Chesapeake Energy, the Oklahoma City-based shale drilling company, laid off about 15% of its workforce last week, saying the cuts were necessary to survive the downturn in natural gas and oil prices.
“The current commodity price environment continues to be a challenge for our industry and for Chesapeake,” Chief Executive Doug Lawler wrote to employees. “While this was extremely difficult, we are acting decisively and prudently to enhance the long-term competitiveness and strength of Chesapeake.”
Chesapeake said it laid off 740 of its 5,000 employees. Chesapeake tried to weather the wholesale price downturn by ramping up production and selling off some properties, but it wasn’t enough.
More: Wall Street Journal; Associated Press
Xcel Shuttering 2 Sherco Units by 2026
Xcel Energy announced Friday that it would retire two units at its largest coal plant by 2026 to meet carbon emissions mandates under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan.
The company’s analysis concluded it could close the units at the Sherburne County Generating Station, or Sherco, in Minnesota without affecting reliability. Xcel said the retirement, along with other planned changes, will cut its carbon emissions by 60% from 2005 levels.
It said it plans a transition period of eight to 10 years before final shutdown and is examining the possibility of using the site for a gas-fired plant or solar generation.
More: Midwest Energy News
FirstEnergy Solutions Dropping PECO Customers in October
The retail electricity arm of FirstEnergy has decided it can no longer afford the good deals it offered PECO Energy customers when the Ohio-based company ventured into the territory three years ago.
FirstEnergy Solutions mailed letters to its PECO customers, saying it was declining to renew the fixed-rate deals. If those customers don’t choose a different competitive supplier, they will revert to PECO by default. The company didn’t say how many customers it was dropping, but a similar contraction in western Pennsylvania earlier this year resulted in a reduction of 36,000 Duquesne Light customers being supplied by competitive energy suppliers.
“We didn’t have all that risk built into the pricing,” said Diane Francis, a company spokeswoman. “We actually had to go out and buy power for those customers.”
More: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Kenergy, Kentucky Municipality Argue over Development’s Energy
Kenergy has filed a lawsuit against Owensboro Municipal Utilities in a dispute over which utility has the rights to supply power to the mammoth Gateway Commons mixed-use development in Kentucky.
Kenergy claims the company is entitled to provide power in the part of Gateway Commons that falls within what the company calls its “exclusive service territory,” and that OMU is attempting to “selectively encroach” on that territory. But OMU claims in court documents the city utility has a “right” to provide power to the entire development because the Gateway Commons property is inside the city limits.
Gateway Commons is planned as a $334 million “lifestyle center” that will include residential, retail and entertainment centers.
More: Messenger-Inquirer
Overhead Line Upgrade Continues in New Orleans
Entergy New Orleans said work will begin this week on the second phase of $30 million in system improvements in New Orleans.
The utility is replacing existing overhead transmission lines with 3M aluminum conductor composite reinforced wire. According to Entergy, the lines will improve reliability and deliver more transmission capacity. The company also said it can complete the upgrade without having to replace steel transmission poles currently in use.
Work on the project, which began in mid-July with phase one, is scheduled to wrap up next March. The work is part of an effort to phase out the Michoud generating facility, which has produced power since the 1960s.
More: New Orleans City Business
Nebraska Utilities Look Out-of-State to Meet Their Energy Needs
A handful of local utilities in the northeast corner of Nebraska have decided to switch from the Nebraska Public Power District to a different supplier, taking advantage of the flexibility offered by the region’s power grid. The utilities say they will save some money under better contract terms.
South Sioux City signed a contract with Lincoln Electric System for electricity starting in 2017. A group of other municipal utilities — Northeast Nebraska Public Power, Wakefield and Wayne — all plan to buy electricity from Big Rivers Electric Cooperative in Kentucky in 2018.
NPPD’s 75 wholesale customers are weighing their options this fall because the state’s largest utility wants its customers to sign new 20-year contracts that start in January, to help it plan for the future. Buying power from elsewhere is possible now after Nebraska joined SPP in 2009.
More: Associated Press
North Dakota Wind Farm Project Underway After 8 Years
Xcel Energy recently broke ground on the $300 million Courtenay Wind Farm in eastern North Dakota, after eight years of planning and development work.
Geronimo Energy began the project in 2007 and turned it over to Xcel in May. The Courtenay project will supply 200 MW of electricity at its planned completion in late 2016.
More: The Jamestown Sun
Kentucky Munis Organize for Lower-Cost Electricity
Ten municipal utilities, including Owensboro Municipal Utilities, met for the first time recently to organize an effort to acquire power at a price lower than most of them now buy from PPL’s Kentucky Utilities.
Nine of the 10 utilities in the Kentucky Municipal Power Agency are now Kentucky Utilities customers. The 10th, Owensboro, has its own generation capacity and stands to be both a supplier and customer of the agency.
The board members addressed several organizational matters Sept. 24, including the election of officers, approval of bylaws, hiring staff and a request for proposals to buy electricity on the open market beginning in 2019 from coal, natural gas and possibly renewable energy suppliers.
More: Messenger-Inquirer
PSE&G’s Kinsley Solar Farm Lauded
Public Service Electric & Gas’ Kinsley Solar Farm was chosen as the New Jersey Association of Energy Engineers’ 2014 renewable energy project of the year.
The 35-acre, 11.18-MW facility, located on the former Kinsley landfill in Deptford, N.J., is part of PSE&G’s plan to build 125 MW of grid-connected solar. With 36,841 solar panels, the Kinsley farm provides enough electricity to power about 2,000 average homes annually.
Including Kinsley, PSE&G has seven solar farms built on landfills or brownfields. An eighth is expected to go into service by the end of 2015.
More: Public Service Enterprise Group
AEP Sells Commercial Barge Subsidiary for $400 Million
American Electric Power will sell AEP River Operations to American Commercial Lines for about $550 million. The commercial barge subsidiary delivers about 45 million tons of products annually, including 10 million tons of coal.
AEP expects to net about $400 million and plans to invest the funds in its regulated business. Meanwhile, it continues to evaluate the future of its competitive generation business.
More: American Electric Power
Columbia’s East Side Expansion Project Comes Online
Columbia Pipeline on Friday announced that the East Side Expansion Project has been put into service by subsidiary Columbia Gas Transmission.
“East Side is an important piece of our project backlog, which is designed to meet the needs of both producers and end-use markets over the next several years,” Columbia Pipeline Group President Glen Kettering said.
The two new pipeline loops create additional capacity for 312 million cubic feet of gas per day. They include 9 miles of line in Chester County, Pa., and another 9 miles in Gloucester County, N.J. The project also includes two new 4,700-horsepower compressors in Pike County, Pa., and two new 10,000-horsepower units in Northampton County, Pa.
More: Columbia Pipeline Group
Calpine Closes on Champion Acquisition
Calpine has closed on its acquisition of Champion Energy Marketing, a retail electric provider based in Houston. Previous reports valued the deal at $240 million.
Champion’s majority shareholder is Houston Astros owner Jim Crane and his Crane Capital Group. EDF Trading, a subsidiary of the France-based electric utility EDF, owned 25%.
“The addition of Champion Energy is an important step in our concerted effort to create more channels for our wholesale power by getting closer to customers,” said Trey Griggs, Calpine’s executive vice president and chief commercial officer.
WEC Selling CNG Business Acquired from Integrys Purchase
WEC Energy Group has decided that operating a chain of compressed natural gas fueling stations doesn’t fit in with its overall business plan and is selling its Trillium CNG business.
Trillium was included in WEC’s $9.1 billion acquisition of Integrys last summer. It operates 66 public stations and 43 private fueling stations. Analysts put Trillium’s value at $140 million.
“It’s not their core business and feel that it would have better attention with someone who understands that business, versus a regulated utility,” company spokeswoman Lisa Prunty said. “Trillium continues to see robust growth in a rapidly developing industry and WEC sees significant value in Trillium. It’s a highly respected brand. However it’s just inconsistent with a utility risk profile.”