Electric Light & Power articles from November 2001

Electric Light & Power archives from November 2001

Southern California edison dodges bankruptcy bullet.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... It's as if Southern California Edison (SCE) has cheated death, if a mere financial one. On October 5--with a firing squad of creditors closing in--federal judge Ronald Lew ruled on a proposed settlement in the lawsuit SCE filed against...

PG&E reorganization plan creates concern among advocates, legislators.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... In late September, bankrupt California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) filed their reorganization plan. Under the terms of the plan, the utility will split off from its parent company, PG&E Corp., by the end of 2002. "This plan is an...

Absolut Alternative. (Absolut Power).(vodka company uses solar panels on billboard)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Caption: Absolut Vodka uses a unique billboard made up of solar panels in the shape of an Absolut bottle to respond to California's energy crisis. The panels harness the sun during the day and use that stored energy to illuminate the two-word...

FERC's dysfunctional family. (Commentary).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2001... With the business of transmission undergoing significant change, utility companies have more than a passing interest in protecting their systems' considerable assets. Reviewing developments in this reshuffling, it appears FERC's mandated union...

Letters.
November 1, 2001... Nuclear Reaction In your front-page article in the September 2001 issue of EL&P regarding nuclear generators, it was very unsettling to know that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission only reassures that current nuclear storage techniques are...

NERC pushes congress for reliability legislation. (News).(North American Electric Reliability Council)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... In mid-October, North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) General Counsel David Cook testified before the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; he stated that legislation is necessary to ensure...

ABB gets in the loop. (Projects, Contracts).(contract from Commonwealth Edison)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... ABB has won a $44 million order from Commonwealth Edison to build a new substation for downtown Chicago. ABB's scope of supply includes conceptual design, civil engineering, equipment supply, installation and commissioning of the De Koven...

Sempra goes to college. (Energy Marketing).(Sempra Energy Solutions signs contracts with universities)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Sempra Energy Solutions has signed energy services contracts with State University of New York, Stony Brook, the University of San Diego and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Sempra stated that the contracts were for...

Calpine gets CEC to flex muscle. (Legal and Regulatory).(California Energy Commission approves new power plant)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... After a two-year plus struggle to get state and local approval, Calpine Corp. has received the final OK from the California Energy Commission (CEC) for its Metcalf power plant in San Jose, Calif. CEO exercised its "override authority" over...

Duke to buy westcoast. (Mergers, Aaquisitions).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Duke Energy plans to acquire Westcoast Energy, an energy company with a network of Canadian-based assets, in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $8.5 billion, including debt assumed. Duke believes the acquisition can be...

DQE Inc. (Executive appointments).(includes several companies' hirings)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... DQE Inc.: Morgan O'Brien has been promoted to president and chief executive, replacing David Marshall, who is retiring. SmartSynch: Dale R. Pilger has been appointed chief operating officer. Cleco Corp.: Dilek Samil has been named...

Tax costs plague grid interconnections. (Finance).(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2001... The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) generally provides that all power generators must have equal and unfettered access to the transmission grid. However, this access comes at a cost in that generators are required to build the...

Terrorism casts shadow onto contracts. (Finance Briefs).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2001... Reliant Resources Inc. and Orion Power Holdings Inc. included a clause addressing terrorism as part of their $2.9 billion merger, according to WSJ.com. Under the agreement, changes in power markets and distribution systems aren't grounds for...

Capstone Turbine stumbles in Q3. (Finance Briefs).(shipments and revenues fall)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2001... Capstone's Q3 microturbine shipments and revenues dropped off significantly. A total of 80 units were shipped (compared to Q2's 400 units) and revenues were about $3M. The substantial sales drop raised doubt as to whether economic conditions...

Fitch affirms AEP's senior notes BBB+. (Finance Briefs).(American Electric Power)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... American Electric Power's announcement that it will acquire 4,000 MW of coal-fired generation in the U.K. from Edison Mission Energy gamered a BBB+ rating for its senior unsecured notes. AEF expects the two acquired stations (Fiddler's Ferry...

Merrill Lynch gives thumbs up to coal producers. (Finance Briefs).(Arch Coal, CONSOL Energy, Massey Energy and Peabody Energy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Merrill Lynch reiterated its outlook for significant earnings momentum for Arch Coal, CONSOL Energy, Massey Energy and Peabody Energy beginning in 2002 because most 2002 (and some of 2003) sales contracts were locked-in at substantially higher...

NYPA completes debt refinancing. (Finance Briefs).(New York Power Authority )(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2001... New York Power Authority agreed to sell $191M of Series A revenue bonds and will use the proceeds from the sale to refund the Nov. 15, 2001, tenders of a portion of its taxable Series 1998 B revenue bonds in the principal amount of $198M....

Swiss Re new Markets & Mirant offer insurance product. (Finance Briefs).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2001... Swiss Re New Markets Corp. (SRNM) and Mirant entered into a cooperation agreement to provide generator forced outage insurance (GFOI). They will focus on IOUs, munis and coops with less than 2,000 MW generating capacity and IPPs with less than...

Going by the numbers: Markets drive new wholesale, retail highs. (Industry Report).(operating performance report of utilities Electric Light and Power)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2001... Last year's turbulent markets made their mark on EL&P's operating performance report. For example, the top 10 sellers of wholesale power showed a 23 percent increase in their average wholesale rate (from $30 per MWh in 1999 to $37 in 2000)...

Diversified assets swell, returns lag. (Electric & Gas Trading).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2001... While trading and marketing operations tend to overshadow many utilities' other subsidiary businesses, they are not necessarily the most profitable business units. Although deregulation has driven most significant top line growth from...

Lackluster commodity margins make energy services shine. (Electric & Gas Trading).(Xenergy Inc. makes industry projections)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... In response to thinning commodity margins and mild residential customer interest, energy suppliers are looking to the commercial and industrial energy services market for opportunities to offset losses and add value. A range of supplier...

Storage levels contribute to bearish natural gas prices. (E&GT Briefs).(Energy Security Analysis Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Growth in domestic natural gas production combined with expanded Canadian exports has almost completely filled storage facilities a month ahead of the traditional start to winter draws, said ESAI in the October North American Natural Gas...

iSpheres application includes expertise. (E&GT Briefs).(Energy Trading Opportunity Manager software)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... iSpheres Corp. released iSpheres Energy Trading Opportunity Manager, a real-time application for energy traders. The application enables energy traders to dynamically create rules for discovering and acting on real-time trading opportunities...

Duke energy acquires piece of canadian gas market. (E&GT Briefs).(Duke Energy Corp. buys Westcoast Energy Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Duke Energy Corp. agreed to acquire Canada's Westcoast Energy Inc. for $3.5 billion, expanding its natural-gas pipeline network serving North America's power plants. Duke said it would pay about $27.90 in cash and stock for each share of...

BPA selects altra power transaction management. (E&GT Briefs).(United States. Bonneville Power Administration)(Altra Energy Technologies Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) became the latest public power agency to select Altra Power to fully automate its energy transaction delivery processes. BPA's transmission system accounts for three-quarters of the Pacific Northwest's...

PECO renews planalytics contract. (E&GT Briefs).(PECO Energy Co., Planalytics Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... PECO renewed its contract to use Planalytics' Weathernomics Gas Buyer, a financial risk management tool that helps companies manage price volatility and contain costs when purchasing and hedging natural gas. The Web-delivered tool provides...

Tidelands seeks permits to build gas line to Mexico. (E&GT Briefs).(Tidelands Oil and Gas, Reef International L.L.C.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Tidelands Oil & Gas Corp.'s subsidiary Reef International LLC filed for construction and operating permits for a 12-in, gas pipeline, a 6-in. propane and butane pipeline, and a 6-in. standby line from Eagle Pass, Tex., into Piedras Negras,...

Sempra energy unit to surrender Nova Scotia natural gas distribution franchise. (E&GT Briefs).(Sempra Energy, Sempra Atlantic Gas Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Sempra Energy's Sempra Atlantic Gas unit has notified the Government of Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board that the company intends to surrender its natural gas distribution franchise. The decision comes after months of...

AMR, load management juggle supply & demand. (Information Technology).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... A number of problems are hampering the creation of a successful retail electricity market in the United States. Many of the solutions lie with advanced AMR and load management systems. Customer Interface Unit (CIU) technology, coupled with a...

TXU creates timeless virtual office. (It Briefs).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... TXU is sharing jobs over the Internet with its Australian subsidiary through Trans-Pacific computer network links. The move capitalizes on time differences in the U.S. and Australia and sophisticated communications technology to create a...

Xcel energy trains with plateau systems. (It Briefs).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Xcel Energy selected Plateau System's enterprise software to manage distance learning and instructor-led training for 13,000 employees at over 40 plants in the U.S. Xcel is consolidating its entire training program on the Plateau 4 Learning...

GE power systems supports BC hydro projects. (It Briefs).(British Columbia)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... GE Power Systems has supplied services and technology to support two diverse projects--a turbine overhaul and a transmission grid management program--for British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority (BC Hydro). GE recently completed an overhaul...

NYPA seeks IT ROI data. (It Briefs).(New York Power Authority)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... The New York Power Authority (NYPA) chose Scalable Software's Survey Technology Manager to measure computer and software usage on more than 600 PCs at its headquarters to obtain accurate data to evaluate ROI for software deployments. Survey...

Mass. DTE monitors compliance with LiveData. (It Briefs).(Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... The Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy (DTE), responsible for monitoring service quality, purchased the first ever Regulatory Compliance Management (RCM) system from LiveData Inc. The RCM monitors and analyzes outages,...

GE acquires German IT service provider, sofion AG. (It Briefs).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... General Electric Co. acquired sofion AG, an IT service provider based in Freiburg, Germany. sofion will be integrated into GE Smallworld, part of GE Power Systems' Energy Management Services business. The acquisition of sofion will provide GE...

Total solutions automation marries vendor, utility. (Technology).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Total solutions automation and monitoring is not your father's control system--well, not entirely. It starts with your father's system and then adds in variables like diagnostics to expand a plant's interconnections, but for the average utility...

ALSTOM acquires Bitronics. (Tech Briefs).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... ALSTOM has acquired Bitronics Inc., a manufacturer of high-performance power measurement instruments. The company, which will be renamed ALSTOM T&D Bitronics Inc., will serve as the development center for power measurement technology within...

Active power works on the fly. (Tech Briefs).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Active Power Inc. has shipped its next generation CleanSource DC product, CleanSource2. An initial shipment to Invensys Powerware Division will support Visa's newest data center in Denver, Colo. CleanSource2 builds on Active Power's flywheel...

H Power agrees With DuPont. (Tech Briefs).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... H Power Corp., a fuel cell development company, has formed a joint development agreement with DuPont Fluoroproducts aimed at developing direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) for portable and mobile applications. The two companies will work to...

Old call centers evolve into new CRM animal. (Customer Systems).(Statistical Data Included)
November 1, 2001... The customer may be the driver for utilities improving efficiencies in areas like billing, services, and reliability, but investments in call centers can yield more significant customer satisfaction. In the drive to increase customer...

Midwest energy utilizes DocuCorp. (CS Briefs).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Midwest Energy has tapped DocuCorp International's application service provider capabilities to enable Internet presentation of its utility bills, which DocuCorp also helped to redesign. Midwest Energy serves electric and natural gas customers...

Woodward and sixth dimension network generation. (CS Briefs).(Woodward Governor)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Woodward Governor Co. joined Sixth Dimension in a program to demonstrate the capabilities of a comprehensive networked generation control system for electric power generation equipment. The networked generation approach allows energy managers...

Alliance data systems expands contract. (CS Briefs).(with NYSEG Solutions Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Alliance Data Systems Corp. signed an agreement to expand services under a current long-term contract with NYSEG Solutions Inc. (NSI). Under terms of the agreement, Alliance Data will provide electronic bill presentment and payment services...

Dominion chooses CheckFree suite. (CS Briefs).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Dominion selected CheckFree i-Solutions' suite of software and payment services to enhance existing electronic billing and payment. Dominion will use CheckFree i-Utility software--developed specifically for utility companies--to deliver...

Billserv joins spectrum network. (CS Briefs).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Billserv Inc. entered into a biller service provider processor agreement with Spectrum EBP allowing Billserv to distribute its clients' electronic bills to the nearly 8 million online consumers served by Spectrum's founding financial...

Give your people Self-Confidence. (Management Methods).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Show employees that you believe in their ability to do a job and, usually, they will move heaven and earth not to let you down. Not everyone has native initiative, to be sure. But it's a quality that a wise manager will cultivate in his...

How's your people sense? (Management Methods).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Every good manager appreciates that his success derives from the performance of his people. Consequently, it's second nature to be concerned about their feelings. Check on your own people sense with this brief quiz. * Before making a...

Piat breaks ground. (Projects, Contracts).(Illinois Power, Burns and McDonnell Engineering, Aquila Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Piatt County, Illinois Power, Bums & McDonnell Engineering and Aquila Inc. have begun construction on a 510 MW, gas-fired power plant, Goose Creek Energy Center, located between Deland and the Village of Lodge in Goose Creek Township, III....

Constellation to power FPL. (Energy Marketing).(Florida Power & Light)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Constellation Energy Group has signed two contracts to supply capacity and energy from its Oleander Power Project to Florida Power & Light (FPL), beginning in the summer of 2002.

Southern union claims dismissed. (Legal and Regulatory).(Southwest Gas, CEO Michael Maffie)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... A U.S. District Court dismissed Southern Union's claims for lost profits against Southwest Gas and its CEO Michael Maffie. While the Court did not dismiss all the claims against Southwest Gas or Maffie, the ruling limits Southern Union's...

FERC approves Pepco, Conectiv merger. (Legal and Regulatory).(Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Potomac Electric Power Co.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Potomac Electric Power Co. (Pepco) and Conectiv have received approval of their proposed merger from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Pepco also announced that regulators in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia and the District of...

Entergy gets yankee nuclear plant. (Mergers, Acquisitions).(Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Entergy Corp. will purchase the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant for $180 million ($145 million for the plant and related assets and $35 million for nuclear fuel). Vermont Yankee will become Entergy's 10th nuclear unit.

Reliant to snag Orion. (Mergers, Acquisitions).(Reliant Resources Inc., Orion Power Holdings Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2001... Reliant Resources Inc. and Orion Power Holdings Inc. have entered into a definitive merger agreement. Reliant Resources will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Orion Power in a transaction valued at approximately $2.9 billion. Reliant...