FERC

NRG Energy and Edison Mission Energy (EME) jointly announced that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has approved the sale of substantially all of EME's assets to NRG. The acquisition of EME's portfolio of renewable and conventional generation assets will create the second-largest US power company. EME will add nearly 8,000 MW of generating capacity to the combined company's diverse portfolio of both conventional and wind generation facilities. The transaction closed on April 1, 2014.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a 10-year pilot license to Public Utility District No. 1 Snohomish County for the proposed Admiralty Inlet Pilot Tidal Project to be located in the Puget Sound. The 600-kW Admiralty Inlet Project is an experimental project designed to determine whether commercial development of the tidal energy resources of Puget Sound is commercially viable. The license authorizes Public Utility District No. 1 to study, monitor, and evaluate the environmental, economic, and cultural effects of hydrokinetic energy.

Dominion received word from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that the agency will issue its environmental assessment for the Dominion Cove Point LNG liquefaction and export project on May 15. The proposed export facility will be within the 131-acre footprint of the LNG import facility. No new pipelines, storage tanks or piers are needed at the facility. The company needs about 50 permits and approvals before construction can begin.

Williams Partners received Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval to expand Transco, the nation’s largest natural gas pipeline system, to provide service to a new, gas-fired, power-generation plant in Virginia. The approximately $300 million Transco Virginia Southside Expansion is designed to provide 270,000 dekatherms per day (dth/d) of incremental transportation capacity in Virginia and North Carolina by September 2015.