NRG Yield is buying majority stakes in two Colorado wind farms with a combined capacity of 63 MW. The company also announced it is buying a 1.4-MW fuel cell project in Connecticut.
NRG is buying the wind farm interests from Invenergy. Spring Canyon II and Spring Canyon III, consisting of 35 GE turbines, began operations last year and sell their output to Platte River Power through a 25-year power purchase agreement. NRG is buying the University of Bridgeport Fuel Cell project from Fuel Cell Energy.
The two transactions are valued at about $41 million.
More: SeeNews Renewables
Xcel Asks Minnesota PSC to Limit Large-Scale Solar
Xcel Energy has asked the Minnesota Public Service Commission to limit the aggregation of smaller solar “gardens” that qualify as large-scale projects.
The request is in response to the popularity of the state’s Solar Rewards Community program, which already has attracted proposals totaling 431 MW. Minnesota law restricts smaller, community “garden” solar projects to 1 MW, but allows projects to band together to form larger facilities in order to take advantage of location and transmission connections. Xcel cited one proposal for 50 MW of 1 MW gardens in a suburb near Minneapolis.
Among Xcel’s suggestions: limit co-located applications to 1 MW or less; allow co-located applications from single developers as long as they don’t exceed 1 MW; and limit applications from multiple developers at co-located sites to 1 MW. Xcel said community solar projects are expensive and add 1.5 to 1.8% to ratepayer bills.
More: Midwest Energy News
Arkansas Electric Co-op Looking at More Hydro
Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. this month filed preliminary permit applications with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for three new hydroelectric generating stations on the Arkansas River with a total capacity of 123.6 MW.
AECC surrendered previous licenses it held for hydro projects at several locks and dams on the river, saying they were uneconomic to develop at the time. But AECC said it has revived interest in the hydro potential of lock and dam Nos. 3, 5 and 6. The licenses for those facilities, held by another entity, expired at the end of February. An Entergy Arkansas transmission line runs close to the proposed stations.
AECC built three other hydropower plants on the river between the late-1980s and 2000 with a total capacity of 167.4 MW.
More: P-14663-000; P-14664-000; P-14665-000
NRG Plant Likely Customer of Controversial PennEast Pipeline
NRG Energy said it would likely switch its Gilbert Station in New Jersey from burning ultra-low sulfur diesel to natural gas if the controversial PennEast pipeline is built to deliver gas from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale region.
The pipeline is owned by a consortium of companies, including affiliates of four New Jersey utilities serving most of the state’s natural gas customers. Pipeline opponents say that no customers directly on the pipeline route would benefit. The comments from NRG are the first public acknowledgement that a local industrial customer might tap into the PennEast line.
More: NJ.com
FP&L Buying, then Closing Jax Coal Plant to Get CO2 Credits
Florida Power & Light is paying $520 million for a modern 250-MW coal-fired power plant near Jacksonville, Fla., that it plans to shut down within two to three years.
FP&L has been paying $120 million a year to buy power from the Cedar Bay Generating Plant under a long-term power purchase contract. The utility says it will be able to cut $70 million in annual costs and reduce carbon emissions by a million tons per year if it buys the plant and shuts it down.
FP&L, a subsidiary of Juno, Fla.-based NextEra, filed a request for the acquisition and proposed shuttering of the plant with the state Public Service Commission.
More: Jacksonville Business Journal
Madison Gas & Electric Bows to Shareholders to Increase Renewables
Madison Electric & Gas agreed to expand its renewables development in response to pressure from shareholders.
The company agreed to work with the shareholder group and a designated consultant to “study adding substantial and measureable amounts of renewable energy” to its supply mix.
A group of MGE Energy shareholders were pushing a proxy proposal calling for the utility to obtain 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2025. The shareholders agreed to drop their proposal after the company made its commitment.
More: Journal Sentinel
SunEdison Buys into Storage Market, Acquires Solar Grid Storage
SunEdison, a major developer of renewable power projects, announced it has purchased a four-year-old solar generation and storage startup.
With the purchase of Solar Grid Storage, SunEdison is venturing into the energy storage business. Solar Grid Storage specializes in linking solar installations with lithium-ion battery systems. It has completed four such projects and is in the planning stage with three more.
Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.
More: Clean Technica
Exelon Seeks Permits for LNG Facility in Brownsville, Texas
Annova LNG, majority owned by Exelon Generation, filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build a natural gas liquefaction plant and export terminal on 650 acres at the Port of Brownsville, Texas.
For Exelon Generation, best known for operating the nation’s largest nuclear fleet, this will be the first foray into the LNG export business. “The project represents a potential opportunity to diversify Exelon’s role in the energy business in an area that shows strong growth potential: natural gas exports,” Exelon Generation President and CEO Ken Cornew said.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently authorized Annova to export up to 342 billion cubic feet of gas per year to free-trade agreement countries. The company said construction of the $3 billion “mid-scale” terminal would take four years. It will require 26 separate federal, state and local permits and licenses.
More: Exelon; San Antonio Business Journal
Exelon’s Limerick Nuclear Station Gets Additional NRC Inspection
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has ordered an extra inspection at Exelon’s Limerick Generating Station in Pennsylvania after identifying an unspecified security issue during an inspection last June.
Limerick was notified of the inspection as part of its annual assessment. Post-9/11 security procedures prohibit the agency and the company from providing details about security lapses, but a company spokeswoman said the issue has been fixed.
“We promptly corrected a technical security concern identified last year, and at no time was the security of the facility, our workers or local residents compromised,” Dana Melia said.
More: Mainline Media News
Anti-Nuclear Group Calls on NRC to Withhold Watts Bar 2 License
An anti-nuclear group called on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to hold off on licensing the Tennessee Valley Authority’s new Watts Bar 2 nuclear station until the TVA reviews earthquake and flood risks at the plant. Watts Bar 2 is currently scheduled to go into operation by the end of this year.
The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy said the earthquake and tsunami that destroyed the Fukushima plant in Japan in 2011 underscores risks not currently planned for at Watts Bar 2. The reactor will be the first new commercial unit to come online in 20 years.
“It shocks the conscience that the NRC is preparing to issue an operating license for Watts Bar Unit 2 potentially this June without completing its post-Fukushima review of seismic and flooding risk,” an alliance spokeswoman said. TVA said it made several changes to the plant’s original design, which were approved by the NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards.
More: Chattanooga Times Free Press
Westar Files for $125 Million Rate Increase in Kansas
Westar Energy requested a $125 million rate increase to pay for environmental upgrades at its coal-fired power plants and for service life extension work at the Wolf Creek nuclear station near Burlington, Kan.
In a filing with the Kansas Corporation Commission, Westar said nearly half of the increase would pay for coal-plant upgrades to meet federal Clean Air Act standards. One-third would go toward improvements at the Wolf Creek nuclear plant, of which Westar owns 47%. The rate increase would boost a residential customer’s bill about $13 a month.
A state consumer advocate agency indicated it would challenge the request.
More: Wichita Eagle
PPL Issues RFP for 370,000 MWh of Alternative Energy Credits
PPL Electric Utilities is looking to buy more than 370,000 MWh of alternative energy – wind, biomass, solar – in order to meet its Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard requirement in Pennsylvania.
It has hired NERA Economic Consulting to act as RFP manager. The delivery period would start June 1 and run for six years. The bid date for the RFP is April 1.
More: North American Wind Power
FirstEnergy Invests $748M in Infrastructure Projects
FirstEnergy’s three Ohio utilities, which last year spent more than $1 billion on “Energizing the Future” upgrades, want to spend $784 million this year to improve the overall efficiency and reliability of its electric system.
Toledo Edison plans to put $120 million toward upgrading infrastructure. Ohio Edison and The Illuminating Company expect to spend $383 million and $281 million, respectively, for reliability programs. The expenditures include more than $475 million for transmission projects owned by FirstEnergy’s American Transmission Systems Inc.
More: Zacks
Compiled by Ted Caddell