Calpine Corp. is selling six power plants in the Southeast and Midwest to LS Power for $1.57 billion in cash as part of a plan to focus on its electricity sales businesses in the Mid-Atlantic, Texas and California. The plants — representing a combined 3,498 MW — are in Alabama, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina.

Calpine spokesman Brett Kerr said the company planned to sell the six power plants for some time. It wanted to sell additional plants in Alabama, Arkansas and Florida but wasn’t able to get the price it needed for those assets. The LS Power deal is expected to close in the second quarter, and Calpine said it plans to use proceeds to pay down debt, buy back shares and possibly buy new generation.

The company operates 77 natural gas-fired power plants across the U.S., including 24 in California, 20 in Mid-Atlantic states and 14 in Texas. Calpine also has geothermal power plants in California.

More: The Wall Street Journal

PSEG’s Izzo Frustrated Over Opposition to “Energy Strong”

A frustrated Public Service Enterprise Group chief executive Ralph Izzo last week renewed his call for the state to approve a multibillion-dollar infrastructure-hardening project the company proposed shortly after Hurricane Sandy. In comments following PSEG’s annual shareholder meeting in Newark, Izzo questioned how the project’s opponents could maintain what he believes are two competing objections: that it costs too much and that it won’t help enough customers.

“The only way to reconcile those two is by saying, OK, we’re not proposing to spend the money in an optimal way,” Izzo said in an interview. “In which case, I say, we’re an open book. Tell us a better way to do it. And the reality is, there isn’t a better way to do it.”

Izzo said part of the planned 10-year, $3.9 billion “Energy Strong” project calls for strengthening facilities that were damaged by Sandy and Tropical Storm Irene. Newark-based Public Service Electric & Gas — PSEG’s largest subsidiary — filed Energy Strong with the state Board of Public Utilities in February 2013, four months after Sandy. While the utility maintains the project would improve reliability and help prevent the kind of massive power outages Irene and Sandy caused, opponents have pushed back against its price tag. The state Division of Rate Counsel, AARP New Jersey and a coalition of large energy users have also questioned the project’s stated effectiveness and the utility’s insistence on receiving approval for the money before starting construction.

More: NJ.Com

As Stock Slides, Exelon’s Crane Gets 70% Raise in 2013

Even as the company’s stock slid nearly 8% last year, Exelon Corp. CEO Christopher Crane was rewarded with a 70% raise, making more than $17 million in 2013. Crane’s total compensation in cash, stock and benefits topped out at $17.2 million, up from $10.2 million the year before. Crane’s compensation moved to a new performance-pay system that ties rewards over a three-year period rather than year-by-year. The company also eliminated stock options and moved its stock-based compensation to restricted shares and performance shares.

Exelon said it raised Crane’s pay to make it comparable to the median for peer CEOs. Before 2013, his pay was targeted at 20% less than the median. Exelon has suffered from falling wholesale power prices as its nuclear plants have grown less profitable. Increases at its regulated utilities — particularly ComEd, which is collecting annual delivery rate hikes per a state law authorizing $2.6 billion in local grid upgrades — have partially offset the declines at the power plants. But the 8% stock slide last year followed a 31% drop in 2012.

More: Crain’s

Duke Shareholders Urged To Oust Board Members Over Ash

Two of Duke Energy’s major institutional investors are urging fellow shareholders to vote out four directors at the May 1 shareholders meeting over the company’s ongoing coal ash problems. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the New York City Pension Funds wrote shareholders last week, asking that they not reelect four board members responsible for environmental safety and health compliance.

The letter cites the Feb. 2 ash spill into the Dan River, saying Duke had “forewarning of the public risk” from environmental groups that had intended to sue Duke over ash contamination. None of the committee members named — Alex Bernhardt, James Hyler, James Rhodes and Carlos Saladrigas — has coal industry or other relevant experience, CalPERS and New York City comptroller Scott Stringer wrote. “In light of the serious failures of oversight, scale of impact on the company’s risk profile and the poor response to shareowner enquiry thus far, we urge our fellow investors to hold the relevant board members accountable.”

Duke said last week it has spent $15 million so far cleaning up the spill but said the costs would not be “material” to the company. Duke CEO Lynn Good has said Duke will pay for cleaning up the 70-mile trail of ash in the Dan River, but that it will ask the North Carolina regulators to approve ratepayer funding of costs associated with closing 33 ash basins at Duke sites across the state.

Duke had no immediate comment on the stakeholders’ action. CalPERS owned $140 million in Duke stock in 2013. The New York City funds have $62 billion in U.S. stocks, although it’s unclear how much of that is Duke stock.

More: Charlotte Observer; News & Observer

PPL Generation, Trading Sale Rumors Fuel Stock Rise

PPL Corp. stock is trading near the top of its 52-week range amid continued speculation that the company may spin off its generation and energy marketing business. PPL shares closed Friday at $33.14, close to its 52-week high of $33.55. The rise came after the International Strategy and Investment Group raised its target price for PPL, citing the strength of its regulated utilities and the potential benefit if it spun off its generation. The report also cited the potential upside for PPL if it merged its power plants with another company’s.

A trade publication earlier this year published a report saying PPL hired Morgan Stanley and Citibank to conduct an internal review of PPL Energy Supply, the business arm that includes PPL’s generation and energy trading and marketing businesses. That report pointed at Dynegy as a possible buyer. PPL declined comment on any sale or spinoff rumors.

More: The Morning Call

Dominion Plans Quake Study For North Anna Plant

Dominion Virginia Power will conduct an earthquake risk assessment for its North Anna nuclear generating station but doesn’t expect the study to point to any significant modifications. The plant’s two 980-MW reactors were knocked offline by a 5.8-magnitude earthquake that shook central Virginia in August 2011. Although the temblor caused no significant damage, the station remained out of service for three months while the company and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission conducted a thorough safety check.

“These plants have so much design margin on the seismic side, I have no concerns about this whatsoever,” said David A. Heacock, president and chief nuclear officer of the parent company’s Dominion Nuclear operating group, said last week. “We verified our plant can withstand a stronger earthquake” than it was designed for.

In 2012, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Electric Power Research Institute and the NRC updated the seismic model for the central and eastern U.S., reflecting a greater seismic hazard at some nuclear plants than previously thought. Forty-seven plants will have to conduct additional studies to determine whether their designs protect them from earthquake hazards. Once the assessments are complete, the NRC will decide if plants require upgrades.

More: Richmond Times-Dispatch