Recurrent Energy won an award from Austin Energy for 150 MW of solar capacity in West Texas. The power will be delivered to Austin Energy pursuant to a 20-year PPA. The 150-MW solar facility will be completed in 2016 and will be Texas’ largest single solar power plant.

Georgia Power plans to build, own and operate three separate solar generation facilities on U.S. Army bases in Georgia. The generation facilities, each capable of producing approximately 30 MW of solar energy, will be located at Fort Stewart near Savannah, Fort Benning near Columbus and Fort Gordon near Augusta. Scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016, the facilities are expected to be the largest solar generation facilities operating on U.S. military bases. 

IBM reached a seven-year agreement with NiSource to continue providing a broad range of IT services, including the creation and management of a hybrid cloud computing environment. Under the agreement, IBM will help NiSource implement a hybrid IT model using SoftLayer, an IBM Company, as well as a private, secure cloud powered by traditional infrastructure.

Suzlon Group (Suzlon) completed the sale of the 240 MW Big Sky Wind Farm in Illinois to EverPower Wind Holdings, which was previously announced on April 9. Suzlon Group had recently acquired the Big Sky wind farm from Edison Mission Energy via their fully owned US-based subsidiary Suzlon Wind Energy Corp (SWECO). Suzlon and EverPower also agreed to a seven year service agreement, keeping SWECO involved in the project at the operations level.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved Williams Partners and its wholly-owned subsidiary Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company’s (Transco) application to construct and operate two related projects designed to increase natural gas delivery capacity to Brooklyn and Queens in time for next winter's heating season. Transco will begin construction in June and plans to bring the projects into service in the fourth quarter of 2014.

ABB introduced a new grid feeding monitoring relay for wind applications, as part of the AWEA Windpower 2014 conference and exhibition. The new low-voltage grid feeding monitoring relay CM-UFD.M33, also known as the Grid Tie Relay, is a component that protects wind turbines from unstable grid activity or faults by disconnecting the electric energy source from the grid. The relay monitors voltage and frequency in single and three phase grids and trips the coupling switch when electrical values are not within set parameters.

Dominion acquired two stand-alone solar energy developments in southwest Tennessee, currently in late stage development by Strata Solar of Chapel Hill, N.C. All power and environmental attributes from both projects will be purchased by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) under their renewable standard offer program. Interconnection to the electric grid will take place through facilities owned and operated by Pickwick Electric Cooperative of Selmer, TN.

Juhl Energy, through its Juhl Renewable Assets (JRAI) division, reached a definitive agreement to acquire two operating wind farms located in North Central Iowa near the towns of Manley and Kensett. The projects utilize GE XLE 1.62 MW wind turbines and total 3.24 MW.

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (JinkoSolar) will supply 35 MW of solar PV modules to Clenera, a clean energy finance and management firm, for the construction of the Avalon Solar Project. According to terms of the agreement, groundbreaking is expected to begin during the second quarter of 2014, with an anticipated completion date during the fourth quarter of 2014. Swinerton Renewable Energy will provide EPC services for the project. The power will be sold to Tucson Electric Power.