock & Wilcox mPower (B&W mPower) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) signed a contract to prepare and support nuclear regulatory commission (NRC) review of a construction permit application for a B&W mPower small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear plant at TVA’s Clinch River Site in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The DOE awarded a cost-sharing grant to B&W mPower in November 2012. Preliminary work at the Clinch River site is expected to begin once B&W mPower and the DOE sign a cooperative agreement for the grant funds.