SunEdison will pay $300 million for 33% of Dominion Resources’ solar assets, which are rated at 425 MW.
The deal, announced last week, gives SunEdison the option of acquiring the rest of Dominion’s solar portfolio, which includes 24 projects in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Tennessee and Utah. Fifteen of the facilities went into service in 2013 or 2014. The rest are scheduled to go into service this year. All have long-term power purchase agreements in place. The agreement needs the approval of FERC.
Dominion CEO Thomas Farrell II said the company is not getting out of the solar business, but is “shifting from constructing contracted solar to constructing utility solar in Virginia, where we expect 400 MW of generating capacity by 2020.”
More: MarketWatch; NASDAQ
Energy Storage Market Showing Signs of Record Quarters
The price for energy storage is coming down, with the median price for utility-scale battery systems in the $900/kWh range in the first and second quarters.
GTM Research reported that the low price declined from $800/kWh in the first quarter to $750/kWh in the second. The decline was partly attributed to improvements in energy-storage technology, as well as competitive pressure from Tesla, which announced it aimed to turn out batteries for about $250/kWh.
Meanwhile, battery deployment continues to rise, with 40.7 MW of capacity installed in the second quarter, six times the amount reported in the previous quarter and nine times more than the previous year.
More: GTM Research
Solar Capacity Hits Record of Almost 1,400 MW Installed
The second quarter of 2015 saw solar power capacity installation of 1,393 MW, pushing the market total to about 20 GW. Most of the new capacity was from utility installations.
Residential solar, too, set a record, with 473 MW being installed in the same quarter, a 70% increase over the same period the year before, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association quarterly market report.
SEIA President Rhone Resch urged government to maintain the momentum by renewing the investment tax credit set to expire next year. “The demand for solar energy is now higher than ever and this report spells out how crucial it is for America to maintain smart, effective, forward-looking public policies, like the ITC, beyond 2016,” he said.
More: The Hill
Duke Energy Adds 30 MW of Solar to Fleet, 132 MW more Coming
Duke Energy Renewables reported that it has completed construction of four solar farms in North Carolina, adding 30 MW of capacity to its solar stable. All four facilities are in Eastern North Carolina, and all are under contract to provide their output to Dominion NC Power.
Duke said it has three more facilities — totaling 132 MW — under construction, including one that will produce 80 MW, which it billed as the largest solar project east of the Mississippi.
Duke Energy Renewables already has 105 MW of solar generation in North Carolina.
More: Charlotte Observer
GE Gets European Regulators’ OK for Alstom Acquisition
European regulators approved General Electric’s $13.5 billion acquisition of the power generation portion of French company Alstom. Regulators said GE had addressed all antitrust concerns. GE wants to use Alstom’s power generation and power grid equipment business to boost its presence in those industries.
GE CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt said the acquisition would bring the company back into the industrial equipment business and away from its previous foray into financing, which is seen as riskier. As a condition of the regulatory approval, GE has agreed to divest some of the Alstom power generation business to Italian company Ansaldo Energia.
More: The New York Times
Golden Spread’s ‘Beast,’ Gas CTs Supplies SPP, ERCOT Grids
Golden Spread Electric Cooperative last week unveiled the first of three 191-MW natural gas turbines it is constructing at its Antelope Elk Energy Center north of Lubbock, Texas. The site is strategically located at the intersection of two major power grids.
The project incorporates General Electric’s latest 7FA.05 combustion turbines, which can reach 70% capacity within 10 minutes, making them ideal to use in conjunction with the region’s intermittent wind and solar production. Golden Spread is also installing grid-switching equipment that will allow the units to supply power to either SPP or ERCOT, the two electric grids in which Golden Spread serves its 16 distribution cooperative members.
ERCOT CEO Trip Doggett and SPP president and CEO Nick Brown were among those attending the power plant’s debut. Brown applauded Golden Spread for having the vision to construct the Antelope Elk Energy Center at a crossroads between two major power grids, and to embrace a strategy to integrate quick-fire generation technology with renewable energy sources.
More: Plainview Herald
Ameren Targets Investments in Illinois over Missouri
After several failed attempts to change Missouri’s utility laws, St. Louis-based Ameren is shifting capital away from Missouri and into federally regulated transmission lines and its electric and natural gas holdings in neighboring Illinois. It says it plans to invest far less into its larger Missouri utility’s infrastructure over the next five years.
Ameren says Missouri’s regulations governing monopoly utilities make the state less attractive for investment. It said Illinois changed its electric utility laws in 2011 to give utilities more certainty during rate cases in the hopes of spurring more investment in electric infrastructure.
Illinois’ framework is similar to the ratemaking process at FERC, which governs transmission lines. Along with a more favorable ratemaking process for utilities, FERC lets them earn a higher return on investment than allowed by state regulators in order to encourage a build out of the electric grid.
More: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Exelon Names Linda P. Jojo to New Seat on Board of Directors
Exelon notified the Securities and Exchange Commission that it increased the number of board seats to 14 and that it named airline executive Linda P. Jojo to the new seat effective Sept. 1.
Jojo is chief information officer and executive vice president of United Continental Holdings. She previously held similar positions with United Airlines, Rogers Communications and Energy Future Holdings.
Exelon said she will serve until the 2016 annual meeting. She will serve on the board’s finance and risk committee.
Duke Energy Settles with Feds on 15-Year-Old Clean Air Violations
Duke Energy will pay a penalty of nearly a million dollars and invest $4.4 in environmental mitigation projects to settle charges that it violated clean-air laws 15 years ago by modifying coal-fired generating stations without emissions control equipment.
The proposed settlement was reached with the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice. The company has already shut down 11 of the 13 units at the North Carolina coal plants that were cited for violations. The shutdowns become permanent as part of the settlement. Duke must continue to operate emissions control systems and meet emissions limits at the two remaining units at its Allen power plant in Belmont. The settlement calls for the company to retire those units by the end of 2024.
“After many years, we’ve secured a strong resolution, one that will help reduce asthma attacks and other serious illnesses for the people of North Carolina,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant EPA administrator for enforcement.
More: Associated Press; EPA
Westar Wants to Build ‘Subscription-Based’ Solar
Westar is planning to build a community solar garden of up to 10 MW and is seeking help in getting it built.
The Kanas utility issued a request for proposals from qualified solar developers. It hasn’t decided yet whether it will be a ground-based or elevated solar facility. It wants the facility to be completed by the end of 2016.
Developers have to file a notice of intent with Westar by Sept. 25 and submit their final proposal by Oct. 19.
More: Topeka Capital-Journal
SolarCity Signs Hawaiian Utility for Solar, Energy Storage Project
A Hawaiian utility has signed a power purchase agreement with SolarCity to buy stored solar-generated power during the evening, when demand is higher. SolarCity said it is able to generate electricity during the day, store it, and release it during the night.
The 52-MW battery system is joined with a 13-MW solar facility. The Kauai Island Utility Cooperate said the arrangement will make it less reliant on diesel generation, saving money and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
KIUC already operates two 12-MW solar farms.
More: Pacific Business News
New SPP Connections Lead Xcel Energy to Offer Refunds to Texas Customers
Xcel Energy is refunding $18.6 million to Texas retail customers in the Panhandle and South Plains, thanks to lower fuel and purchased-power costs that were made possible by new transmission line connections with SPP.
David Hudson, president of Xcel Energy’s Southwestern Public Service, said new transmission lines connecting Xcel with SPP have expanded the purchase of competitively priced power. Xcel’s ability to import from SPP increased from a little more than 400 MW two years ago to as much as 1,700 MW today. In addition, natural gas prices remained very low through the first part of this year.
Texas residential customers using 1,000 kWh/month will see a one-time credit of $34.42, prorated over two billing cycles.
More: Xcel Energy
Manitoba Hydro Names CFO Interim Chief Executive Officer
Darren Rainke, Manitoba Hydro’s chief financial officer, has been named interim chief executive officer of the public power company. He will take the place of Scott Thompson, who announced he was stepping down in June to take a position in the private sector.
Rainke will continue to be CFO while the company looks for a permanent chief executive.
More: CBC News
Pipeline Company Moves Ahead Without Regulatory Approval
Although it still needs regulatory approval from four states, Energy Transfer Partners is moving ahead with construction preparations for its Dakota Access Pipeline. The Texas company is stockpiling the pipe it will need for the $3.8 billion, 1,130-mile crude oil pipeline. The project is designed to move crude from North Dakota to a terminal in Illinois, from where it will be sent to markets in the East and Southeast.
But it is a gamble. The pipeline still needs approval from North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. “What the company does is at their own risk,” said North Dakota Public Service Commission Chairwoman Julie Fedorchak.
Energy Transfer Partners has pipeline and other materials stockpiled at storage yards in North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois and Iowa.
More: Quad City Times