Dynegy subsidiary Illinois Power Holdings agreed to acquire Ameren Energy Resources and its subsidiaries Ameren Energy Generating, AmerenEnergy Resources Generating, and Ameren Energy Marketing. Upon closing, Dynegy will own more than 8,000 MW of generating capacity in Illinois, and nearly 14,000 MW nationally. The AER retail and marketing businesses and the following plants are included in the transaction: Duck Creek, Coffeen, E.D. Edwards, Newton, and Joppa. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Georgia Power completed placing basemat structural concrete for the nuclear island at its Vogtle Unit 3 nuclear project. The utility is building two new reactors at the Plant Vogtle site near Waynesboro, Ga. The full outlines of both nuclear islands have been completed to grade level. The first components for erecting the Unit 3 containment vessel are completed and staged for installation once the basemat concrete has cured, including the Unit 3 containment vessel bottom head.  

NSTAR established a new hotline to provide customers with a source of information about electric vehicles and EV technology.

Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, chose 3M’s ACCR overhead conductor to double transmission capacity on a set of lines that cross wetlands near Savannah, Ga. The upgrade is on a 16.7-mile line linking the Kraft generating plant in Savannah with the McIntosh plant north of the city.

Piedmont Municipal Power Agency (PMPA) selected Tantalus to provide the communications network for its smart grid system. PMPA is a joint agency formed by 10 municipal utilities in northwestern South Carolina.

Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska (MEAN) contracted Open Systems International (OSI) to supply a new SCADA and generation management system (GMS) based on OSI’s monarch (Multi-platform Open Network ARCHitecture) platform.

Abengoa and BrightSource Energy signed an agreement to jointly develop, build, and operate what the companies say will be the world’s two largest solar power towers at a site in California. The companies expect jointly to permit and finance the 500-MW Palen Solar Electric Generating System. Abengoa will build the plants as the engineering, procurement, and construction contractor, and will lead the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the plants once online. BrightSource will provide the solar field technology and plant design.