Germany’s Siemens and Spain’s Gamesa will merge, creating the world’s biggest wind farm builder. Siemens will pay $1.13 billion for 59% of the company, which would pass Denmark’s Vestas to become the world’s largest wind farm manufacturer by market share.
The merger combines Siemens’ strength in offshore turbines and Gamesa’s specialty in onshore wind. The companies have a combined 69 GW of installed capacity.
“The proposed merger is a sign of the strength of wind energy technology and the demand for wind expansion,” said Jeff Clark, executive director for The Wind Coalition. “These two companies are positioning themselves to participate in a more robust global marketplace where wind is becoming mainstream, and pricing among suppliers is becoming more competitive.”
Energy Transfer Can Back Away from Williams Merger
A Delaware Chancery Court judge has ruled that Energy Transfer Equity can back out of the planned $33 billion merger with Williams Cos. because its experts could not be sure the deal would be tax-free, a condition for closure.
Williams’ attorneys had argued that Energy Transfer was only trying to get out of the deal because of the downturn in the oil industry. But Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock III ruled that he didn’t think the company’s lawyers were trying to pull a fast one when they said they could not determine whether the deal would expose investors to tax liabilities.
“Just as motive alone cannot establish criminal guilt, however, motive to avoid a deal does not demonstrate lack of a contractual right to do so,” Glasscock III said. Williams is expected to appeal the ruling.
More: The New York Times; Bloomberg
Solar Farm Proposed for Shoreham Nuclear Site
National Grid and NextEra are proposing to build New York’s largest solar farm on 350 wooded acres near the decommissioned Shoreham nuclear plant on Long Island.
The proposal was submitted in response to a Long Island Power Authority/ PSEG Long Island request for proposals for clean energy. The 72-MW project is part of the companies’ LI Solar Generation joint venture. If selected, the $100 million project would be operating by 2020.
Local officials and some conservation groups are opposed to locating the project at an undisturbed natural area.
More: CBS New York
Wolverine Commissions Alpine Power Plant
Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative last week fully commissioned the 205-MW Unit 1 at the company’s new Alpine Power Plant, a natural-gas fired peaking facility in northern Michigan.
Along with the plant’s Unit 2, which came online in May, the 410-MW plant can supply power to nearly 120,000 homes.
The plant employs two simple-cycle GE Frame 7F.05 combustion turbine generators.
More: Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative
Bankruptcy Judge Approves Peabody Retention Bonuses
A bankruptcy court judge in St. Louis approved Peabody Energy’s plan to pay retention bonuses to “mission critical” nonexecutives to keep them from jumping ship as the energy giant navigates through Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Judge Barry Schermer ruled in favor of the company’s request to pay as much as $3.4 million to about 40 white-collar employees at its St. Louis headquarters. The United Mine Workers of America objected, saying the company already cut $70 million in retiree health plans in an attempt to stay solvent, and the union sees this as more money leaving its members.
“Slashing the health benefits of aged and medically vulnerable retirees with extremely limited resources, while lavishly rewarding white-collar employees, is neither fair nor reasonable,” the UMWA said in filings.
More: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Exelon to Build 200-MW Wind Farm in Ohio
Exelon announced plans to build a 200-MW wind farm in Ohio, its first in that state. According to filings, it would erect 87 turbines on 25,000 acres in four Seneca County townships, in northern Ohio.
The company has 47 wind farms in 10 states, for a total of 1,491 MW of capacity. While it is the nation’s 12th largest wind producer, wind makes up only 4% of its generation portfolio. Nuclear makes up two-thirds, but those plants have been struggling.
Ohio has only two wind farms operating; many potential wind developers have put their proposed projects on hold, citing concerns about the state’s legislature ending its renewable portfolio standard.
More: Columbus Business First
Probe: No Cover-Up at Energy Northwest Nuke
An investigation commissioned by Energy Northwest’s executive board has cleared company managers of accusations that they attempted to conceal falling performance measures at the Columbia Generating Station, the company’s sole nuclear plant.
While the probe by Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman confirmed that standards at the plant have declined, it found no evidence of a deliberate cover-up by managers.
The investigation was launched after company whistleblowers raised the allegations in regional media.
More: The Seattle Times
Westar Issues $350M In ‘Green Bonds’
Westar Energy last week issued $350 million in “green bonds” to finance renewable energy projects in Kansas.
Most of the funds will go to constructing the Western Plains Wind Farm, a 280-MW facility that the company has said would go online in 2017.
The Climate Bonds Initiative says the green bond market has grown from $2.6 billion in 2012 to $41.8 billion last year. Green bonds are like conventional fixed-income bonds, except they are marketed to investors who want to target projects that promote climate or other environmentally sustainability projects.
More: The Topeka Capital-Journal
AEP Names Kip Fox President of ETT
Kip Fox, American Electric Power’s director of transmission asset strategy and grid development since 2013, was named president of Electric Transmission Texas last week. Fox will report to Wade Smith, AEP’s senior vice president of grid development.
Fox joined AEP in 2008 as senior manager in the RTO regulatory department, where he was responsible for coordinating and consensus building with SPP and ERCOT. Electric Transmission Texas, which is jointly owned by subsidiaries of AEP and Berkshire Hathaway Energy, was formed in 2007 to construct, own and operate transmission facilities as a regulated utility in ERCOT.
Fox replaces Calvin Crowder, who left for GridLiance in May.
More: American Electric Power
Xcel Planning 345-kV Line Across Texas-NM Border
Xcel Energy said last week it is seeking regulatory approval in Texas and New Mexico for a 240-mile, 345-kV transmission line between the states. The company said the $400 million project will meet the region’s significant increase in electricity demand.
The line would connect the TUCO substation in Abernathy, Texas, to the China Draw substation in Eddy County, N.M. Xcel hopes to complete the project by 2020.
David Hudson, president of Xcel subsidiary Southwestern Public Service, said the project “ensures power can move freely into one of the nation’s most prolific oil- and gas-producing regions, which also happens to be rich in agricultural and mining resources and renewable energy prospects as well.”
More: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
SunEdison CEO Resigns; Replaced by Restructuring Expert
Ahmad Chatila, CEO of bankrupt solar energy developer SunEdison, has resigned and will be replaced by John Dubel, who has served as the company’s chief restructuring officer since April 29.
Chatila, 49, notified the company June 16 of his decision to resign after seven years as CEO. He won’t receive any severance, in accordance with his current employment agreement.
Dubel, 57, most recently was CEO of Financial Guaranty Insurance Co., and prior to that he was a partner in hedge fund Gradient Partners. He also heads Dubel & Associates, a restructuring and turnaround services provider he founded in 1999.
More: St. Louis Business Journal
Exelon: Not Enough Funds To Restore Nuke Sites
Exelon says it is hundreds of millions of dollars short of the funds it needs to restore the Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear plant sites after the generators are taken offline in the coming years.
Exelon said in a June 2 Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it might have to put up an additional $790 million for cleanup. Federal rules require nuclear operators to maintain a fund for eventual reclamation. The company announced last month it would shutter Clinton next June and Quad Cities in 2018 after failing to win subsidies from the Illinois General Assembly. (See Exelon to Close Quad Cities, Clinton Nuclear Plants.)
Federal rules also allow operators up to 60 years to clean up nuclear generator sites. Exelon has not said how long it will take to complete the work.
More: Crain’s Chicago Business
Calif. Utilities Lead US in Renewable Sales
Three California utilities top the rankings for renewable power as a share of total sales, according to a report released Tuesday by Ceres, a nonprofit organization that seeks to encourage companies and investors to act on climate change.
The report said Sempra Energy (parent of San Diego Electric & Gas), Pacific Gas and Electric and Edison International (Southern California Edison) topped its ranking of the 30 largest electric utility holding companies, each with renewables representing more than 23% of sales — more than double the median of 10.2%. Consolidated Edison, American Electric Power and Florida Power & Light were at the bottom of the list with less than 1%.