Electric Light & Power articles from August 2000

Electric Light & Power archives from August 2000

Mother nature K-Os San Diego market, price cap fervor stings like a bee.(Industry Overview)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2000... It seems Mother Nature is a fierce political machine. In the past few months, her heat-induced, statewide energy emergencies have given way to votes and re-votes by a California ISO trying to juggle reliability and prices. It seems that...

Court burns states on [NO.sub.x] emissions appeal.(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2000... It's the premise sequels are based on. In movie lingo: the return of the SIP Call. On June 22nd, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals effectively squelched the request by a number of Midwest utilities for a bit more breathing room along the...

Vive la revolution!(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Viewing your business within a global context, in most cases, is not a daily exercise. Sure, AES Corp., touting its presence in 20 countries, may be a notable exception; and many U.S. utilities hold interests in overseas businesses--a trend...

Panda and El Paso to pool pipelines.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2000... Panda Energy International Inc. and El Paso Energy Corp. will work together to meet the fuel transportation needs of a new 2,720 MW generating facility being built by Panda in El Dorado, Ark. (When completed, the plant will have a nominal usage...

Johnstown America delivers.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Alliant Energy has received delivery of 390 BethGon aluminum coal cars from Johnstown America Corp. They will be used to haul coal from the Powder River Basin to Alliant Energy and its subsidiaries.

Calpine launches flagship.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2000... Calpine Corp. has acquired the development rights to build, own and operate a 540 MW natural gas-fired electricity generating facility to be located near Fremont, Ohio. Representing a $340 million investment, commercial operation will begin as...

RedMeteor.com snags TCT Energy.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... RedMeteor.com, a global Internet-based, open commodities exchange for oil, refined products, natural gas, natural gas liquids and electricity, has acquired TCT Energy Inc., an international energy brokerage firm, to contribute to RedMeteor's...

NewEnergy makes pact with Maine PowerOptions.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... NewEnergy has signed a contract with Maine PowerOptions, a non-profit energy purchasing consortium created and sponsored by the Maine health and higher education facilities authority and the Maine municipal bond bank. The energy contract...

Columbia Energy Group to shed retail.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Columbia Energy Group has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its retail energy mass marketing operations to the New Power Co., which was launched publicly in May as a national residential and small business energy provider serving...

FERC Order 2000 shakes up utility transmission business.(Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)(regional transmission organizations )(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... The U.S. electric industry is birthing the independent transmission business. Before too long the new business segment may grow to encompass electric transmission lines, natural gas and oil pipelines--along with at least a portion of the web of...

NSTAR requests help from FERC.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... NSTAR, the parent company of Boston Edison, Commonwealth Electric, Cambridge Electric and Commonwealth Gas, has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to impose temporary price controls--especially during periods of high...

Suits filed against AEP.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... The law firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP filed a class action lawsuit in late June on behalf of all purchasers of common stock of American Electric Power (AEP) who acquired their stock between July 25, 1997 and June 25, 1999....

Alliance RTO companies to address FERC issues.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... The Alliance Regional Transmission Organization (Alliance RTO) companies filed a document with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that commits the alliance to address all outstanding FERC issues--including independence pricing and...

Calpine to buy SkyGen Energy.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Calpine Corp. plans to acquire Northbrook, III.-based SkyGen Energy LLC from Michael Polsky and Wisvest Corp., a Wisconsin Energy Corp. affiliate, for $450 million. This acquisition, along with others recently announced, will increase Calpine's...

AEP, CSW garner approval.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... American Electric Power and Central and South West Corp. have completed their merger, approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in June. The merged company will retain the American Electric Power name and will continue trading on...

Bonneville Power Administration goes on manhunt.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Wanted: vandals who destroyed insulators on one of BPA's 115,000-volt lines in Lane County, Ore. and insulators on one of the 500,000-volt, lines near Deep Creek, Mont. Both sets of insulators were taken out with gunfire. BPA is offering up to...

People & Companies.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Utilities and associations Lee Iacocca has joined Commonwealth Energy Corp.'s advisory board. Iacocca, the founder and chairman of EV Global Motors Co., spent 32 years at Ford Motor Co. before moving to Chrysler where he served in various...

AMR: "Wait and see" stance prevails as restructuring evolves.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Automatic meter reading (AMR) has picked up momentum in some niches, but electric utilities in general aren't ready to go full throttle until the course is better defined--and that won't occur until the new world order brought about by...

Protocol standards facilitate AMR implementation.
August 1, 2000... Recent American National Standards Institute (ANSI) protocol standards will reduce the cost to support metering operations and accelerate the rate of innovation and change within the metering industry. Electric utilities who purchase and apply...

PNM: Aggressive wholesale player eyes market south of the border.
August 1, 2000... Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) heads into New Mexico's restructuring with optimism. It's counting on its success in power generation, wholesale power marketing and energy service business to provide growth in the years to come. ...

Keeping an eye on the fire.
August 1, 2000... Plant engineers have more reason than ever to closely monitor the conditions inside plant boilers, furnaces, kilns and incinerators. Operators strive to maintain optimal burning conditions and avoid situations that put equipment, personnel or...

PNGC runs fuel cell tests for rural customers.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Portland, Ore.--PNGC Power, also known as Pacific Northwest Generating Cooperative, unveiled a big idea in distributed generation technology when it hooked up the headquarters of its member utility Consumers Power, Inc., in Philomath, Oregon,...

D-SMES forms "ouchless" band-aid for WPS grid.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) has been shoring up its grid using a distributed superconducting magnetic energy storage (D-SMES) system, which contains six individual SMES units that WPS is installing at five different substation locations....

IMG, DOE sign contract.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Intermagnetics General Corp. (IMG) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have signed a contract for the first phase of a three-year, $4.5 million project to commercialize the manufacturing process for second generation high temperature...

Spire to convert Brownfield to solar.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Spire Solar Chicago, the business unit of Spire Corp., will provide a 500 kW photo-voltaic (PV) system for deployment on a reclaimed industrial dumping ground and landfill on Chicago's south side--converting an environmental brownfield into a...

Reliant signs licensing agreement.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Reliant Energy signed a licensing agreement with Texas A&M University System granting the company exclusive rights to develop and market improvements in proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell technology developed by the Texas Engineering...

InfrastruX to acquire UTILX.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... InfrastruX Group Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Puget Sound Energy Inc., will acquire UTILX in a tender offer for approximately $50 million cash or $6.125 per share. UTILX is a provider of infrastructure construction services to utilities...

S&S Energy introduces GE LM2000.(S and S Energy Products)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2000... S&S Energy Products has a new addition to its LM product line: the 18 MW GE LM2000 aeroderivative gas turbine-generator set The LM2000 will be available with either GE's standard or dry low emissions combustion systems and will have a lower...

Ocean Power signs fuel cell agreement.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Ocean Power Corp. signed a $10 million memorandum of understanding with Hydrogen Performance Technologies (HyPerTec), a newly formed fuel cell company for development and manufacturing support over the next two years.

AEP to install SCR technology.(American Electric Power Company Inc.)(selective catalytic reduction)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2000... American Electric Power (AEP) is beginning a $175 million project to install selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology on its two-unit Gen. James M. Gavin plant in Ohio. The project is expected to reduce the nitrogen oxide ([NO.sub.x])...

Marubeni procures fuel cell plants.(FuelCell Energy Inc.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2000... FuelCell Energy Inc. received a commitment from the Marubeni Corp. to procure multiple fuel cell power plants, based on the company's direct fuel cell (DFC) technology. Under the contract, FuelCell Energy will deliver one 250 kW DFC power plant...

Hawks and Blue Star form joint venture.(Blue Star Sustainable Technologies Corp.)(Hawks Industries Inc.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Hawks Industries Inc. and Blue Star Sustainable Technologies Corp. established a joint venture that will combine Hawks' existing natural gas resources with new, state-of-the-art integrated natural gas processing technology owned by Blue Star....

ComEd taps on-site generation.(Commonwealth Edison Co.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... The power systems business of Honey well and the distributed generation business of Unicorn Corp. sold up to 55 units of Honeywell's Parallon 75 turbogenerators to CornEd to provide enhanced electrical outage protection. Unicorn will site the...

Dissipation array system wards off lightning.(Lightning Eliminators and Consultants Inc.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Lightning: those dramatic bursts of white-hot voltage from the heavens that can instantly ignite fires and knock out power and communications lines. Each year lightning causes massive damage to business facilities. The danger of a...

Invisible salve of DA smoothes rough edges; future looks soft and silky.(distribution automation)
August 1, 2000... Do you know who made that Big Mac you just sunk your teeth into? Can you call them by name, or are you among the millions and millions of Americans served who've never even contemplated the McDonald's process? It's almost magical: you talk...

Aiken deploys AlMetering.(Aiken Electric Cooperative Inc.)(American Innovations Ltd.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Aiken Electric Coop. placed its second 10,000-unit order to expand its deployment of the AlMetering System from American Innovations Ltd. The new Aiken order came on the heels of their previous 10,000-unit order, which was installed at the end...

IBM and Enron sign contract.(IBM Global Services)(Enron Energy Services Inc.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Enron Energy Services, a subsidiary of Enron Corp., has selected IBM to deliver $350 million in technology services to Enron locations throughout the U.S. Under the agreement, IBM Global Services will provide Enron Energy Services with...

Orion manages with HESI.(Orion Power)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... HESI's integrated products provide a single repository for all of Orion Power's trade and generation data, allowing the trading software to communicate directly with the generation optimization software and receive data from the real world....

Silicon acquires SRC Systems.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2000... Silicon Energy, a leader in energy e-business and enterprise energy management (EEM) solutions, has acquired SRC Systems Inc., an independent provider of sophisticated energy analysis software applications and services. This acquisition adds...

Global Data receives follow-on order.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... GDI Global Data Inc., a provider of remote communications solutions to commercial and industrial markets, has been awarded a follow-on order for its CS-832 wireless meter reading product from Carolina Power and Light Corp. (CP&L) for their...

Nova Scotia Power to acquire advanced GIS.(ESRI Canada Ltd.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NSPI) has selected ESRI software for an advanced geographic information system (GIS) solution. The implementation, to take place over a two year period, will include an outage management system (OMS) and computer-aided...

ALSTOM ESCA wins contract.(Dynegy Inc.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... ALSTOM ESCA has been awarded a contract to integrate supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems nationwide for Dynegy Inc. ALSTOM ESCA will work directly with Dynegys IT and engineering groups to install the fully redundant...

MARCOM and PureSafety.com sign partnership.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... PureSafety.com, a web-based application service provider (ASP), delivers environmental, heath and safety (EHS) training solutions to its customers. This partnership with MARCOM Group Ltd., a producer of workplace safety, health and regulatory...

Carrier provides Internet-accessible thermostats.(Carrier Corp.)(Connecticut Light and Power Co.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Carrier Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., is providing Internet-accessible thermostats to a pilot program for Connecticut Light and Power Co., (CL&P) customers this summer. The program--which began in June and runs through...

Pricing designs in retail electricity: How to get out of price wars and get into profitability.(Dr. Ahmad Faruqui)
August 1, 2000... In electricity's own real-time game of Price Wars, retail pricing is considered the necessary evil-the Darth Vader, if you will--of competitive markets. "How low can you go?" is all too often the dubious basis upon which retail prices are set....

Enermetrix appoints new president.(Chuck Henry)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Former president & COO of Chicago Board Options Exchange, Chuck Henry, joined Enermetrix as president and chief operating officer. Henry, an established leader in markets and exchanges and current member of the Enermetrix board of directors,...

Norwegian drilling firm chooses ADB System.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... ADB Systems Inc., an enterprise asset management systems and e-procurement provider, signed Bergen, Norway-based Pro-con Drilling Services, a subsidiary of the ProSafe Group, as the newest user of ADB WorkMate software. Key to Procon Drilling's...

Oil slick on the 'Street.(HoustonStreet.com oil sales reach $275 million)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Oil traders have bought and sold approximately $275 million worth of crude on HoustonStreet.com since the online oil trading floor's launch on May 18, announced Houston Street recently. The trade volume shows HoustonStreet's expansion into oil...

Enron European trades up 100 percent from 1999.(Enron Energy Corp.)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Enron Energy Corp. is conducting nearly 200 gas and electricity trades a day in Europe in over-the-counter (OTC) and online market trading--that's up 100 percent from one year ago, Enron execs said. The company's power trading is concentrated...

EEI offers user's guide to wholesale power trading rules, tariffs.(Edison Electric Institute's Alliance of Energy Suppliers)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Edison Electric Institute's Alliance of Energy Suppliers are offering a new tool to help power generators and marketers save time and money in researching and understanding the rules and regulations of the nation's rapidly evolving wholesale...

eSpeed closes $50 million deal with Dynegy and Williams.(minority equity stake agreement)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... New York-based eSpeed Inc. (NASDAQ: ESPD), a real-time business-to-business electronic marketplace developer, Williams Energy Services (NYSE: WMB) and Dynegy Inc. (NYSE: DYN) closed their previously announced agreement to purchase a minority...

NYMEX goes for profit.(to transform itself into a for-profit organization)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... The world's largest commodities exchange, the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), just voted to transform itself into a for-profit organization. The vote was 97.5 percent in favor of the shift. NYMEX is now the third financial exchange in the...

Altra gets the news.(SageMaker and Altra Energy enter online information alliance)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... SageMaker Inc., an e-business portal solutions company, and Altra Energy Technologies, a provider of business-to-business e-commerce products and services for the energy market, allied to bring SageMaker's real-time news portal to Altra's...

It's not just energy anymore: Powertrust.com takes on cable t.v.(offers DISH Network services to its customers)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... PowerTrust.com, an Internet-based energy company at www.PowerTrust.com, is entering into a new partnership to offer DISH Network services to its customers. In order to expand its "beyond-the-meter" savings opportunities, PowerTrust.com has now...

Saladin "DoubleChecks" trader discrepancies.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... London-based Saladin, energy information solution providers, is launching the first of its enhanced data quality initiatives under the name DoubleCheck, a data comparison service available by e-mail that will give clients proactive notification...

Say "hello" to e-call centers, where both voice and data speak.
August 1, 2000... Call centers have quickly become energy companies' "Window to the World"--the very eyes and ears of the end-user customer. Today, call centers do so much more than just answer the phone. They field inquiries, orders and complaints by telephone,...

Web-enabled integration: The future of enterprise application solutions.
August 1, 2000... As the marketplace gears up for the brave new world of e-business, there are many business model options emerging. It is difficult to choose which will effectively position your company as an e-business leader. The need for rapid response and...

Envision cooperates with Cooperative Services Inc.(signs software contract)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Sante Fe-based Envision Utility Software Corporation just signed a letter of intent with Cooperative Services Inc. (CSI) to convert its current system to Envision's Oracle-based CIS/Billing system software. CIS's selection of the system came...

edocs moves banking benchmarks.(partners with InteliData Technologies)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... InteliData (Nasdaq: INTD), an Internet banking and bill payment technology provider, and edocs, a provider of Internet billing and customer management solutions, announced an alliance to deliver an Internet billing, payment and customer...

FirstEnergy offers its 2.2 million customers e-billing.(from CheckFree corp)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... CheckFree (NASDAQ: CKFR), a provider of electronic billing and payment services, and FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) recently announced that electronic billing and payment is available to the 2.2 million customers of FirstEnergy's electric...

Excelergy integrates solution, sells Sempra on Internet portal.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Excelergy Corp., a provider of business-to-business e-commerce technology, and edocs Inc., a provider of Internet billing, customer care and personalization management solutions, announced an alliance to integrate Excelergy ABP 3000 with edocs...

SCT and IBM land The New Power Co.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... SCT (NASDAQ: SCTC) has signed a contract with IBM to integrate SCT's Banner CRM software with IBM's technology solutions for The New Power Co., a recently announced utilities venture spearheaded by the Enron Corp. Under an agreement between IBM...

Retx.com buys Otter Tail Power's technology.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Retx.com, an e-business application provider to the deregulated energy market, announced the purchase of exclusive rights to a technology process designed to facilitate customer choice in the retail electric market from Otter Tail Power Co., an...

Solant goes wireless.(Solant Inc. expands software)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... Solant Inc., a provider of interactive customer care and EBPP solutions, recently announced that it has incorporated Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology into its software to facilitate transactions over WAP-enabled handheld and other...

Silicon Energy & Conectiv help pinch energy pennies.
August 1, 2000... Silicon Energy, an e-business and enterprise energy management solutions provider, and Conectiv Solutions, an energy information integrator and solutions provider in the Mid-Atlantic region, announced a strategic alliance that will provide...

GAS DETECTOR.(PointGard II)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... The PointGard II detects toxic levels of CO, [H.sub.2]S, [SO.sub.2], [CI.sub.2], [NH.sub.3], [NO.sub.2], [H.sub.2][O.sub.2] or EtO, as well as excess or deficient levels of oxygen in any nonclassified area. LEDs display the target gas...

ADVANCED WARNING LIGHTNING SYSTEM.
August 1, 2000... The SAFE system identifies three hazard levels and provides appropriate warnings for each level including: a pre-warning level to indicate thunderstorms; a warning level that detects lightning hazards two to three miles from the station; and an...

RIGGING SAFETY TRAINING VIDEO.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... This video covers the different types of rigging; selection, care and use of rigging; load control and dynamics; identifying and avoiding potential hazards; and examples of all types and sizes of cranes. Designed to prevent property damage and...

WATER-BASED ALKYD TOPCOAT.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... The Aquaclad water-based alkyd topcoat is a low-VOC, HAPS-free and low odor topcoat. Developed for industrial substrates such as structural steel, galvanized metal, aluminum and masonry, it is nonflammable, environmentally friendly and cleans...

ULTRACAPACITER.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
August 1, 2000... The PC5 ultracapacitor has a capacitance of 4 farads at a nominal 2.3 volts. The ultracapacitor, measuring 17 x 24 x 4.5 mm and weighing 5.5 grams, can be used in tandem with batteries for applications that require both a constant low power...

MANAGEMENT METHODS.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2000... TED POLLOCK, MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT RETAINING YOUR BEST EMPLOYEES People change their jobs for any number of reasons, but people who are reasonably content with their work and their bosses seldom go out looking for other jobs. Some...