Electric Light & Power articles from December 2001

Electric Light & Power archives from December 2001

Mothering the grid: Can power be protected?(Power industry hurt by terrorism)(Government Activity)
December 1, 2001... The repercussions of September 11 are being felt in every fold and wrinkle of the American fabric, and the power industry is no exception. Consolidated Edison felt a direct hit that day: two substations destroyed in the World Trade Center...

Dynegy walks from proposed Enron buy.(merger information)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Dynegy bit off more than it could chew, and has spit Enron back out into a hostile financial environment. The Houston-based energy company decided to merge with Enron Corp., a hometown rival nearly five times its size on November 9, but on...

Cognitive restructuring. (Commentary).(Editorial)
December 1, 2001... Pam Boschee Sometimes, it takes a friend to tell you something you may not want to hear. And today I'm going to be the friend who mustered up the courage to be straightforward with you. In the course of this job, I speak with many...

FERC extends deadline. (Transmission).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) extended the Dec. 15 deadline for utilities to join regional transmission grids and said it will set new deadlines for each of four general regions. FERC will issue notices of proposed rulemaking...

New England ISO endorses plan. (Transmission).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The board of directors of ISO New England unanimously approved a five-year assessment of the region's transmission system. The assessment, known as the 2001 Regional Transmission Expansion Plan (RTEP01), is an evaluation of New England's bulk...

Path 15 to get facelift. (Transmission).(by Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Western Area Power Administration)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) and other private energy companies have agreed to a $300 million deal to upgrade transmission facilities in California collectively known as Path 15. The upgrade will be...

SPP, MISO talk terms. (Transmission).(Southwest Power Pool Inc., Transmission System Operator Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Southwest Power Pool Inc. (SPP) and Midwest independent Transmission System Operator Inc. (MISO) have reached agreement on terms for the consolidation of the two organizations. Following the approval of both boards and regulatory approval,...

Alliance Companies, National Grid form alliance transco. (Transmission).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The Alliance Companies and The National Grid Group plc have signed a definitive Participation Agreement outlining how National Grid will manage the Alliance Transco, including investment of $1 billion in start-up and transmission acquisition...

Pepco, Conectiv merger approved. (Legal & Regulatory).(by Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The merger of Potomac Electric Power Co. (Pepco) and Conectiv has been approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Officials of the two companies expect the $2.2 billion merger to be completed during the first quarter of 2002.

PSEG Power wants lead OK. (Legal & Regulatory).(PSEG Power L.L.C.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... PSEG Power has filed an application with the New York State Public Service Commission for permission to construct and operate a direct generator lead (dedicated transmission line) that would deliver power to the west side of Manhattan from a...

AEP looks at Texas retail. (Legal & Regulatory).(AEP Retail Energy)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... AEP Retail Energy is seeking approval to provide energy supply services to large commercial and industrial customers in Texas beginning in January. In a recent filing with the Public Utility Commission of Texas, AEP Retail requested statewide...

PSEG Power acquires nuclear assets. (Mergers & Acquisitions).(PSEG Power L.L.C., PSEG Nuclear, Atlantic City Electric Co.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... PSEG Power, through its PSEG Nuclear subsidiary, completed the acquisition of 301 MW of Atlantic City Electric Co.'s ownership interest in three nuclear power facilities: The Salem and Hope Creek nuclear generating stations (Lower Alloways...

Peabody to build Illinois plant. (Projects & Contracts).(Peabody Group, Prairie State Energy Campus)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Peabody Group will build a coal-fired electricity plant in Washington County, III. The 1,500 MW plant, named the Prairie State Energy Campus, is scheduled to begin production in late 2002 or early 2003.

Enron sells utility. (Projects & Contracts).(Portland General Electric Co., Northwest Natural Gas Co.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Enron will sell its Portland General Electric utility to NW Natural Gas for $1.9 billion. The transaction should be finalized by the fourth quarter of 2002.

TXU signs healthcare company. (Projects & Contracts).(TXU Energy, VHA Southwest)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... TXU Energy, a unit of TXU Corp., has signed a $150 million, three-year power supply deal with VHA Southwest, an alliance of 22 community-based healthcare organizations. TXU estimates the transactional value for the procurement to be 500-700...

Duke to break ground. (Projects & Contracts).(Duke Energy Corp.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Duke Energy North America will build three new natural gas-fired facilities, adding 2,400 MW. All three should be operational by summer 2003. New Mexico will see a 600 MW project in Deming. Nevada will get a 1,200 MW facility in Apex, and a 600...

Panda, Alliant join forces. (Projects & Contracts).(Panda Energy International Inc., Alliant Energy Corp.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Panda Energy International Inc. and Alliant Energy Corp. have formed a joint venture to construct and operate a 1,100 MW natural gas, combined-cycle facility in Michigan. Construction is slated to being next spring.

Peabody Coaltrade gains terminal. (Projects & Contracts).(Peabody COALTRADE Inc., Riverview Terminal Co.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Peabody COALTRADE Inc. will expand its rapidly growing coal trading business through a new terminal on the Big Sandy River near Catlettsburg, KY. Riverview Terminal, recently leased by Riverview Terminal Co., will be upgraded to blend and...

Executive appointments. (News Briefs).(Energy industry personnel changes)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Intermagnetics General Corp.: Philip J. Pellegrino has been named sector president of energy technology and president of SuperPower LLC. Sempra Energy: Dennis V. Arriola is vice president of investor relations. Pinnacle West Energy:...

CMS Energy inks first-ever sale of U.S. transmission system to ITC. (News).(CMS Energy Corp., Consumers Energy, Trans-Elect Inc.)(independent transmission company)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... CMS Energy Corp.'s utility subsidiary Consumers Energy, announced in late October that it is selling its electric transmission system to Trans-Elect Inc., a private, independent transmission company (ITC) based in Washington, D.C., for about...

Distributed energy moves from backup to baseload. (News).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Distributed energy (DE) may get a shot in the arm from interested businesses in the next two years, and it won't be from deregulation newbies, but from veterans. DE in this case is not just backup generators or glorified uninterrupted power...

Former FERC chairman Hoecker reflects on his tenure. (View from the Top).(United States. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman James J. Hoecker)(Interview)
December 1, 2001... I spoke with James J. Hoecker, former chairman of FERC from June 1997 to January 2001, in a small conference room belonging to the National Energy-Environment Law & Policy Institute on the campus of the University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Okla, in late...

2001 year in review: Wall Street's fiscal checkup of energy's profits, losses. (Finance).(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... 2001 will be marked as a year of contrasting boons and busts, with many energy-sector firms logging either solid profits or devastating losses. Overall, the sector lagged behind rebounding technology issues, ending the year (as of Oct. 23,...

Milbank closes credit deal for Sempra. (Finance Briefs).(Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy, Sempra Energy Resources)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The Los Angeles office of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP represented West-deutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, one of Germany's largest banks, as the lead arranger and administrative agent for a $400 million, three-year credit revolver...

Washington group settles with Raytheon. (Finance Briefs).(Washington Group International, Raytheon Co.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Washington Group International Inc. announced an agreement was reached between the steering committees of the company's secured lenders and unsecured creditors. The agreement also provides for the settlement of outstanding litigation between...

Diamond generating invests in tenaska projects. (Finance Briefs).(Diamond Generating Corp., Tenaska Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Diamond Generating Corp., a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corp., committed to invest $130M in three Tenaska projects totaling 2,400 MW in capacity. The projects are: Tenaska Central Alabama Generating Station (885 MW) under construction near...

CMS energy completes $469M bond sale. (Finance Briefs).(of securitization bonds)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... CMS Energy Corp.'s Michigan utility unit, Consumers Energy, has received $469M of gross proceeds from the sale of securitization bonds. Net proceeds will be used to reduce the company's debt consistent with CMS's recently announced strategy to...

Puget sound energy leads the pack in demand side management. (2001 Utility of the Year).(company award information)
December 1, 2001... EL&P proudly announces its 2001 Utility of the Year, Puget Sound Energy (PSE). It has earned this recognition through its Personal Energy Management program, which is the largest time-of-day and comparative time-of-day pricing program in the...

Mid-office apps rein in volatile variables. (Electric & Gas Trading).(securities trading management techniques and theory)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Energy trading may conjure up the image of a frenetic trading pit, but it is actually more about analytics than execution. The power market is more than a transactional pit, and energy trading has many unique variables. While vendors and...

How to manage this winter's icy hit on temperature, sales & profits. (Electric & Gas Trading).(Energy industry management)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The seasonal maxim "Let it snow" takes on a whole new meaning for utilities, energy risk managers and weather forecasters. Winter--with its blasts of ice storms, clusters of wet hail and flurries of snow--often holds the venerable key to...

Gas acquisitions round out Mirant portfolio. (E&GT Briefs).(Mirant Corp's acquisition activity)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Mirant Corp. CEO Marce Fuller said October's natural, gas acquisitions "integrate perfectly" into the independent power producer's generation portfolio by providing assured, physical gas supply many times its own needs. Mirant said it will buy...

Caminus acquires Altra software business. (E&GT Briefs).(acquisition information)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Caminus Corp., provider of software and strategic consulting for trading and risk management in North America and Europe, signed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire the software operations of Altra Energy Technologies Inc. provider of...

e-Acumen launches WeatherBook. (E&GT Briefs).(company product introduction data)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
December 1, 2001... e-Acumen Inc. launched the core module of WeatherBook, a quantitative weather risk management platform that prices weather derivatives and simulated portfolios using a highly advanced, proprietary simulation algorithm. WeatherBook captures the...

Utilities effect distribution optimization with holistic approach. (Information Technology).(energy industry management techniques and theory)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The new definition of distribution optimization includes more than linear measurement of network components--utilities' drive for efficiency has changed distribution optimization to mean improvement in total operations. "Detailed load flows are...

Internet strategy untangles the Web. (Information Technology).(Energy industry internet usage)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The Internet promises a cure for almost anything that ails a business. Companies are learning, though, that it can create as many problems as it solves. The danger lies in thinking about the Internet as a solution itself, instead of seeing...

CES International ACS partner to offer ORM-SCADA. (It Briefs).(Advanced Control Systems Inc)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... CES International and Advanced Control Systems Inc. (ACS) entered a comprehensive, multi-year partner agreement. The non-exclusive partnership calls for the companies to integrate their products, offering electrical utilities a real-time,...

MRO Software upgrades. (It Briefs).(MRO Software Inc., Maximo 5.0)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... MRO Software Inc., provider of solutions for powering industrial collaboration, released the next-generation of MRO Software's enterprise asset maintenance software. MAXIMO 5.0 takes advantage of a 100-percent pure Internet component-based...

Daratech reports GIS software revenue. (It Briefs).(total Geographic Information System software sales)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... GIS software revenue topped $939 million in 2000, according to a market study by Daratech Inc. The largest market for GIS software comprised state and local governments, which accounted for 20 percent of all software revenue, followed closely...

Elcom expands Partners & Alliances. (It Briefs).(Elcom Inc. adds alliances with CapGemini Ernst & Young and Aria Group PLC)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Elcom International Inc., provider of remotely-hosted e-procurement and private e-marketplace solutions and leveraged e-procurement services for IT products, announced that elcom, inc., its wholly-owned e-business subsidiary, expanded its...

LineSoft announces TL-Pro. (IT BRIEFS).(Transmission Line Professional software)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... LineSoft Corp., provider of software solutions and engineering consulting services to the utility industry, announced a March 2002 release for Transmission Line Professional (TL-Pro). TL-Pro is a transmission system design solution that...

Creative ROW maintenance paints a glowing utility portrait. (Technology).(use of right of way(ROW) to help protect wildlife)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Right-of-way (ROW) maintenance has traditionally been viewed as a dull necessity to maintain reliability--one filled with conversations about herbicides and growth rates. The modern ROW, however, can be molded to fill a new niche for...

Managing new mercury limits requires delicate balance. (Technology).
December 1, 2001... In three years federal regulations will likely require reductions in mercury emissions of up to 90 percent from current levels. For coal-fired plants, these new standards pose one of the most vexing challenges in recent memory. Currently...

Utilities take caution before bundling up. (Customer Systems).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... Just because states are stepping lightly into deregulation and utility companies are not speaking out about changing strategies doesn't mean bundled services are not part of the strategy. The push for differentiation through bundled services...

Utelcos occupy strong market niche despite down economy. (Customer Systems).(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... While most economists agree that the overall U.S. economy is near bottom, the utility sector remains fairly stable; consequently, diversification spells risk according to Beth Griffiths, director of research at the United Telecom Council (UTC)....

InfoVision awards EDS' EBPP. (CS Briefs).(electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) system)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... OpenBill Express, EDS' Web-enabled electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) system, won the International Engineering Consortium InfoVision 2001 Award. InfoVision Awards recognize companies for products and services that bring benefits to...

Carrier's carriers form alliance. (CS Briefs).(Con Edison Communications, Edison Carrier Solutions, Progress Telecom)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Con Edison Communications (CEO), Edison Carrier Solutions and Progress Telecom, will jointly market services. The agreement--an East Coast-West Coast alliance among major telecommunications carriers--will establish a combined network that...

Combined technology connects Florida Power. (CS Briefs).(Alltel contracts Padcom Inc. for data network solution for Florida Power)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Alltel, a telecommunications provider, recently contracted Padcom Inc., a wireless data networking solutions provider, to combine technologies and deliver a comprehensive, cost effective, data communication solution, with a completely...

Consumers interested in EBPP. (CS Briefs).(electronic bill paying and presentment)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 1, 2001... According to the Yankee Group's annual Technologically Advanced Family (TAF) Survey, measuring consumer experiences and interaction with over 100 products and services, consumers continue to snow a growing interest in using the Internet for...

SPL makes gains Australia. (CS Briefs).(SPL WorldGroup B.V.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... SPL WorldGroup BV is set to expand its position providing billing and customer management solutions in the Australian utilities marketplace with full retail contestability imminent for the country's two most populous states. SPL client...

DocuCorp sells Toronto Hydro on EBPP. (CS Briefs).(Toronto Hydro-Electric System Ltd., electronic bill presentment and payment)
December 1, 2001... Toronto Hydro-Electric System Ltd. introduced electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) to its commercial and residential customers, using DocuCorp's presentment solution. The eBills service provides electronic versions of paper bills that...

Vectren Source selects Excelergy solution. (CS Briefs).(Excelergy Corp.)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Excelergy Corp. signed an agreement with Vectren Source, the unregulated retail unit of Vectren Corp., to implement two configurations of the Excelergy Advanced Business Package--the core Customer Care & Billing and Prospecting configurations....

Three cheers for enthusiasm. (Management Methods).(analysis of when a business meeting is necessary)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... Meetings are often a habit rather than a necessity, rooted in some almost forgotten past event. If you hold meetings yourself, it might save time and energy if you assessed their value with the help of these questions. Is the purpose of the...

Is this meeting necessary? (Management Methods).(employee enthusiasm)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2001... The difference between the star performer and the so-so employee is frequently plain old enthusiasm--an effervescent, bouncily optimistic approach to the job at hand. Things simply tend to get done more expeditiously when they're done with...