SunEdison

Digest

Duke installed a 36-MW energy storage facility at the Notrees wind farm; Ameren Illinois plans to deploy a Landis+Gyr mesh network; GE and Toshiba formed a strategic alliance to develop combined-cycle power projects; Alberta Newsprint contracted Caterpillar to supply gensets totaling 65 MW; Duke Energy plans to retire two coal-fired stations; EDF started operations at a 150-MW wind project; Sempra completed the first 150-MW phase of the Mesquite solar complex; Atlantic Wind selected Bechtel to build an offshore HVDC transmission line; Alstom Grid and Capgemini allied to offer smart grid solutions; plus contracts and announcements from Itron, Qualcomm, Echelon, Siemens, Portland General Electric, Pattern Energy, Juhl Energy, Honda, and others.

Turning Energy Inside Out

Amory Lovins on negawatts, renewables, and neoclassical markets.

Fortnightly speaks with Amory Lovins about the evolving role of conservation, competition, and distributed resources in the energy industry.

Transactions (November 2012)

Southern Company and Turner purchase SunEdison 30-MW PV plant; PSEG acquires 15-MW PV project from Juwi Solar; Duke issues $650 million in 30-year notes; PSE&G floats $350 million; Sempra and SoCal Gas each issue $350 million in bonds; plus bond issues from ONEOK, Regency Energy, ComEd, Tampa Electric, DTE, and Tucson Electric, totaling $4.8 billion.

Transactions (September 2012)

Duke and Progress complete their merger; NRG agrees to acquire GenOn; Algonquin acquires National Grid's New Hampshire distribution business, and acquires an interest in Gamesa's Sandy Ridge wind project; plus other equity and debt transactions, totaling more than $34 billion.

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.

Vendor Neutral

(December 2011) Lafayette Utilities System selects Elster’s EnergyAxis as its AMI system; ABB wins contract from Hydro-Quebec; Sapphire Power Holdings acquires gas-fired power generation from Morris Energy Group; Consumers Energy awards contract to Babcock & Wilcox; plus announcements and contracts involving BP Wind Energy, Abengoa Solar, Samsung C&T and others.

Battle Lines:

2011 Groundbreaking Law & Lawyers Survey and Report

With a flurry of major new environmental regulations, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is altering the power generation landscape. But will the new federal rules survive court challenges—to say nothing of next year’s national elections? Fortnightly's Michael T. Burr considers the controversy over new environmental standards. PLUS: Top Utility Lawyers of 2011.

Vendor Neutral

(October 2011) Wind Capital group selects RMT Inc. to design and construct wind energy facility; MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. and SunEdison acquire Fotowatio Renewable Ventures; Solar Community and Reliant Energy team up to offer financing options; KEMA selects Green Energy Corp.’s software; Leviton unveils commercial electric vehicle charging stations; plus announcements and contracts involving Science Applications International Corp., Tantalus, FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. and others.

Vendor Neutral

Former Pres. Bill Clinton and other dignitaries help Duke, Cisco and Charlotte, N.C., launch commercial efficiency initiative; AEP signs 20-year MOU to buy solar output from New Harvest plant; Wartsila expands gas-fired generator in Turkey; U.S. DOE awards geothermal RD&D grants; GE acquires Dresser for $3 billion, and also acquires Calnetix industrial cogen technology; SunEdison sells 70 MW Rovigo PV plant; Ford Motor Co.

Vendor Neutral

Kiewit chooses Alstom equipment for Dominion and Northland Power plants; Abengoa Solar reaches 143 MW with thermal plant startup; S&C Electric to engineer Tessera Solar project; Canada and Hitachi cooperate on carbon sequestration; Black & Veatch to manage PSE&G smart-grid project; AEP selects OPower for customer engagement; SRP picks Elster for AMI rollout; Oncor installs millionth smart meter; plus contract and technology announcements from ABB, Arcadian Networks, Beacon Power, Catalyst Renewables, eMeter, Itron, Open Systems International, Siemens, SunEdison, Tesla Motors and