Indianapolis Power & Light’s Harding Street power plant, one of Indiana’s largest, will kick its coal habit completely by spring.

The company announced a $70 million investment to switch the plant to natural gas in 2014, and the conversion is expected to be complete in April, subject to approval by the state’s Utility Regulatory Commission. Coal has been Harding Street’s sole source of energy since the plant began operations in 1931.

IPL anticipates that the move will decrease its reliance on coal from 79% in 2007 to 44% in 2017. The company hasn’t yet said how many jobs might be affected by the change. During 2015, the state lost 500 coal-related jobs.

More: Inside Indiana Business

ATC Plans Tx Line from Wisconsin to Illinois

American Transmission Co. is planning a new transmission line for 2020 to improve the flow of electricity from Wisconsin to Illinois.

The 3- to 5-mile segment targets the same location as a 345-kV line that opened in 2013 between Pleasant Prairie, Wis., and a natural gas-fired power plant in Lake County, Ill.

Since then, “market conditions have continued to change in Wisconsin and Illinois, leading to unanticipated congestion in the Wisconsin-Illinois electrical interface,” an ATC spokesperson said. “This project is needed to resolve that.”

More: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Ameren Official Named to ‘Most Influential Blacks’ List

Ameren Illinois President Richard Mark has been named one of Savoy Magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential Blacks in Corporate America, earning the distinction for the second time.

The magazine selects black leaders “who have made a positive impact in corporate America and have made a difference in the communities where they live and work.”

Mark was named president of Ameren Illinois in June 2012.

“Richard is not only a great leader in our organization, but he is a champion for the customers we serve and a true leader in the community,” Ameren CEO Warner Baxter said.

More: Ameren

Hunt’s Proposed REIT Structure Could Scuttle Oncor Purchase

Two of three commissioners on the Public Utility Commission of Texas indicated last week they would only allow a consortium led by Dallas billionaire Ray Hunt to buy Oncor if some of the tax savings created by the sale are funneled back to consumers.

Commissioners Kenneth Anderson and Brandy Marty Marquez made clear during a March 3 hearing in Austin they will only support what they call a “risky” real estate investment trust (REIT) structure if Oncor’s more than 3 million ratepayers get to share in the tax savings.

That stipulation could be a deal breaker for the Hunt group, which would attempt to transform the Dallas-based transmission company — the state’s largest — into a REIT. The pending sale has attracted attention beyond Dallas because it could set a precedent for other utilities to become such trusts, including CenterPoint Energy, which is considering the same path.

More: Houston Chronicle (subscription required)

Duke Building 6-MW Solar Project on 50 Acres

Duke Energy said it will build a 6-MW solar facility on 50 acres in Rowan County, N.C., the third solar project the company hopes to complete in the state in 2016. If approved by the Utilities Commission, the plant should be online by the end of the year.

Duke is nearing completion of 141 MW of solar projects begun in the state last year and has announced plans to construct an additional 81 MW of solar this year. A 60-MW project is planned for near Monroe and a 15.4-MW facility is to be built in Mocksville.

More: Duke Energy

Long-Awaited EDP Wind Project Gets Timetable

EDP Renewables could add as many as 49 new wind turbines to the southwestern Wisconsin landscape by 2017 with a 98-MW project located in Seymour Township. The company said the project would create 10 to 15 full-time, permanent jobs and support more than 200 temporary construction jobs.

Josh Bohach, project manager for EDP Renewables, said workers will begin construction in 2017 and spend this year finishing surveying and design work. Jack Sauer, chairman of the Lafayette County Board, said the wind project has been under discussion for more than a decade, with grid interconnection alone taking years to hash out.

“It seems like with some of the bigger projects, you get your hopes up and they take a long time to come together or never get here at all,” Sauer said. “I think a lot of people are a little surprised to see it finally coming together now.”

More: Telegraph Herald

OG&E Moves Tx Project Timeline up by 3 Years

Oklahoma Gas and Electric is moving up the timeline for constructing a $190 million transmission line to help connect wind farms in northwestern Oklahoma, company executives said Feb. 26.

The utility will begin building the 126-mile 345-kV Windspeed II line from Woodward near the Texas Panhandle to its Cimarron substation northwest of Oklahoma City early next year. The line is expected to be in service by mid-2018, three years earlier than expected.

OG&E said the line will relieve congestion issues in northwestern Oklahoma, one of the reasons OG&E declined to commit to additional wind generation during a long-running, $1.1 billion environmental compliance and replacement generation case at the Oklahoma Corporation Commission.

More: The Oklahoman

DTE Energy Announces Trio of Leadership Changes

DTE Energy said it will make multiple shifts in its senior executive structure on April 4.

Company President and COO Steve Kurmas will be appointed vice chairman, while Jerry Norcia, currently president and COO of DTE Electric and Gas Storage and Pipelines, will assume Kurmas’ role.

Kurmas’ new position will have him overseeing multiple large-scale projects, despite his plans to retire in 2017, ending a 38-year run with DTE. Norcia has 14 years’ experience at the company and will head electric and gas business operations, major enterprise projects and the customer service division.

Norcia’s position will be filled by Trevor Lauer, currently senior vice president of DTE’s distribution operations. Lauer joined DTE in 2005.

More: DTE Energy

SPS Energizes $39M Project to Meet Texas, NM Demand

Southwestern Public Service last week activated a new $39 million, 38-mile addition to its transmission network in the eastern Texas Panhandle to meet growing demand and increase reliability, one of several SPP-approved projects to improve service in the region.

The improvements could eventually have a financial impact on customers of the Xcel Energy subsidiary, which already has a request for a $71.9 million annual rate increase pending before the Public Utility Commission of Texas. That request doesn’t include the most recent construction.

Since July 2014, SPS has invested about $1 billion on system additions in service by the end of last year, part of an overall $3 billion plan to make improvements in its Texas and New Mexico service areas by 2020.

More: Amarillo Globe-News

NRG Posts $6 Billion Loss, Slashes Dividend

NRG Energy posted a $6.36 billion loss for the last quarter of 2015 and announced it would slash its annual dividend by nearly 80% to 12 cents/share, saving about $145 million a year.

The full-year loss of $6.44 billion translated into $19.46/share. NRG attributed its poor performance in part to the plunge in commodity prices, which weighed on the company’s coal fleet.

The company also announced that it would reintegrate its NRG Renew business back into the flagship operation after creating the renewables arm just last year.

Under longtime CEO David Crane, NRG made strong moves into renewable energy, solar power and vehicle charging units. Crane was ousted in December after results came up short and replaced by COO Mauricio Gutierrez, who last week said NRG will now concentrate on merchant generation and retail energy sales.

More: 24/7 Wall St.; FuelFix Blog

Invenergy Planning Wind Farm near Bloomington, Ill.

Invenergy is approaching landowners as it works on plans to construct a 120-turbine wind farm it seeks to have online by the end of 2017. Business development manager Allyson Sand said the company is looking in four different townships near Bloomington for sites for the facility, expected to be rated at 200 to 250 MW.

Sand would not discuss the costs of the project, but she said Invenergy expects to file for permits and arrange a power purchase agreement by the end of this year.

The region is seeing a spike in wind project planning and development, with a 240-turbine farm being planned for eastern McLean County. A wind farm in neighboring LaSalle County produced $1.79 million in tax revenue for the county last year.

More: The Pantagraph

Fermi 2, Davis-Besse Both Running at Reduced Levels

Separate, coincidental equipment problems left two Ohio nuclear plants operating at reduced levels last week.

The reactor at DTE Energy’s Fermi 2 was powered down to 59% to allow for repairs on a feedwater system valve. FirstEnergy’s Davis-Besse plant was reduced to 85% after mistaken signals were sent to its auxiliary feedwater system. That problem was fixed, but the plant operated at 100% for only two days before coasting down in anticipation of a scheduled refueling outage.

More: The Blade

Coal Company Asks Feds for OK to Seal Mine

St. Louis-based Foresight Energy last week asked the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration to close the company’s central Illinois coal mine, the site of an underground fire burning since mid-2014.

The company hopes the fire in the Deer Run Mine near Hillsboro will be choked off if the mine is allowed to be sealed off temporarily. Foresight has tried to extinguish the fire by sealing off some mine sections and filling them with inert gas and extinguishing chemicals. In December, the company evacuated the longwall mine, then laid off 100 employees. By January, the company had stopped mine production altogether due to low demand for coal and high carbon monoxide levels underground.

The coal producer is also seeking authorization from the Illinois Commerce Commission to expand mining operations into areas unaffected by the fire.

More: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Groundbreaking Held for Navy’s Seabee Base Solar Plant

Mississippi Power held groundbreaking ceremonies March 2 for its proposed Seabee Base solar plant. The company is partnering with Hannah Solar and the U.S. Navy on the 23-acre, 3- to 4-MW solar project at the base in Gulfport, Miss.

The project, consisting of about 13,000 panels, will be able to provide power for approximately 450 homes.

“This is one of three utility-scale solar projects that have been approved by the Mississippi Public Service Commission, making our company the state’s largest partner in renewable energy,” Mississippi Power CEO Anthony Wilson said.

More: Mississippi Power