Renewable Energy
Siemens secured an order of 157 wind turbines for three projects in South Africa's Northern Cape from Mainstream Renewable Power. The 2.3-MW Siemens G2 turbines will be installed at the wind power plants Khobab, Loeriesfontein 2 and Noupoort, with a combined generation capacity of 360 MW. The new contract includes a service and maintenance agreement for a period of 10 years. All projects will be equipped with the Siemens SWT-2.3-108 wind turbine with a rotor diameter of 108 meters and towers with a hub height of 99.5 meters. Turbine installation will start in August 2015.
PSE&G recently put two new landfill solar farms in service as part of the utility's Solar 4 All program. The 10.14-MW Parklands Solar Farm in Bordentown, N.J. and the 11.18-MW Kinsley Solar Farm in Deptford, N.J. were brought online in late December 2014 and will supply enough grid-connected solar electricity to power about 3,500 average-size homes annually. These are the two largest centralized solar projects built to date by PSE&G, creating a portfolio of 26 solar farms and 174,000 pole-attached solar units that supply more than 101 MW of electricity.
Enphase Energy announced a strategic partnership agreement with MyLight Systems. Under the terms of the deal, the Enphase Envoy, the intelligent networking hub of the Enphase System, will be integrated into the MyLight monitoring system and will become the exclusive monitoring technology for PV arrays embedded with MyLight's advanced energy management solution. Solar PV arrays equipped with the Enphase system provide reliable solar energy production data that when coupled to the MyLight System enable smart energy monitoring capabilities that optimizes energy consumption. Through the use of a central control unit and smartplugs (energy management adaptors) installed inside a structure, MyLight's patented algorithms analyze a user's electricity consumption patterns and optimizes their energy usage to match their solar energy production profile.
Florida Power & Light (FPL) and Daytona International Speedway (DIS) plan to install commercial-scale distributed solar power at the self-styled "World Center of Racing," complementing the ongoing $400 million DAYTONA Rising redevelopment project. The electricity generated will help power the Speedway's operations and FPL's 4.7 million customers via the grid. The project's total generating capacity is expected to be approximately 1.7 MW, making it one of the largest distributed solar installations in Florida. FPL plans to begin construction on the solar installation by this fall, with the goal of connecting it to the grid by the end of the year.
Ormat Technologies' second phase of its McGinness Hills geothermal power plant located in Lander County, Nevada has begun commercial operation. Since February 1, 2015, the complex has sold electricity under an amended PPA (purchase power agreement) with NV Energy, which extends through December 2032. The second phase broke ground on March 2014, following confirmation of performance of the first phase of McGinness Hills, which had been operational since June 2012. The project received favorable project financing terms under a $140-million load drawn under the Department of Energy's loan guarantee program.
Dominion Virginia Power will develop multiple large-scale solar projects totaling 400 MW of electricity. All projects will be built in Virginia with the involvement of Virginia-based companies and are expected to be operational by 2020. Together, these solar facilities are anticipated to be capable of generating enough electricity at peak capacity to power 100,000 homes.
Southern Power acquired two solar PV projects located in Georgia from Tradewind Energy, totaling 99 MWs: (1) the 80-MW Decatur Parkway Solar Project and (2) the 19-MW Decatur County Solar Project. The electricity and associated renewable energy credits (RECs) generated by the 80-MW facility will be sold under a 25-year PPA with Georgia Power, which will purchase the energy generated from the 19-MW project under a 20-year PPA (with Southern Power retaining the RECS, which it may sell to third parties). Both projects are expected to achieve commercial operation in late 2015.
NRG Renew entered an agreement to help Kaiser Permanente achieve its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Utilizing as much as 70 MW of on-site solar from NRG Renew, Kaiser Permanente would achieve the top ranking of on-site installed solar capacity among U.S. healthcare companies. NRG Renew will implement a single-brand, multi-site distributed solar program at as many as 170 separate sites. Electricity generated by the solar installations will be sold to Kaiser Permanente under a long-term PPA.
M&A
Iberdrola USA entered into a definitive agreement to acquire UIL Holdings (UIL) and create a newly listed publicly traded company in the U.S. The combination would create a larger, more diversified power and utility company, with seven regulated electric and gas utility subsidiaries: Iberdrola USA's New York State Electric & Gas, Rochester Gas & Electric (RG&E) and Central Maine Power (CMP), and UIL's United Illuminating (UI), Southern Connecticut Gas (SCG), Connecticut Natural Gas (CNG) and Berkshire Gas (BGC). The combined entity would have a rate base of approximately $8.3 billion and expects to invest $6.9 billion in regulated electric and gas infrastructure and other capital expenditures over the next five years.
Chesapeake Utilities will acquire Gatherco,a natural gas infrastructure company, pursuant to a merger agreement, dated Jan. 30, 2015. Upon consummation of the transaction, Gatherco will merge into Aspire Energy of Ohio, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chesapeake Utilities. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2015, but as of this writing was still subject to final approval by Gatherco shareholders. The transaction has an aggregate value of approximately $59.2 million.
Canadian Solar entered into a definitive agreement with Sharp Corporation to acquire Recurrent Energy, for approximately $265 million. Once completed, the acquisition of Recurrent will increase Canadian Solar's total solar project pipeline by approximately 4.0 GW - to a total of 8.5 GW - and boost its late-stage project pipeline by approximately 1.0 GW, to 2.4 GW. The transaction was expected to close prior to the end of the first quarter of 2015, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
Bidgley, an energy analytics SaaS provider serving utility customers, and Commonwealth Edison (ComEd), launched a pilot to test Bidgely's new HomeBeat Energy Monitor and Web & Mobile engagement solution with ComEd customers to provide retail electric customers with personalized energy reports detailing how and when they use energy in their home. The project forms part of ComEd's SmartGridExchange, a collaboration between ComEd, entrepreneurs, technology start-ups, universities and customers to explore and design new products and offers that utilize the intelligence of the smart grid and smart meter.
Southern California Edison (SCE) selected Opower for a strategic multi-year partnership. SCE will leverage the Opower platform, Opower 6, to deliver energy management solutions to all customer classes. Opower 6 includes a broad set of upgrades to Opower›s platform that provide analytics to all Opower clients. In addition to this upgrade, Opower recently announced the release of a new Customer Care solution that uses real-time communications and powerful analytics to improve customer satisfaction and lower cost to serve for utilities.
Transmission
Exelon Generation will add 195-MW of electric generation capacity at Exelon's existing Medway (Mass.) generating facility to help meet future energy needs in New England. The units will operate primarily during peak periods and will run primarily natural gas, but with back-up dual-fuel capability to run on ultra-low-sulfur distillate fuel oil. Both generating units will be equipped with the latest emissions control technology and will meet all applicable federal and state environmental regulations. Construction is expected to begin in 2017 and be completed by mid-year 2018.
ABB won an order worth around $35 million from Belgian electricity transmission system operator Elia, to provide gas-insulated switchgear and shunt reactors, thus helping to stabilize and expand the country's power grid to accommodate more wind energy. The shunt reactors increase the energy efficiency of power transmission by improving power quality and reducing transmission costs. The order was booked in the fourth quarter of 2014. As part of the order scope, ABB will design, supply and commission 420-kV gas-insulated switchgear and 130 megavolt-ampere shunt reactors to be installed in three 380-kV substations.
Fossil Generation
Panda Power Funds entered into a joint venture with Sunbury Generation LP to develop, finance, construct and operate a 1,000-MW gas-fired, combined-cycle power project near Shamokin Dam in Snyder County, Pennsylvania. The 30-acre Panda Hummel Station power facility will occupy part of the 192-acre Keystone Opportunity Expansion Zone at the site of the recently retired Sunbury coal-fired power plant. The plant is expected to enter commercial operation in the second half of 2017.
Operating through an affiliate, Starwood Energy Group Global completed a purchase of the Quail Run Energy Center, a combined-cycle gas-fired generating facility in Odessa, Texas. Starwood assumed ownership and began operating the power plant in January. The electric power generating facility began commercial operations in 2007 and claims a nominal capacity of 550 MW. The facility provides electric power to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). The deal marks the ninth since 2006 by which Starwood affiliates have either built or acquired a new gas-fired generating plant.
Veolia and Alstom signed a turnkey contract for construction of a complete flue gas desulfurization (FGD) facility at Veolia's CHP plant (combined heat and Power) in Lodz, Poland, to be completed by early 2017. The FGD facility will employ Alstom's NIDTM semi-dry desulfurization technology. The order comes almost one year after Veolia and Alstom signed a contract for another FGD facility in Poland at Poznan.
EVs & Storage
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) asked state regulators for permission to build an estimated 25,000 EV chargers at sites across its service area in Northern and Central California. If approved, the program would mark the largest deployment of EV charging stations in the country. The chargers would be located at commercial and public locations, including multi-family dwellings, retail centers, and workplaces. PG&E proposes to own all of the infrastructure, but contract with third parties to build, install and maintain the chargers and manage customer billing. The utility expects that the program will take about five years to complete following approval by the California Public Utilities Commission.
Distribution
GE's Digital Energy business will provide Reykjavik Energy, Iceland's largest utility company, with its PowerOn Advantage advanced distribution management system (ADMS). The addition of GE's grid software will enable Reykjavik Energy to reduce operational costs while also improving functional capabilities. Reykjavik Energy's electrical distribution network serves more than half of Iceland's population. By implementing GE's PowerOn Advantage ADMS, Reykjavik Energy expects to be able to access critical grid information on a continuous, real-time basis.
Smart Grid
Lockheed Martin and Dominion Resources have co-developed a new smart grid technology called VirtuGrid to enable remote detection of power outages for faster mapping and response. VirtuGrid enables data, including voltage, power, energy readings, GPS location, phase- and circuit-connectivity, to be sent from the remote location to the substation over the same path as the power. The technology facilitates control and timing of remote communications with multiple types of communication networks using very low bandwidth capacity.