[BETA] Fortnightly

ITC Holdings shareholders approved the proposed acquisition of Entergy’s transmission business. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2013, subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions. 

Georgia Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company, chose 3M’s ACCR overhead conductor to double transmission capacity on a set of lines that cross wetlands near Savannah, Ga. The upgrade is on a 16.7-mile line linking the Kraft generating plant in Savannah with the McIntosh plant north of the city.

NB Power awarded a contract to ABB to upgrade to the Eel River high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter station, located near Dalhousie, New Brunswick. The bidirectional station transfers up to 350 MW and is one of two facilities allowing power exchange between New Brunswick and Quebec, providing access to Maritime and New England markets. 

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) conducted test flights in Alabama of prototype unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and payloads of video and other sensing equipment to demonstrate that such “drone” technology could be deployed to assess damage to electric transmission and distribution systems following storms. EPRI tested an Aeryon Scout and the Adaptive Flight Hornet Maxi, two rotary winged devices at altitudes under 100 feet, carrying payloads that weighed less than 55 pounds.

Landsnet, the Icelandic transmission system operator, awarded $10 million order to ABB to supply a high-voltage submarine and underground power-cable system that will transport electricity from the mainland to the volcanic island of Heimaey. The new 72-kV line will replace an existing cable that is approaching the end of its operating life. The 17.5-km line will include a 13-km submarine section, a 4.5-km underground section, and an integrated fiber-optic cable for telecommunications and temperature monitoring.

Cupertino Electric is installing a new 230-kV transmission line to interconnect a new substation serving a 200-MW photovoltaic power plant in Imperial Valley, Calif. When complete in late 2013, the overhead line will span five miles and interconnect a new 230-kV substation on the 2,000-acre solar project site in California’s Imperial Valley.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced the first step in the development of a cybersecurity framework for critical infrastructure protection, a set of voluntary standards and best practices to guide industry in reducing cyber risks. Pres.

MISO’s board of directors approved the applications of four new transmission-owning members: Cleco Power, Lafayette City-Parish Consolidated Government, Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, and Prairie Power. As a fully integrated transmission-owning member of MISO, each will participate in MISO’s competitive energy markets and system planning and operating functions.

PacifiCorp and the California Independent System Operator Corporation (CAISO) entered a memorandum of understanding that commits the two largest grid operators in the western United States to work toward creating a real-time energy imbalance market (EIM) by October 2014. If implemented, PacifiCorp – which controls two balancing authorities primarily covering portions of six states, including part of Northern California – would participate in a co-optimized real-time energy market facilitated by the ISO.

ABB won an order worth around $260 million from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) to upgrade the existing Celilo HVDC (high-voltage direct current) converter station in Oregon. This station is part of the electricity link between the Pacific Northwest and Southern California commissioned in 1970. The Celilo converter station is located at the north end of the Pacific DC Intertie, also known as Path 65, which has a capacity of 3,100 MW, and originates near the Columbia River. The order was booked in the fourth quarter of 2012.