Floods closed segments of the Illinois and Mississippi rivers to navigation in the St. Louis area and forced Ameren to use ferries to gets its workers to a stranded power station.
The flooding also caused Enbridge and Spectra Energy to shut down oil pipelines until the waters recede.
Workers at Ameren’s Sioux Energy Center north of St. Louis were being ferried to the isolated coal-fired plant, which remained in operation.
More: Bloomberg News
New Wind Farm Gives Westar 280 MW of Renewable Energy
Westar Energy is working with Infinity Wind Power to construct a 280-MW wind farm in western Kansas. The Western Plains Wind Farm will bring Westar’s renewable energy total to more than 1,500 MW.
Westar says it is finalizing a separate agreement for another 200 MW of wind energy, with an option to own 50% of that power.
The utility company anticipates both wind farms to be operational in early 2017. The projects will supply enough electricity to power 400,000 homes.
More: Wichita Business Journal
PNM Brings Solar Facility Online South of Albuquerque
Public Service Company of New Mexico’s fourth solar energy center is its largest yet, with more than 40,000 photovoltaic panels that will generate enough energy a year for more than 4,000 residential customers.
The Rio Communities Solar Energy went online Dec. 31 south of Albuquerque. PNM invested about $20 million in the project, which was built on 103 acres of land.
More: Valencia County News-Bulletin
ComEd Planning Tx Line Along O’Hare Expressway
Commonwealth Edison is holding open houses throughout January in various suburban Chicago towns to present its plans for a 9-mile transmission line along the Illinois Route 390. The 138-kV line, which will run through DuPage and Cook counties, will be supported by towers ranging from 140 feet to 170 feet tall.
The company said the line is necessary to improve service to Chicago’s western suburbs. It will need approval from the Illinois Commerce Commission. The company wants to complete the project by the summer of 2018.
More: DuPage Policy Journal
PSE&G’s Mount Holly Solar Facility Starts Operation
Public Service Electric and Gas put the finishing touches on its largest solar facility in New Jersey, and the 12.9-MW solar farm is now generating electricity for the grid. The solar farm, consisting of 42,000 panels, is on the former L&D Landfill near Mount Holly.
It is the fourth solar facility the utility has built on New Jersey landfills. It has a 3-MW facility in Kearney, a 10-MW solar farm in Bordentown and an 11-MW facility in Deptford. The L&D landfill was a former Superfund site. PSE&G used 53 acres of the site for this facility and may expand it later.
More: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Dominion Proposes $85 Million to Offset James River Tx Line Impacts
Dominion Virginia Power has proposed spending $85 million to offset environmental and visual impacts of its proposed 500-kV transmission line across the James River near its Surry Power Station. The company said the line, supported by 17 towers up to 295 feet high, is necessary to protect reliability in the region.
Opponents said the project would be an eyesore and harm sensitive environmental areas. National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis urged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to deny a construction permit, saying the power line would “mar the historic setting” of the nearby Yorktown battlefield, part of Colonial National Historical Park.
The company’s proposals include spending $15.5 million in water quality improvements, about $12 million in landscape conservation near the Yorktown site and $4 million to protect a marsh at Hog Island Wildlife Management Area.
More: The Virginia Gazette
Murray Energy Eyeing Cutting Nearly 600 Mining Jobs
The downturn in coal demand is prompting Murray Energy to cut nearly 600 mining jobs, according to the United Mine Workers of America. While a Murray spokesman declined to confirm the number, he said there were changes coming and described upcoming “workforce adjustments.”
CEO Robert Murray has been among the most vocal critics of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which would accelerate the retirement of coal-fired generation throughout the country.
The decline in coal-fired generation is causing a decline in coal demand, pressuring the Appalachian mining industry, which already is suffering from competition from cheaper coal from Illinois and Wyoming.
More: Associated Press
Dominion Sheds Solar to SunEdison for $180 Million
Dominion Resources completed the first phase of a two-part deal to reduce its solar investments by 425 MW when it sold 33% of its interest in 15 projects to SunEdison for $180 million.
SunEdison turned around and sold the newly acquired portfolio to Terra Nova Renewable Partners, a joint venture SunEdison formed with JPMorgan Chase investors.
The second phase of Dominion’s solar sale will come early this year, when it is expected to sell 33% of its stake in nine more projects, representing 172 MW of capacity. Dominion says it will use the cash from the sales to reduce debt.
More: Richmond Times-Dispatch
Two-Thirds of Duke’s Ash Ponds Rated Medium or High Risk
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality ranked 20 of Duke Energy’s 32 coal ash storage ponds in the state as high risk or intermediate risk. A department draft report placed fewer of the ash repositories in the high-risk category than an earlier report.
The DEQ will release its final report within 30 days. Any ponds in the high- to intermediate-risk categories must be excavated instead of merely drained and capped, driving up remediation costs. The company has estimated the cost of closing all 32 ponds at $3.4 billion. Those costs will be passed on to customers through rate increases.
More: Charlotte Observer
Talen Energy Execs’ ‘Golden Parachutes’ Sign of a Possible Merger?
Documents filed by Talen Energy with the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing possible severance pay and other benefits could be a sign that Talen might be the target of a merger or subject of an acquisition attempt, according to The Morning Call.
The newspaper reported that Talen filed so-called “change-in-control” agreements with the SEC. Such agreements are often approved by a company’s board to retain key executives when the company is the target of a takeover. Talen spokesman Todd Martin said the filings were routine. “Agreements and provisions similar to those disclosed are not unusual for a public company, and the filing itself is a standard regulatory requirement.”
Talen CFO Jeremy R. McGuire, COO Clarence J. Hopf Jr. and Chief Nuclear Officer Timothy S. Rausch were named in the documents. In addition to severance pay based on their salaries — each makes at least $400,000 annually — they would receive stock options, restricted stock units and performance bonuses. The value of the extras ranges from $840,000 to $1.1 million.
More: The Morning Call