More than 60% of Exelon shareholders voted against the company’s 2015 executive compensation plan, a nonbinding vote that the proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services said reflected discontent with the easy terms of CEO Chris Crane’s $16 million compensation package.
“Exelon’s stock performance lagged [behind] many of its peers over the last three- to five-year periods,” ISS said in a report released before the vote. “However, nearly every component of CEO pay increased during FY2015, and incentive awards, both long and short, were earned at above-target levels and based on nearly flat or lowered performance goals.”
Exelon said it was taking the vote into advisement. “Our shareholders have spoken on executive compensation and although it was an advisory vote, we take the vote and shareholder feedback very seriously and are currently re-evaluating our executive compensation programs to address this feedback.”
More: Crain’s Chicago Business
PPL Cuts Default Price For Pa. Electric Customers
PPL Utilities said it is cutting its default price for residential customers who don’t shop for electricity from 7.878 cents/kWh to 7.393 cents, and from 7.731 cents/kWh to 6.593 cents for small commercial customers. The new prices for “default service” take effect in June.
The company sets the “price to compare” twice a year, in December and June. This supply charge is based on what it costs PPL to obtain the power, so it is a direct pass-through with no profit to the utility.
More: The Morning Call
Xcel Moves Wis. Solar Projects Ahead Despite Slow Sales
Xcel Energy will proceed with the construction of two community solar farms in La Crosse and Eau Claire counties in Wisconsin even though the company has only sold 12% of the available 2 MW.
The company’s report to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission shows four commercial customers have reserved 140 kW and 42 residential customers reserved 99 kW. Xcel, however, estimates it will sell at least 95% of the power from both projects by the end of the year, when they are expected to begin producing electricity.
“While we have not received a large number of nonresidential subscriptions yet to date, many of our nonresidential customers are in the process of running large subscription recommendations through their internal decision-making processes,” Xcel wrote in the PSC report.
More: The Chippewa Herald
DTE’s Fermi 2 Nuclear Plant Closes for Repairs
DTE Energy’s Fermi 2 nuclear power plant has been shut down to repair a component in the electrical distribution system, according to spokesman Stephen Tait.
DTE’s monitoring program, Tait said, indicated the reactor in southeastern Michigan needed the repair. Other maintenance work will take place during the shutdown.
No date was given on when the plant would resume service.
More: The Monroe News
Cracked Bolts Lead to Prolonged Salem Outage
The discovery of cracks to a number of bolts inside the core of the Salem 1 nuclear reactor on Artificial Island have delayed the unit’s coming back online, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and PSEG Nuclear.
A routine inspection found cracks on 18 of the reactor’s 832 baffle bolts during a refueling outage. The company is extending the outage to conduct further inspections.
NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said some of the bolt heads had broken off, but he and PSEG officials said there was no danger. A recent inspection at Entergy’s Indian Point nuclear station in New York found 227 of its 832 bolts needing replacement.
More: NJ.com
Eversource Energy Names New CFO
Eversource Energy last week announced that Phil Lembo will succeed Jim Judge as the company’s CFO. The announcement came the same day Judge took over as CEO for the retiring Tom May.
Lembo had been vice president and treasurer for Eversource since the 2012 merger between Northeast Utilities and NSTAR. Before that, he served as vice president and treasurer for NSTAR since 2009. He has been with the company for 33 years.
More: Eversource
More Solar Power to Go Online for Duke Energy
The sixth 5-MW solar project that Duke Energy Renewables purchased from Community Energy is set go live this month in North Carolina.
The generation is being sold to Dominion NC Power under a 15-year agreement. Duke has installed about 450 MW of solar in North Carolina.
More: power-technology.com
Exxon Partnering with Fuel Cell Co. to Capture Carbon
ExxonMobil has agreed to invest an unspecified amount into Connecticut-based FuelCell Energy to develop a process that could dramatically cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants while improving electrical output.
The initial phase of the deal will finance one to two years of research. A second phase would test the technology in “a small-scale pilot project.”
FuelCell and ExxonMobil have been cooperating on research since 2014. The goal of the project is to eventually create large-scale systems that can capture CO2 from the steam turbines used in coal- and natural gas-powered electric generating plants and convert it to additional electricity in fuel cells.
More: Hartford Courant