M&A
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. Based on current generating capacity statistics, Talen Energy would be the third-largest investor-owned IPP in the nation. Under the terms of the agreement, at closing, PPL Corporation will spin off PPL Energy Supply, the parent company of PPL Generation, and PPL EnergyPlus, to shareowners of PPL and then immediately combine that business with Riverstone's generation business to form Talen Energy Corporation, an independent publicly traded company expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The transaction is subject to approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and others.
Wisconsin Energy and Integrys Energy Group entered into a definitive agreement under which Wisconsin Energy will acquire Integrys in a transaction valued at $9.1 billion. Upon completion of the transaction, the combined company will be named WEC Energy Group, Inc. The combined entity is projected to have a regulated rate base of $16.8 billion in 2015, serve more than 4.3 million total gas and electric customers across Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota, and operate nearly 71,000 miles of electric distribution lines and more than 44,000 miles of gas transmission and distribution lines. The combination brings together Wisconsin Energy's electric and gas utility (We Energies), plus a number of electric and gas utilities owned by Integrys (Wisconsin Public Service, Peoples Gas, North Shore Gas, Minnesota Energy Resources, and Michigan Gas Utilities).
Terra-Gen Power (Terra-Gen), an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners and Global Infrastructure Partners, signed a purchase and sale agreement with NRG Yield for the sale of its 947-MW Alta Wind I-V, X & XI, and Realty projects (Alta Wind). Terra-Gen expects to close the transaction in the third quarter of 2014, pending customary closing conditions, including the receipt of regulatory approval by FERC and the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. The sale of Alta Wind will divest Terra-Gen of its remaining phases of the Alta Wind Energy Center (AWEC). Terra-Gen originally acquired the AWEC development platform from Allco Finance in June 2008.
Dominion plans to acquire 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. Construction commenced on June 12, 2014 with an anticipated date of operation in the fall 2014. The project's energy will be delivered to Pacific Gas and Electric under a 20-year PPA.
Renewable Energy
First Wind finalized seven 20-year PPAs with Rocky Mountain Power, a division of PacifiCorp. As part of the purchase agreements, Rocky Mountain Power will buy the output of the planned 20-MW Seven Sisters projects under its obligation from the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). The Seven Sisters portfolio includes seven separate solar photovoltaic projects, four of which are to be sited in Beaver County and three to be located in Iron County, Utah. The start of major construction is slated to begin in late 2014 with a target completion date of July 2015.
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. Additionally, Vista Solar installed Solar Edge inverters which pair DC optimizers with each panel to produce as much power as possible, as well as Silverback Solar racking for a custom design solution.
Seattle City Light, the Woodland Park Zoo and the Phinney Neighborhood Association (PNA) installed Washington state's largest community solar project to date. The Community Solar on Phinney Ridge project is designed for a 73 to 74 kW system on the roofs of two buildings at the zoo and PNA's Phinney Center. Anyone with a Seattle City Light account can purchase part of the array's output and the cost of which can be added to a participant's electric bill. Participants receive credit for their units' production on their City Light bills through June 30, 2020, along with all state renewable energy production incentives.
Petra Systems, along with its partner Caspian Renewable Energy, completed the installation of the largest smart solar power plant in the Middle East. The 5-MW project will be owned by Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), a wholly owned subsidiary of National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA) and will deliver in excess of 8,000 MWh of renewable energy. Inaugurated June 25th at the Awali Township, the 5-MW BAPCO project marks the first phase of the 'Let Bahrain Shine' initiative, a consortium led initiative to assist the Kingdom of Bahrain meet up to 10% of its energy demands by 2010 through clean renewable energy.
First Solar received board approval from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government's development finance institution, and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, for financing to support construction of the 141-MW Luz del Norte solar power plant in Chile's Atacama Desert. The loans, which are expected to close late this summer, clear the way for First Solar to proceed with construction planning at the site. Terms of the deals were not disclosed. The OPIC board approved a loan of up to $230 million; the IFC board approved a $60 million loan.
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 80-MW project sites. Rocky Mountain Power's purchase is made in connection with its obligation under the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA), and follows seven similar PURPA agreements for First Wind's 20-MW Seven Sisters projects. Once complete, the combined generating capacity of the four projects will be more than 800,000 MW-hours per year. Construction is slated to begin in 2015 with a target completion date in 2016.
Southern Research Institute completed the Southeastern Solar Research Center (SSRC), a facility to study solar PV systems. The facility will house numerous research efforts beginning with an EPRI project focused on solar PV system orientation, tracking and aging. The SSRC includes multiple configurations of photovoltaic solar panel arrays, microinverters and an advanced energy-monitoring system, including trackers that follow the sun throughout the day, as well as southwest-facing solar PV systems to evaluate the utilization of afternoon sun. The SSRC will be located on the campus of Southern Research Institute in Birmingham, Ala.
T&D
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. Landis+Gyr's advanced analytic offering will help correlate data collected from the smart grid network with other enterprise data to improve efficiency, streamline operations and facilitate a more rapid decision making process.
EVs & Storage
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. The goal of UT Austin's research is to improve geologic CO2 storage, especially from coal and natural gas used to generate electricity. A multidisciplinary team from the Cockrell School, UT Austin's Jackson School of Geosciences and Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, will collaborate on the project.UT Austin's research project will begin this fall.
Abengoa, together with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), has been selected by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a new solar storage technology for thermo-electric plants. The program will last for two years and will require an investment of $1.76 million by the US Department of Energy. Abengoa will be responsible for leading the systems integration work and the technical-financial analysis, focusing on the commercial potential of this technology in future solar plant projects. This project is part of the SunShot Initiative carried out by the US Department of Energy, which seeks to promote innovation in order to make the cost of solar power more competitive.
Generation
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.
Grid
Tollgrade Communications partnered with DTE Energy in a Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) commitment to action for a comprehensive grid modernization project in Detroit that will roll out over the next three years. DTE Energy is deploying Tollgrade's LightHouse MV smart grid sensors and predictive grid analytics platform at key substations and feeders within its distribution network. With this CGI commitment, Tollgrade and DTE Energy are targeting to reduce nearly 500,000 customer outage minutes over the next three years in the DTE Energy service territory where Tollgrade's LightHouse system is deployed.
The Energy Department announced more than $10 million for projects to improve the reliability and resiliency of the U.S. electric grid and facilitate quick and effective response to grid conditions. This investment which includes six projects across five states - California, Hawaii, Missouri, North Carolina and Washington - will help further the deployment of advanced software that works with synchrophasor technology to better detect quickly-changing grid conditions and improve grid reliability. The six awards announced, subject to final negotiation, include: Pacific Gas & Electric ($2.9 million DOE investment; $3.9 million recipient cost-share), Quanta Technology ($998,920 DOE investment; $1 million recipient cost-share), Electric Power Group ($908,613 DOE investment; $931,788 recipient cost-share), Burns& McDonnell Engineering Company ($1.4 DOE investment; $1.5 million recipient cost-share), Hawaiian Electric Company ($500,000 DOE investment; $500,000 recipient cost-share), and Peak Reliability ($3.9 million DOE investment; $4.8 million recipient cost-share).
Microgrid
The government of Equatorial Guinea selected MAECI Solar, a division of Management and Economic Consulting, in collaboration with GE Power & Water and Princeton PowerSystems, to install a 5-MW solar microgrid system on Annobon Province, an island off Equatorial Guinea in west central Africa. The solar microgrid will feature 5-MW solar modules and system integration by MAECI, an energy management system and controls from Princeton Power Systems and energy storage from GE. The island-wide microgrid will provide reliable, predictable power, supply enough electricity to handle 100 percent of the island's current energy demand and be the largest self-sufficient solar project on the continent of Africa.
Smart Grid
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. Itron's systems actively detect outages and restorations as they occur and pushes them immediately to Milsoft's OMS.
Natural Gas
Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) plans to invest in long-term natural gas supplies, which the company believes will save customers money and keep fuel costs lower. FPL is partnering with PetroQuest Energy, to develop up to 38 natural gas production wells in the Woodford Shale region in southeastern Oklahoma. PetroQuest will oversee and operate those wells. FPL will receive a portion of the natural gas produced from each well for its use. As part of its petition, FPL asked the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) to approve guidelines for future natural gas production projects to allow the company to take advantage of future natural gas investment opportunities.
Regulatory
The California Independent System Operator (ISO) and PacifiCorp announced that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted conditional acceptance of tariff amendments to expand the ISO's real-time energy scheduling market across multiple states in the Western Interconnection, for participation on a voluntary basis by balancing areas falling outside the ISO's control. The new market, known as the energy imbalance market (EIM), is expected to increase resource efficiency, reduce costs and more effectively use renewable and conventional resources. Under the EIM, the California ISO will automatically dispatch the best resources to meet immediate changes in energy demands. The scheduled EIM go live is set for October 1, 2014 (see, Docket No. ER14-1386, June 19, 2014, 147 FERC ¶61,231). In addition, Las Vegas-based NV Energy has applied with their state regulator to begin participation in the new market beginning in October 2015, and FERC has accepted an implementation agreement between NV Energy and the ISO (see, Docket No. ER14-11729, June 13, 2014, 147 FERC ¶61,200).