FPA § 203(a)(1)(B): A Deal is a Deal, No Matter How Small?
With apologies to Dr. Seuss.
There are questions whether FERC and industry resources are being expended on matters once considered, and arguably should continue to be considered, de minimis.
ITC Great Plains
Digest (February 2015)
Europe’s largest battery-storage project was officially opened in England; CODA Energy announced operation of the largest behind the meter lithium-ion energy storage system in the Los Angeles basin; FERC approved construction of Constitution Pipeline’s natural gas pipeline to New York and New England markets; FERC approved a facilities construction agreement for Minnesota Power’s Great Northern Transmission Line; General Electric received an order from the Tennessee Valley Authority for two high-efficiency 7HA.02 gas-fired turbine generators; A Renewable Energy Southern Company subsidiary plans to develop a 131- MW PV solar project in Georgia; GE Global Research and others partnered on a research project to improve reliability and resiliency of electricity delivery in northern New York; Duke Energy Renewables acquired the Halifax Solar Power Project from Geenex and ET Solar Energy; Dominion Resources agreed to purchase Carolina Gas Transmission from SCANA Corp.; and others...
ITC Great Plains Energizes V-Plan Transmission Line and Project Substations in Western Kansas
Submitted by aburr on Wed, 2014-12-31 11:57ITC Great Plains, in conjunction with Sunflower Electric Power and Mid-Kansas Electric, placed the V-Plan high-voltage electric transmission line and the Clark County, Ironwood and Spearville substations into service in western Kansas.
Vendor Neutral
Panda Energy awards turnkey $300 million turnkey contract to Siemens and Bechtel; Dominion starts up 585-MW CFB plant; Ocean Power Technologies and Lockheed Martin partner on wave power project; Infigen awards wind turbine service contract to Mitsubishi; ITC commissions 345-kV line in Oklahoma; ABB tests world’s biggest DC transformer; Xcel gets green light for Tres Amigas-area transmission upgrades; plus contracts and announcements from Elster, Sensus, Enertech, and others.
Cap-Ex Conundrum
Does slow and steady still win the race?
When a capital-intensive industry enters an asset-building cycle, many companies will operate in the red for a few years or more. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as cap-ex investments represent growth for shareholders. The devil is in the details, however, and companies facing a large slug of environmental compliance investments might produce disappointing returns over the next few years.
Titans of Transmission
ITC and AEP jockey for the lead in building the grid of tomorrow.
On February 9, a group of the nation’s major grid system operators released a study estimating the nation’s electric industry sector needs to spend some $80 billion—more than 10 times the size of that portion of the Obama stimulus package directed specifically at transmission construction—in order to achieve a 20 percent retail penetration for renewable wind energy in just the Eastern Interconnection.