Electric Light & Power articles from July 2001

Electric Light & Power archives from July 2001

Coal fires back, regains championship title.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Coal used to be the villain in the energy industry scenario: a dark figure that everyone was trying to excise from the equation. Now a number of contributing factors--including California's rolling blackouts, an unusually cold winter and the...

New England outlook: good news, bad news.(Power plants)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... There's good news and not-so-good news for the New England electric power market. A recently released ISO New England study showed that power plant availability has increased since 1995, an initial sign that the wholesale market there is...

Pass the buck.(Time for utilities to invest in power generation)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... It's time for electric utilities to increase investment significantly in generation, transmission, and distribution facilities. The federal government is showing signs of taking energy policy seriously. Many states have awakened to the need...

ISO asks FERC to apply pressure.(California Independent System Operator, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... In a series of filings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) the California Independent System Operator (Cal ISO) is asking FERC to revoke the authority to charge market-based rates in California for four companies that own and...

Duke wants nuke.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Duke Energy Corp. has applied to renew operating licenses for two of its nuclear plants: McGuire and Catawba, which supply power to parts of North Carolina and South Carolina. If approved, the renewal would have a 40-year lifespan.

PSEG gets environmental greenlight.(Lawrenceburg Energy Facility)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... PSEG Power has received an air permit from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for its Lawrenceburg Energy Facility, an 1150 MW combined-cycle, gas fired power plant, in Lawrenceburg Ind. PSEG has chosen Duke Fluor Daniel as the...

U.S. buys Canadian energy system.(U.S. Energy Systems Inc. acquires Trigen Energy Canada Co.)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... U.S. Energy Systems Inc. has acquired Trigen Energy Canada Co. in a transaction valued at $18 million ($28 million, Canadian). The purchase is comprised of two district energy systems: one in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and the other...

PG&E Corp. purchases Lone Star plants.(in Denton, Texas)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... PG&E Corp.'s National Energy Group has an agreement with the City of Denton, Texas, to purchase and operate the municipality's electric generating facilities and provide a five-year "full service requirements" wholesale power-supply contract....

FPL sets sights on Calif.(FPL Energy L.L.C. will build plant)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... FPL Energy LLC (a subsidiary of FPL Group Inc.) will build and operate a 517 MW, natural gas-fired plant in Blythe, Calif. Construction has begun, with completion slated for early 2003.

Fortis to assist hydro.(Abitibi-Consolidated Inc.'s Canadian hydroelectric plants)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Fortis Inc. has entered into an agreement with Abitibi-Consolidated Inc. to develop additional capacity at Abitibi-Consolidated's hydroelectric plant at Grand Falls-Windsor and to redevelop the forestry company's hydroelectric plant at Bishops...

Reliant looks to build Fla. plant.(Reliant Resources, Florida power project)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Reliant Resources will enter into exclusive negotiations with the Utilities Commission of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., to explore continued development of the 500 MW New Smyrna Beach Power Project. Development activities were started by Duke Energy,...

Tenaska signs agreements.(with Brownsville Public Utilities Board, Muscatine Power and Water)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Tenaska Power Services Co. signed multi-year power marketing agreements with two large public utilities in Texas and Iowa. The Brownsville Public Utilities Board of Brownsville, Texas, renewed their agreement with Tenesaka for three years....

Dominion plans W. Va. plant.(with Anker Energy Corp.)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Dominion and Anker Energy Corp. jointly announced plans to develop a new coal waste-fired electric power station and mining complex in Upshur County, West Virginia. Under the terms of the agreement, Dominion would construct, own and operate the...

Lockwood Greene to build for Pinnacle.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Lockwood Greene will engineer, procure and construct a power project for Pinnacle West Energy. The 500 MW plant will be located in Phoenix, Arizona, and will provide power for about 375,000 households in the metropolitan area. The project began...

Calif. lays out an industry learning curve.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Last year everyone believed that California's energy problems would fade with the cooling temperatures. In industry minds, the crisis was a fleeting summer romance that would prove stale at the cusp of fall. That was then; this is now. And...

IOUs and public power join forces for tax revision.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... In an unusual joint appeal, investor owned and public power system officials asked a U.S. House subcommittee to support legislation that would reduce the tax consequences of a variety of transactions involving transmission assets. The...

N.M., Nev. looking to return their deregulation packages.
July 1, 2001... While California remains on the front burner of the deregulation hot plate, a number of states have been quietly reconsidering their restructuring plans behind the scenes. With New Mexico and Nevada having effectively halted deregulation, this...

Finance sector downgrades crisis.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... It could be that we've become desensitized. Or maybe it's just that clearer heads now prevail. Whatever the reason, the term "crisis" is losing momentum in references to California. This may not be the case if one lives in California, but to...

Generator profits likely to peak in 2002.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Dana Bacciocco It's a great time to own stock in the electric generation sector--but the end may be nearer than the beginning, according to Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown analyst Jay Dobson. With proposed capacity additions, the United States...

Morgan Stanley buys into BPA's wires.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Following an $18 million deal, Morgan Stanley controls one-third of Bonneville Power Administration's total northbound transmission capacity (about 1,145 MW) until February 2002. Its share then decreases to about 700 MW until March 2003. The...

Merrill Lynch expects powerful profits.(for energy-merchant, power generation companies)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Price volatility has provided opportunity for some. Earnings could jump more than 30 percent for energy-merchant and power generation companies, while those of integrated electric utilities could rise 12 percent for the full year, according to...

IOUs are seeing double.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The C Three Group reported revenues of the top 78 U.S. IOUs nearly doubled from $347 billion in 1998 to more than $602 billion in 2000. Aggregate net income for the group decreased from $17.3 billion to $17.2 billion. Total assets of these 78...

Stocking up on FuelCell Energy.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... FuelCell Energy Inc. closed its public offering of 3,450,000 shares of its common stock on June 15 at $70 per share for net proceeds to the company of $241.5 million. Merrill Lynch acted as the underwriter for the offering.

Global Power Equipment Group repurchases notes.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Global Power Equipment Group Inc. had the agreement of its senior subordinated debt holders to retire the remaining $40 million of its senior subordinated loan due 2010. It has also received a binding commitment from its senior debt lenders,...

Peabody Energy slashes debt by $160M.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Peabody Energy has reduced total debt by $160 million ($80M senior notes due 2008 and $80M senior subordinated notes due 2008) through a recently completed bond tender offer managed by Lehman Brothers Inc.

Silicon Energy aims to go public.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Silicon Energy Corp., a provider of enterprise energy management software, has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with a proposed initial public offering of common stock. The shares are...

Gridlock: America's regional transmission structures scout for solutions.
July 1, 2001... Some are calling it the price of NIMBY (not in my backyard): a set of regional grids, effectively disconnected and straining to push more and more power through lines that could have accurately been labeled "archaic" a decade ago. And it's...

NES taps small network to solve big meter-reading problem.(Nashville Electric Service (NES) contracts for meter reading system.)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Apartment complexes are the bane of utility meter-reading operations. Between monthly reads for customer billing and costly off-cycle reads associated with beginning- and end-of-service orders, apartment complexes consume an inordinate amount...

Energy analysis services sell on the Web.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The fundamental rules for selling online are not much different from the rules for selling offline. One adage sums it up neatly: Find a need and fill it. Finding the need to fill, however, can be a bit of a trick. Service offerings...

Usability is key to e-success.(Texas retail electric prover web sites poor in ease-of-use by consumers)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The Public Utility Commission (PUG) of Texas recently completed a very informal study in which two PUG staff members served as "mystery shoppers" and, using only the Internet and a Texas Electric Choice newspaper insert, were asked to find...

Utility customer satisfaction drops.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Utility companies registered the largest decline in customer satisfaction this year among various industries rated in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Overall, utilities rated by the service registered an 8 percent drop from a...

Study to gauge utility Web use.(conducted by Severn Trent Systems)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Severn Trent Systems, a software and services provider to the utility industry, is conducting research into Internet use by utilities and consumer interest in online utility services. The surveys are directed toward consumers, utility Web...

NES offers summary billing.(Nashville Electric Service)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Nashville Electric Service (NES) customers with multiple accounts and multiple bills now can consolidate payments with NES' Summary Billing program. Through the program, NES reads meters for each of a customer's accounts on the normal meter...

PNM offers online analysis.(Public Service Company of New Mexico offers energy usage analysis online)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) is offering its residential and business customers the ability to improve energy efficiency and reduce bills through its Energy Analyzer online; tool. Energy Analyzer is a graphical, interactive tool...

RWA wins quality award.
July 1, 2001... Teleservices company Ron Weber and Associates (RWA) earned a Gold MVP Quality Award from Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine for its' work on an integrated customer contact program for DTE Edison America. RWA's program for DTE Edison...

Power contracts take shape under variable conditions.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... "With electricity, whatever you think you're going to need, you're going to be wrong," according to Dr. Anil Suri, CEO of ElecTrade.Inc. Although being in the forward market is the best strategy, companies will no doubt at some point be called...

Energy data standards come of age.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... While energy industry players are trading and conducting business data exchanges without universally accepted data standards, companies are coming together to promote open standards to eliminate inefficiencies and reduce transaction costs. ...

ICE and IPE make a deal.(IntercontinentalExchange Inc., International Petroleum Exchange PLC, London to merge)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE), an Atlanta based internet trading company, and International Petroleum Exchange PLC, London, reported April 30 striking a $1 31 million deal, that if completed, will create one of the world's largest energy...

AEP purchases pipe line.(American Electric Power acquires Houston Pipe Line Co.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... American Electric Power (AEP) completed its purchase of the stock of Houston Pipe Line Co. (HPL), an intrastate natural gas pipeline subsidiary of Enron Corp. The transaction includes inventory and a 30-year pre-paid lease related to the...

California gas estimates conflict.(with Energy Information Administration estimates of gas pipeline volumes)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 1, 2001... A study by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimated 590 MMcfd more gas can be delivered to California by interstate pipelines than can be taken away by intrastate gas lines, more than double the California Energy Commission's (CEO)...

AEP gets MDCH.(American Electric Power signs on to Logica's Market Data Clearing House service)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Logica's Market Data ClearingHouse (MDCH) service expanded service with the award of American Electric Power's (AEP) 3.2 million Texas customers--almost doubling the initial customer base, for MDCH. AEP plans eventually to use Logica's MDCH...

OPG adopts' KWI software.(Ontario Power Generation purchases software from KWI)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Ontario Power Generation (OPG), the fifth largest utility in North America, purchased KWI's flagship product, the kW3000 system. KWI specializes in trading and risk management software for energy companies. kW3000 will provide, OPG with a suite...

Williams selects LiveData.(Williams Energy purchases server solution)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... The Marketing and Trading Unit of Williams Energy purchased: a LiveData PersonalView server solution for their 21,000 square foot trading floor of over 400 traders who conduct $75 billion in energy transactions yearly. LiveData Inc. develops...

Mobile computing delivers rapid ROI.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... When searching for ways to lower costs and increase productivity in the hyper-competitive era of deregulation, utility companies should consider the benefits offered by mobile computing solutions for field service employees. Not only do these...

Data mart gives new spin to coal-fired data.(Information management for electric utilities)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... After controlling the controllables, like buying, moving, blending, timing and burning, coal-fired generation plants are left building masses of data in disparate systems, according to Suzanne Shea, executive vice president and co-founder of...

DAP wins contract.(DAP Technologies to supply handheld computers to Allegheny Power)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... DAP Technologies, mananufacturer of environmentally rugged handheld computers, will provide its new Windows CE 5320 handheld computers to Allegheny Power for what will be the first: Windows CE meter reading system at a major U.S. utility...

Northeast Utilities selects GE.(GE Global eXchange Services to provide technology support)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... GE Global eXchange Services was selected by Northeast Utilities, New England's largest energy company, to provide technology support for the exchange of business documents with electronic marketplaces.

Praxis gains partner.(Praxis Engineers Inc. and Energy Softworx)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Praxis Engineers Inc., dynamic coal-blending technology developer, and Energy Softworx will jointly market their technology products. to utilities and major power producers in North America and Asia. The partnership offers utilities a seamless...

3-D modeling boosts transmission capacity.(electric utilities look at options to boost capacity)
July 1, 2001... Leslie Duke North America's bulk transmission system is being pushed to the limits. California has been experiencing rolling blackouts due to inadequate generation and system inability to transmit power from producer to consumer....

Texaco, Reliant team on fuel cells.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Texaco Energy Systems Inc. (TESI) will tailor its existing fuel processing technology for Reliant Energy Power Systems' (REPS) proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system. REPS' PEM fuel cell prototype is a 7.5 kW unit that uses TESI's fuel...

ABB to retrofit Rush Island fans.(ABB Fan Group Inc. to rebuild AmerenUE fans)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... AmerenUE has contracted ABB Fan Group Inc. to rebuild existing fans at the Rush Island Power Station in Festus, Mo. AmerenUE's order comprises four 140-inch, double-width rotors. ABB will retrofit existing fans in the station by replacing...

Constellation plant receives award.(Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant named Top Industry Practice by the Nuclear Energy Institute)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... During its annual Nuclear Energy Assembly in Washington, D.C., the Nuclear Energy Institute awarded its Top Industry Practice award to the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant's Integrated Risk Management (IRM) process. Since implementing the...

Microturbine gains UL acceptance.(Capstone product gets Underwriters Laboratories certification)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Capstone MicroTurbine's Model 330 power system has been certified as meeting Underwriters Laboratories' UL1741 utility interconnection requirements. The UL1741 standard addresses safety concerns related to grid-connected power generators. The...

Pratt & Whitney, MHI to co-develop turbines.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Pratt & Whitney and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Power Systems will explore joint development of a new generation of midsize gas turbines for electric power generation. Pratt & Whitney develops aero-derivative technology, and MHI has...

GE introduces excitation control.(GE Industrial Systems' new product)(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)
July 1, 2001... GE Industrial Systems' recently introduced EX2100 turbine-generator excitation control is intended for use as a static exciter on GE 7FA and 9FA gas turbines and associated steam turbines in combined cycle applications. It has triple modular...

EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2001... Avista Corp.: Gary G. Ely is chairman of the board. Dynegy: Michael D. Capellas and H. John Riley, Jr. have been elected to the board of directors. American Electric Power: Scott N. Smith is vice president and chief risk officer. ...

MANAGEMENT METHODS.
July 1, 2001... ORGANIZE YOUR DAY If you consider how your workday is spent, in all probability you will find that much of it is devoted to just a few activities: reading, writing or dictating, telephoning and talking to people in person. Because these...