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.

ClearEdge Power, a manufacturer of scalable, distributed power systems, has closed on its acquisition of UTC Power, the fuel-cell production subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.

Lower Yellowstone Rural Electric Association signed an agreement to deploy Gridstream PLX, Landis+Gyr’s power line carrier system for advanced metering and grid management. L+G says Gridstream PLX provides greater data capacity than legacy PLC systems, for delivering 15-minute interval data continuously from each meter on the network. Sidney, Mt.-based Lower Yellowstone REA is a cooperative serving residents of northeastern Montana and parts of North Dakota. The deployment is scheduled to begin this spring.

Southern California Edison (SCE) and GE are collaborating to put the smart grid to work by upgrading and modernizing the utility’s infrastructure. The project will include electric-distribution infrastructure, substations, residential homes, cyber security systems, battery energy storage, and EV charging stations at the University of California-Irvine, and other products that affect the reliability of a modernized grid. Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the demonstration project will launch on June 30, 2013.

Wood Group GTS upgraded the controls system on a GE LM6000 gas turbine at Jonesboro, (Ark.) City Water and Light’s (CWL) northwest combustion turbine site. Wood Group GTS has replaced the original controls with an open-architecture system that will enable CWL to access and configure the turbine to meet fluctuating power demands.

SunWize Technologies is working with members of a North American consortium that includes Solexica Energy, JCM Capital, and Radical Energy, to develop two major PV projects in the Republic of Ecuador. The projects, known as Condor Solar and Solarconnection, comprise solar arrays totaling 30 MW (AC) and 20 MW (AC) of capacity respectively. The facilities will feature approximately 234,000 solar panels, multiple inverters, and a substation to distribute energy in northern Ecuador.

FairPoint Energy purchased residential and small commercial customer accounts from PNE Energy Supply, an electricity provider for customers in New Hampshire, and will soon begin serving the acquired customer accounts. FairPoint Energy serves customers in Maine and New Hampshire.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) unanimously approved a decision ordering Southern California Edison (SCE) to procure between 1,400 and 1,800 MW of energy capacity in the Los Angeles basin to meet long-term local requirements by 2021. Of this amount, at least 50 MW is required by the CPUC to be procured by SCE from energy storage resources, as well as up to an additional total of 600 MW of capacity required to be procured from preferred resources – including energy storage. “Preferred resources” also include energy efficiency, demand respon