Xcel Energy says changing environmental regulations are forcing it to shut down the 232-MW coal-fired units at Black Dog power plant in Burnsville, Minn.

Xcel told MISO last week that the Black Dog plant has been a cost-effective, reliable energy resource for more than 60 years. “But there is a cost associated with the modifications needed to operate these coal units under new federal air emission rules. Retiring the units will benefit our customers by not only avoiding those costs but also reducing emissions.”

A 300-MW natural gas-fired plant at the site will remain in operation. The two coal units will go dark in April.

More: Energy Central

Dynegy Picks Right Time for $5.1B Bond Offering

Dynegy issued $5.1 billion in debt just before bond yields increased to their highest levels in a year, lifting the prices of the underlying notes.

“They priced the deal in the middle of the carnage and prices popped right after the sale,” Andy DeVries, a CreditSights analyst said the day of the offering.

September saw a sell-off of junk-rated bonds – investors pulled $2.3 billion from funds that buy high-yield bonds in the week ending Oct. 1, according to Lipper data. Dynegy offered its bonds in three tranches, or sections: five-, eight- and 10-year notes.

More: Bloomberg

FirstEnergy Disputes Dark View of IEEFA Report

FirstEnergy says a recent report that contends the company is struggling to remain viable is “misleading and biased.”

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis’s report said the company is too dependent upon aging coal generation and is relying upon ratepayer subsidies to “reverse a deepening spiral of debt service and revenue declines.”

But FirstEnergy spokesman Doug Colafella said last week that the company “has taken significant actions —particularly in the past 12 months — to improve our financial position, lower our cost structure and position the company for more stable and predictable growth through our regulated holdings, and overcome the lingering effects of the recession as well as challenging capacity and energy markets.”

“We believe the strategies we have put in place, together with our commitment to operational excellence and financial discipline, will provide long-term value and predictable, sustainable growth to our investors,” Colafella said.

More: Midwest Energy News

PJM to Sierra Club: You Don’t Understand

The chief planning official for the grid operator took issue with an environmental group’s claim that continued operation of a generating plant in New Jersey would be a threat to the system.

At issue is the planned switch from coal to natural gas for the B.L. England plant in South Jersey. New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel, citing a PJM report, told area reporters that continued operation of the plant would be a threat to system reliability.

Just the opposite, PJM’s Steven R. Herling, vice president of planning, told Tittel in a letter.

“Recent media statements attributed to you about reliability and cost impacts associated with the B.L. England generating units remaining in service are based on a misunderstanding of PJM Interconnection’s planning process,” Herling wrote. “Simply put, the continued operation of existing generating units at the B.L. England site, absent the addition of significant amounts of new generation, is not projected to result in reliability problems.

“Our transmission-planning process is very complex, dynamic, and — as a consequence — can be misunderstood,” Herling continued. “I would have been very happy to explain the process and underlying facts to help you avoid confusion and would be willing to clarify PJM’s study results at any time.”

Tittel stands by his group’s claims and said PJM was changing its story at the behest of utilities. “They’re trying to spin it any way they can,” he said.

More: The Philadelphia Inquirer

Dominion’s Surry Plant Shuts Down Due to Malfunctioning Sensor

Dominion Resources’ Surry Unit 2 tripped and shut down unexpectedly last week after a sensor mistakenly detected a problem in the reactor protection system, the company announced. The reactor, in operation since 1973, went offline at about 8 a.m. Oct. 13.

“It did just what it was supposed to do,” Dominion spokeswoman Bonita Harris said. “Nuclear plants are designed to shut down automatically when that happens.”

The plant returned to service two days later. The plant last had an unscheduled shutdown in April 2011 after it was hit by a tornado.

More: The Daily Press

Farley Unit 2 Goes Offline After Lightning Strike

Operators of Southern Co.’s Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant in Alabama shut down Unit 2 after a lightning strike on a transmission line Oct. 14. The plant was already in the process of going offline for a refueling outage.

Each of the two Farley units requires refueling every 18 months, a process that takes about a month. About 900 Southern employees and 800 contractors will be involved in the effort. Farley Unit 1 remains in service, the company said.

More: Power Engineering

Top 25 US Companies Continue to Increase Solar Installation

The top 25 companies in the U.S. for embracing solar power installed 28% more capacity last year as equipment and installation prices continued to drop, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Since 2012, the 25 companies — including Target, General Motors, Kohl’s and Walgreens — have doubled the amount of photovoltaic capacity installed on their facilities, from 279 MW in 2012 to 569 MW as of August, according to the trade group’s annual report.

SEIA spokesman Ken Johnson said the 30% Solar Investment Tax Credit helped maintain an impetus for the industry’s growth.

More: Midwest Energy News