NextEra Energy has offered to buy Energy Future Holdings’ Oncor transmissions business, which is slated to be sold to an investment group led by Hunt Consolidated. NextEra made the offer in a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, which is reviewing EFH’s Chapter 11 exit plan.
The sale of Oncor is at the heart of EFH’s $42 billion reorganization strategy, but the company has chosen the Hunt-led group as the buyer.
“NextEra’s alternative transaction is the only proposal that can provide several significant benefits to Oncor, its customers, its creditors and EFH,” NextEra wrote in its bankruptcy court filing.
More: Wall Street Journal; Reuters
Duke Completes Storage System on Site of Retired Coal Plant
Duke Energy, working with two other companies, has installed a 2-MW battery storage system on the grounds of its retired W.C Beckjord coal-fired plant near New Richmond, Ohio. Duke said the Beckjord site allowed the company to take advantage of existing transmission infrastructure that connected the battery system to the grid.
The battery storage system will be used in grid frequency regulation — to either release energy onto the grid instantaneously or absorb excess energy — without the grid operator having to dispatch a generator. The battery system is faster and cheaper than a power plant, which could take 10 minutes or more to ramp up.
Duke worked with LG Chem, which provided the lithium-ion batteries, and Greensmith, which provided the software necessary for the frequency synchronicity. It is Duke’s third battery storage system.
More: Duke Energy; Charlotte Business Journal
Susquehanna Unit 1 Back Online After Nov. 12 SCRAM
Talen Energy’s Susquehanna Unit 1 in Pennsylvania came back online Thursday night after being off for a week following an unscheduled automatic shutdown.
Talen reported that during routine testing of equipment on Nov. 12, one of eight large valves controlling steam from the reactor to the generator closed. The unit automatically shut itself down.
The company said it conducted other maintenance tasks while the unit was down. “We made the choice, while the unit was out of service during a period of mild fall weather and lower wholesale power prices, to advance some maintenance tasks we had planned for the refueling outage next spring,” said Jon Franke, Susquehanna site vice president.
More: Talen Energy
Retired Talen Coal Plant Site Has Potential Buyers
Talen Energy is in talks with potential buyers of a site in Billings, Mont., where the defunct J.E. Corette coal-fired power plant is being dismantled.
The 153-MW plant, which operated for 47 years, was closed in April because it didn’t meet mercury pollution standards.
Talen, which acquired the site during its spinoff this year from PPL, did not identify the prospective buyers.
More: The Billings Gazette
NRG Names Frotte Treasurer as Stock Continues to Plummet
NRG Energy announced a small management shakeup Nov. 19 as its stock value closed below $12/share for the first time in 11 years.
NRG named Gaetan Frotte as senior vice president and treasurer. Frotte, who served as the senior vice president of finance and strategy of NRG Yield, replaces G. Gary Garcia, who left the treasurer position for undisclosed reasons at the end of June. Chad Plotkin, vice president of investor relations, will fill in for Frotte at NRG Yield.
The company is in the midst of cutting costs and shifting away from its renewable-power businesses. Although NRG turned a small profit in the third quarter, the company is struggling with declining revenues from its coal-fired power plants, while its solar business is draining money and still finding its footing.
More: Houston Chronicle
PSE&G Gets OK to Replace 510 Miles of Gas Mains with Plastic
Public Service Electric and Gas has received regulatory approval for a $905 million plan to replace more than 500 miles of cast iron and steel gas mains with plastic mains over the next three years.
PSE&G said it wants to pursue the project while the price of natural gas remains low.
The work, set to begin after the ground thaws early next year, is expected to raise gas rates by about 1.5% annually for four years.
More: Associated Press
Oil Rig Counts Continue to Fall in Conjunction with Prices
The number of working oil rigs fell by 10 this week to 564, down more than 1,000 in a year, according to oil field services company Baker Hughes.
Some of the rigs will go back into operation if the price of oil climbs, but for now, it is becoming common for companies to idle them.
More: Houston Chronicle; Baker Hughes
Eversource Customers in Mass. to See Cut in Electric Rates
The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities approved a 28% rate decrease for some Eversource Energy customers. The residential rate on Jan. 1 will be set at 10.804 cents/kWh, compared to last winter’s price of 15.046 cents/kWh.
The typical monthly residential bill in the Greater Boston and MetroWest areas will be about $101, compared to $122 last winter. Average residential bills in the South Shore, Greater New Bedford and Cape Cod regions will fall from $124 to about $103.
More: WCVB
Equinix Partners with NextEra, Invenergy to Power Data Centers
Equinix, a provider of interconnection and data center services, has signed power purchase agreements with affiliates of NextEra Energy Resources and Invenergy for wind energy in Oklahoma and Texas.
Equinix said the agreements will provide a combined 225 MW of capacity, fully powering all of the company’s data centers in North America by the end of 2016, and nearly doubling its worldwide purchases of renewable energy.
A NextEra affiliate will supply 125 MW of wind capacity that is expected to produce 556 GWh a year from the Rush Springs Renewable Generation Facility in Oklahoma.
More: Equinix
Iberdrola USA Name to Change
Iberdrola USA plans to change its name to Avangrid following its merger with UIL Holdings, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The subsidiary of Spanish energy giant Iberdrola indicated when it announced the merger with UIL that it would take on a new name. UIL owns United Illuminating in Connecticut and three New England gas distribution companies. Iberdrola USA, which has a large wind energy business, also owns Central Maine Power, Maine Natural Gas, New York State Electric and Gas and Rochester Gas and Electric.
Michael West, a spokesman for UIL, said the new name involves only the U.S. holding company. The utilities will continue to operate under their familiar names.
More: New Haven Register
GE Moves Renewable Energy Unit to Paris
General Electric has officially moved its renewable energy headquarters from New York state to Paris following its $10 billion acquisition of the energy business of French conglomerate Alstom SA.
The move was a concession to the French government, and Alstom’s offshore wind business was regarded as the stronger business unit. The new renewable energy business will focus increasingly on offshore wind. GE’s onshore wind unit will remain in Schenectady.
More: Albany Times Union