Westar Energy is the target of a potential acquisition by Ameren and a group of investors, Bloomberg reported last week. Ameren is reportedly working with an investor group that includes Borealis Infrastructure Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Bloomberg said, quoting people familiar with the matter.

Westar, Kansas’ largest electric utility, has hired Guggenheim Partners to represent it in talks, Bloomberg said. Initial bids for the utility, which has a market value of about $7 billion, are due this week.

More: Bloomberg

CEO Flexon: AEP Icing Dynegy out of Plant Sales

Dynegy CEO Robert Flexon says that American Electric Power is blocking companies that opposed its controversial power purchase agreement before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio from bidding on power plants that AEP is trying to sell.

Flexon told Columbus Business First that Dynegy can’t get its foot in the door to bid on power plants that AEP is selling because Dynegy opposed AEP’s successful campaign to win regulatory approval for the PPA. “The funny thing there is AEP has specifically excluded anybody that dare speak against them in Ohio,” Flexon said.

PUCO recently allowed AEP’s distribution companies to enter into power purchase agreements with several of the company’s power plants, providing them with guaranteed income supported by ratepayers. AEP meanwhile is trying to sell several other plants not included in the PUCO ruling. AEP spokesperson Melissa McHenry said the company wouldn’t comment on plant sale details.

More: Columbus Business First

Southern Co.’s Kemper CCI Plant Costs Up — Again

The price of Southern Co.’s much-delayed Kemper clean coal power plant rose by $18 million in February, the company reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The increase puts the total cost of the coal gasification plant in eastern Mississippi at $6.6 billion, three times the original estimate. Southern Co. subsidiary Mississippi Power previously said the Kemper plant would be in service by the third quarter of this year.

More: Atlanta Business Chronicle

KCP&L to Purchase Power From 2 Missouri Wind Farms

Kansas City Power and Light announced it will purchase power from a pair of wind farms that are now under construction in northwest Missouri.

Under the 20-year deal, KCP&L will buy from NextEra Energy’s 200-MW Osborn wind farm, scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, and Tradewind Energy’s 300-MW Rock Creek wind farm, which is expected to be in service by September 2017.

Courtney Hughley, a spokesperson for KCP&L, said the goal is to use wind power and energy storage to eventually replace base load generation from coal-fired plants like Iatan in northwest Missouri.

More: KCUR

US Rating Agencies Give LP&L Positive Reviews for Bonds

Lubbock Power & Light said last week it has received high bond ratings from all three major U.S. financial rating agencies, placing the municipal electric utility in a strong financial position as it moves forward with its transition to the regional grid.

If the utility ties into ERCOT, LP&L will issue bonds to pay for transmission lines needed to connect the city to the larger electrical system. The utility said its capital improvement projects will focus over the next three years primarily on getting its internal system ready to make the transition.

LP&L said Standard & Poor’s Rating Services gave it a “AA-” rating, Moody’s Investor Services assigned an “A1” rating and Fitch Ratings gave an “A+” rating.

More: A-J Media

Luminant Completes Acquisition Of 2 NextEra Gas Plants

Luminant completed its purchase of two combined cycle natural gas plants from NextEra Energy after receiving approval from the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

The Dallas-based generation company announced the $1.3 billion deal late last year. The 1,912-MW Forney Power Plant east of Dallas and the 1,076-MW Lamar Power Plant in northeast Texas are both located in ERCOT.

More: Luminant

AES Settles Dominican Coal Ash Birth Defect Suit

AES has settled a case in which it was accused of allowing a generator in Puerto Rico to dump 57,000 tons of coal ash in the Dominican Republic, where it allegedly caused birth defects in three children who were born without limbs.

Their families sued for about $30 million in damages in Delaware, where AES is incorporated. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

AES, which operates in 18 countries, agreed in 2007 to pay $6 million to settle a separate coal ash dumping suit in the Dominican Republic.

More: Bloomberg

SolarCity Hires Ex-FERC Chair as Chief Policy Officer

SolarCity has hired Jon Wellinghoff, former FERC chairman, as the company’s chief policy officer. Wellinghoff will advise the company on state and federal regulatory policy and regulatory affairs.

“I’ve devoted my career to advocating for the electricity consumers,” Wellinghoff said in a company statement. “And from my review there is great benefit to those consumers from distributed solar generation — clearly numerous studies have demonstrated it benefits all ratepayers, even those who don’t install panels on their roof.”

Wellinghoff is replacing John Stanton, who held the position for the past seven years and helped recruit Wellinghoff to the company.

More: Solar Industry Magazine

FirstEnergy Investing $48M In Pa. Substation Upgrades

FirstEnergy said it will spend $48 million to upgrade a substation in Wampum, Pa., as part of a reliability improvement project.

The company will install automated voltage-regulating equipment “designed to respond to real-time electrical conditions, boosting or reducing voltage as needed to maintain consistent levels on the regional transmission network.” The work will also include transformers, capacitor banks, circuit breakers and other equipment.

The new equipment will be installed on a football field-sized parcel next to the existing Hoytdale substation. The work is expected to be done by early June.

More: Crain’s Cleveland Business

Duke Energy Christens 2nd Largest Solar Farm in NC

Duke Energy activated a 65-MW solar farm last week, which it says is just the beginning of an investment of $500 million in solar energy in North Carolina.

The 850,000-panel solar farm in Warsaw, Duplin County, is the second largest in the state and the largest in Duke’s solar fleet, said David Fountain, North Carolina president of Duke Energy.

Fountain said that Duke has several other solar projects in North Carolina that are in the process of being completed.

More: WITN