Central Hudson Gas & Electric appointed Michael L. Mosher as CEO, effective April 1. He succeeds James P. Laurito, CEO since 2009, and who has been promoted to executive vice president of parent company Fortis. Laurito will remain on the Central Hudson board.

Central Hudson board Chair Margarita K. Dilley said Mosher has the experience, knowledge and vision to propel the utility to new heights of accomplishment in a rapidly changing industry.

“Mike’s substantial and diverse background in operations and regulatory affairs has prepared him to assume the leadership of Central Hudson at a critical time in its evolution,” Dilley said. “We are confident that he will continue the momentum that our company has achieved during Jim’s outstanding tenure.”

More: Central Hudson Gas & Electric

Wind Farm Developer Facing Bankruptcy

SunEdison, saddled with nearly $10 billion in long-term debt, is at risk of filing for bankruptcy protection, one of its affiliates said.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last Tuesday, TerraForm Global said “liquidity difficulties” mean that “there is a substantial risk that SunEdison will soon seek bankruptcy protection.” The company is also reportedly being investigated by SEC for possibly overstating to investors how much cash it had on hand in November.

More: Portland Press Herald

Peabody, Arch Announce 465 Layoffs at 2 Wyo. Coal Mines

The two largest coal mines in the U.S., both in Wyoming, announced massive layoffs last week. Peabody Energy cut 235 people, or 15% of the workforce, March 31 at North Antelope Rochelle. Arch Coal said the same day it was cutting 15%, or 230 people, at its Black Thunder Mine.

Until now, Wyoming’s coal industry has largely avoided the massive cutbacks seen in Appalachian coal operations. The two mines, which produce about 100 million tons of coal a year, are generally regarded as among the most cost-effective mines in the country.

More: Billings Gazette

PacifiCorp to Close Coal Unit At Wyoming’s Kemmerer Plant

PacifiCorp has abandoned plans to convert a coal unit at its Naughton Plant in southwestern Wyoming to natural gas, saying it will now retire the unit at the end of 2017. The company said the move is a result of declining electricity demand and reflects the costs of installing environmental upgrades to meet federal haze requirements.

PacifiCorp’s initial plan had been to shutter Unit 3 for five months, starting at the end of 2017, and convert it to natural gas. The estimated cost of the conversion was $160 million. Natural gas had been a cheaper option for complying with regional haze requirements than upgrading the unit’s coal burning equipment under the Oregon-based utility’s initial calculations.

More: Casper Star-Tribune

AECC, Ouachita Dedicate 100-Acre Ark. Solar Farm

Aerojet Rocketdyne, Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp. and Ouachita Electric Cooperative Corp. formally commissioned a 100-acre solar project in southern Arkansas last week. The 12-MW array located in an industrial park will supply power to Aerojet’s nearby facility.

The facility was completed in late 2015 and is capable of generating enough electricity to power the equivalent of 2,400 single-family homes. Excess solar energy will be sold in the wholesale power market.

More: Magnolia Reporter

DTE Proposes 10-Acre Solar Farm in Vacant Detroit Parcel

DTE Energy is proposing the development of a 10-acre solar array on a former playground in Detroit, which the utility said “could be one of the largest urban solar arrays in the U.S.”

The project, in Detroit’s Grandale neighborhood on the former O’Shea Park, would produce 2 MW, enough for 330 residential customers.

More: MLive

Consumers Energy: Cheapest Natural Gas in Almost 2 Decades

Consumers Energy has reported that its natural gas commodity price has fallen to its lowest level in 18 years.

Consumers’ natural gas commodity price for April is $2.54 per 1,000 cubic feet, which represents the most inexpensive rate since March 1998. Consumers estimates that the average residential customer paid $250 less this winter on natural gas bills.

“The price for natural gas that we’ll put into effect in April continues a decade of falling costs,” said Tim Sparks, the utility’s vice president of energy supply operations.

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Solar Capacity Awarded to 4 Companies in Tenn. Project

The Tennessee Valley Authority, together with the Tennessee Valley Public Power Association, has awarded 16.7 MW of solar capacity to four local power companies for projects expected to generate enough electricity to supply more than 1,300 homes.

The projects were chosen from 11 proposals that are part of the Distributed Solar Solutions pilot project. TVA has more than 400 MW of solar power under contract.

More: Solar Industry Magazine

Duke Energy Asks to Upgrade Ohio River Hydro Station

Duke Energy is seeking permission to modernize its Markland Hydro Station on the Ohio River near Florence, Ind. The company wants to replace three hydroelectric turbines, generators and related equipment.

If the proposal is approved by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, work on the hydro station could begin this summer and last until mid-2020.

“The generating units at Markland Hydro have served our customers well with clean, renewable energy since 1967,” said Melody Birmingham-Byrd, president of Duke Energy Indiana. “As we move toward increasingly cleaner energy, these modernized generation units will harness more of the renewable resources of the Ohio River for many years to come.”

More: Duke Energy

SandRidge Energy Flirting With Bankruptcy Decision

SandRidge Energy, an Oklahoma City oil and gas exploration company, has informed the Securities and Exchange Commission that it has talked with advisers about the possibility of filing for bankruptcy. Plunging natural gas prices and depressed energy demand have left a number of energy companies with onerous debt burdens.

The company laid off nearly 200 employees, including three executives, earlier this month. It has outstanding loans of nearly $600 million.

More: KOCO

Berkshire Power Pleads Guilty To Emissions Violations

Berkshire Power, the operator of a Western Massachusetts power plant, has agreed to plead guilty and pay $8.5 million for tampering with air pollution monitoring equipment and reporting false data about emissions levels.

Federal prosecutors say that employees at Berkshire Power in Agawam, Mass., manipulated the emissions monitoring system between January 2009 and March 2011 to conceal excess emissions. The actions were violations of the federal Clean Air Act.

The plant’s managers also violated the Federal Power Act for lying to ISO-NE about the plant’s availability to produce power, the first-ever criminal charges under that statute, according to the Justice Department.

More: The Boston Globe