The owner of the 40-MW White Pine coal-fired power plant in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula blasted MISO after receiving a 90-day notice that the grid operator will terminate its $7.3 million annual system support resource agreement with the 60-year-old plant on Nov. 26.
White Pine Electric Power, a subsidiary of Traxys North America, said the decision jeopardizes reliability until 2020, when 170 MW of new natural gas-fired plants will come online. “This is a short-sighted decision by MISO that they claim is about utility rates,” said White Pine board Chairman Brent Zettl.
The utility claims that the study MISO used to make its decision did not properly evaluate emergency scenarios, arguing that the plant provides a failsafe against unplanned outages.
More: White Pine Electric Power
Duke Adds Former Nuke Exec to Board
William E. Webster Jr., former executive vice president for industry strategy at the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, joined Duke Energy’s board of directors effective Sept. 1.
Webster retired from INPO on June 30, ending a career there that began in 1982. While at INPO, he also served in “on‑loan” leadership positions with FPL Group and Arizona Public Service’s Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station.
He received his senior reactor operator certification at Duke’s Brunswick nuclear plant and has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Villanova University.
More: Duke Energy
Xcel Adds Another Wind Farm to Portfolio
The 200-MW Odell Wind Farm began generating power in southwestern Minnesota last week under a 20-year power purchase agreement with Xcel Energy, its fourth wind facility in the Upper Midwest.
Owned and operated by Canadian company Algonquin Power & Utilities, Odell consists of more than 100 turbines erected in four counties.
Xcel gets 14% of its power from wind sources in the Upper Midwest and predicts the share will rise to 22% in 2020. Xcel’s ultimate goal is 42% from wind.
More: Star Tribune; La Crosse Tribune
Former NYPA CEO Joins NYISO Board
NYISO has named former energy executive Roger B. Kelley to its Board of Directors, effective this month. He replaces Vikki L. Pryor, whose term expired in April.
Kelley has more than 40 years of experience in the electric generation and transmission business. He previously served as CEO of Peregrine Midstream Partners in Houston. He was also CEO of Midland Cogeneration Venture in Midland, Mich.; CEO of Fortistar Renewables, based in White Plains, N.Y.; and CEO of the New York Power Authority.
“Roger has extensive experience in the energy industry, including as president and CEO of the New York Power Authority,” said Michael Bemis, NYISO’s board chair. “We appreciate his willingness to serve as a director. I’m confident we will benefit from his judgment and counsel.”
More: NYISO
Tesla-SolarCity Filing Reveals Cash-Strapped Companies
Prior to agreeing to a merger with Tesla, SolarCity considered selling its Buffalo solar panel manufacturing plant, which is scheduled for completion next June with $750 million in state assistance, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
SolarCity eventually decided a sale of the plant, a centerpiece of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion economic development program, would not provide an adequate return for company shareholders. But the filing reveals how strapped for cash SolarCity is, even as it considered being acquired for $2.4 billion. The company’s operations rely heavily on a business model that allows customers to install rooftop solar with no upfront costs, forcing it to constantly raise money from investors.
The filing also reveals at least three other firms declined to acquire SolarCity before it accepted the offer from Tesla, which is facing a cash crunch itself. The company will have to pay $422 million to bond holders in the third quarter. Tesla’s debt-to-equity ratio was 145.5% as of June 30; SolarCity’s was 375.6%.
More: The Buffalo News; The Wall Street Journal
Developer Wants to Double Up Indiana Plant
Development Partners, which is building a $500 million, 700-MW natural gas plant in northern Indiana, has asked MISO to allow it to double the size and the cost of the plant.
The White Plains, N.Y., company wants permission to add two more turbines to the St. Joseph Energy Center near the Michigan border. The first phase of the project is scheduled to be completed in 2018.
After Development Partners gets interconnection approval from MISO, which it hopes to earn by the end of the year, the developer would work with local officials to approve a site plan.
More: South Bend Tribune
Enbridge Puts Minnesota Pipeline Project on Hold
Enbridge Energy Partners, which recently invested $1.5 billion into a rival oil-pipeline project, has put its proposed Sandpiper Pipeline in Minnesota on hold, saying current demand for crude oil no longer supports the need for the project.
Sandpiper, which was initiated three years ago, aimed to carry up to 225,000 barrels of oil from North Dakota through Minnesota and then on to Superior, Wis. The proposal faced heated opposition from Native American tribes and environmental groups who objected to the proposed path, which would have crossed numerous lakes and rivers.
Enbridge stopped short of saying the project was dead, but it did say the five-year projection of production in North Dakota’s Bakken region doesn’t forecast the need for more pipeline capacity. The decision comes just after its recent $1.5 billion investment in the Bakken pipeline system, which includes the Dakota Access project.
More: MPR News
Oregon Coal Plant to Run Full Biomass Test
Portland General Electric is exploring the possibility of converting its coal-fired Boardman power plant in eastern Oregon to biomass.
The utility plans to run the 550-MW facility on woody biomass for one full day this year as an experiment, following a successful test last year using a 10-to-1 mixture of coal and biomass. The process will entail pulverizing wood debris into the substance before feeding it into the plant’s boiler.
Boardman is slated for closure in 2020, but the use of biomass could extend the life of the plant. Success of the project will hinge on plant conversion costs and securing a steady supply of fuel.
More: East Oregonian
Southern Co., Kinder Morgan Close Deal on Pipeline System
Southern Co. has acquired 50% of Kinder Morgan’s Southern Natural Gas pipeline system, the companies announced. The 7,000-mile system runs from wells in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to markets in the southeast. Terms of the acquisition were not announced. Kinder Morgan will continue to operate the pipeline system.
Southern CEO Thomas A. Fanning hinted at other deals possibly in the works. “With our new ownership stake in Southern Natural Gas, we look forward to working with Kinder Morgan to explore future opportunities to deliver natural gas to customers,” he said.
More: Southern Co. and Kinder Morgan
Talen Notifies NRC it is Canceling Nuclear Plant
Talen Energy withdrew its request for an operating license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the proposed Bell Bend nuclear station in Berwick, Pa., saying that the reactor design company’s decision to suspend its certification process left it no choice.
The Allentown, Pa., company said that it had posted a $122 million loss associated with the project when it released its second-quarter results and that it would stop attempts to get a license for the plant. The reactor design company, Areva, asked NRC in 2015 to stop its design certification process. A Talen spokesman said seeking another design company wasn’t feasible.
Talen said the decision was not related to is pending merger with Riverstone Holdings.
More: The Morning Call
GE Joins MIT Energy Initiative
General Electric is joining an energy research program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that aims to cut carbon emissions.
GE is contributing $7.5 million to the MIT Energy Initiative for research, particularly in solar power, energy storage, advanced power grids and carbon sequestration, company officials said.
“This partnership really is about advancing the state of the art in low-carbon technologies,” said Steve Bolze, chief executive of the $29 billion GE Power division.
More: The Boston Globe
EnerNOC Wins BQDM Contract from Con Ed
EnerNOC has been awarded a multi-million-dollar contract by Consolidated Edison for the Brooklyn-Queens Demand Management program, part of New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision initiative. The program’s aim is to reduce demand in certain areas of New York City, delaying or eliminating the need for a $1.2 billion substation.
The BQDM project has been described as the largest modern “non-wires” alternative program in the U.S. relying on the use of energy efficiency and demand-side management in lieu of traditional generation and distribution infrastructure.
More: EnerNOC
Duke, Solar Devs Reach Interconnection Agreement
Duke Energy and 33 solar developers reached an agreement that will allow many solar generation projects to go forward and interconnect with the utility’s grid.
Earlier this summer, Duke announced that so many solar projects are seeking interconnection with their grid that it might cause problems and was going to require each new project to undergo a technical review. The new agreement allows the projects to connect while preserving Duke’s right to disconnect if problems arise. There are 3,300 MW of solar projects in various stages of planning and construction in North Carolina.
“In some areas of our system, we’re reaching a saturation point with solar, and in some places it is ill-placed,” a Duke spokesman said. The intermittent nature of the generation could cause problems with some of the lower-voltage circuits, the company says.
More: The Charlotte Observer