Electric Light & Power articles from October 2001

Electric Light & Power archives from October 2001

Analysts fear terrorist attack could delay industrial gas, power recovery.(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2001... Energy economists just two weeks ago expected industrial natural gas and power demand to begin reviving, possibly as early as the fourth quarter of this year. The right signs were falling into place. "A number of things looked fairly...

Alliance RTO yearns for National Grid's services.(Alliance Regional Transmission Organization )(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... The Alliance Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) wants UK's National Grid to become their managing member. Of course, such action is subject to a final OK by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), who will determine if National...

CPUC pulls choice from the hands of California customers.(California Public Utilities Commission votes to suspend retail choice for California's power consumers)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... In late September, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) voted to suspend retail choice for California's power consumers. According to the CPUC, this cessation will make it easier to pay for the $12.5 billion bond it has in the...

Dancing with the devil.(Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's new authority)(Government Activity)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... In the month's time since my last commentary, things have drastically changed. As our nation moves forward in its daily life following the violence of September 11, the greater context for that life seems to contain a nagging, nebulous quality...

LETTERS.(Brief Article)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2001... Completing the Tally Aug. 24, 2001 Pam-I greatly enjoy EL&P, and as an equity analyst in the power space and former power industry engineer, I want to give you some kudos. I am compelled to write that I found the commentary in the...

Sunflower to grow Kan. plant.(Sunflower Electric Power Corp.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Sunflower Electric Corp. and International Energy Partners LP will develop a 600 MW coal-fired power plant near Garden City. Kan. Costs are estimated between $600 and $800 million.

AEP focuses on emissions.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... American Electric Power and Buckeye Power Inc. plan to construct new emission control systems at their jointly owned Cardinal Plant in Brilliant, Ohio. According to AEP, the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems will reduce [NO.sub.x]...

PSEG Global starts new Calif. Facility.(Hanford Energy Park)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Hanford Energy Park, a 90 MW natural gas-fired PSEG Global power plant, is operating. The simple-cycle peaker plant, based on two General Electric LM6000 gas turbines, is located in Hanford, Calif. The plant was designed to provide up to 90 MW...

PG&E begins MW construction.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... PG&E Corp.'s National Energy Group has begun constructing the 1.170 MW natural gas-fired Covert Generating Plant in SW Michigan. The Covert plant is slated to start operating in the summer of 2003.

Gap between on-peak, off-peak power prices traced to technology.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Over the past year, DRI*WEFA has become involved in several running debates in which it was argued that on-peak and off-peak power prices will converge over time. DRI*WEFA believes that the currently observed spread between on-peak and off-peak...

Demand fires up new coal plants.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... As electricity demand increases at alarming rates, coal is once again a viable fuel option for developers of new power plants. Based on current growth, industry sources estimate that the United States will need an additional 390,000 MW of...

Calpine powers Exelon.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Calpine Corp. has sold 100 MW of power--sourced from Calpine's Morris Power Plant SW of Chicago--to Exelon Generation's Power Team under the terms of a 10-year agreement.

Cleco, Mirant pursue development.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Cleco Corp. and Mirant Corp. have agreed to jointly develop power projects that could add more than 2,000 MW of generation capacity in the South. The agreement involves sites for potential natural gas-fired peaking and combined cycle units as...

GE sends DG to Calif.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... GE Distributed Power secured contracts during the first six months of this year to supply midrange power generation equipment for installations in California and the Pacific Northwest totaling 131 MW, according to company sources.

Framatome supplies TVA.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Framatome ANP Inc. will supply nuclear fuel and fuel related services to the Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry Nuclear Station, Units 2 and 3. The contract award will support TVA's joint program with the DOE to reduce existing...

Co-ops stand to gain with grid management system.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... A new software technology may improve transmission and distribution efficiency through early detection of variances. A consortium of companies is testing the software to be used by rural electric cooperatives and municipal power authorities....

Pennsylvania remains frontrunner, but market could hit the wall.
October 1, 2001... Restructuring proponents often tout Pennsylvania as the single shining jewel in the deregulation crown. Up until a few months ago, it seemed the Pennsylvania market could do no wrong. It was better, stronger, faster than the rest. These...

MISO gets tax exempt utilities.(Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator Inc)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... The Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator Inc. (MISO) approved the admission of two municipally-owned, tax-exempt utilities--Indiana Municipal Power Agency and Lincoln Electric System--as members of the regional grid operator. MISO's...

AEP seeks FERC OK.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... American Electric Power filed documents with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeking approval for changes they deem necessary to complete a planned restructuring. The filing seeks to transfer jurisdictional facilities to accomplish the...

EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS.(Enron Corp.'s new president and chief operating officer)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Enron Corp.: Greg Whalley was named president and chief operating officer, and Mark Frevert, vice-chairman. Whalley and Frevert will join Kenneth L. Lay, Enron's chairman and CEO, in the office of the chairman. Lay, who turned over CEO...

Merchant plant finance looks to insurance for solutions.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Depending on what consultants' assessments you believe, there are roughly 660 GW of electric power capacity in various stages of planning and development throughout the world at this time. To EPC contractors and equipment providers, that's...

Allegheny Energy divides to conquer market landscape.(Creates new holding company)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Allegheny Energy Inc. recently announced a spin-off as part of a strategy to gain liquidity and clarify presence in regulated and unregulated market sectors. Allegheny Energy Inc. filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission...

Power Measurement files IPO.(Energy management systems goes public)(International Pages)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Power Measurement Inc., maker of energy management systems, has filed to go public. The British Columbia, Canada-based company is looking to raise $115 million and use the net proceeds to repay all outstanding borrowing under a bank credit...

Peabody sees EBITDA up 5 to 10 percent in 2001.(world's largest privately owned coal company)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Peabody Energy, the world's largest privately owned coal company, sees its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rising 5 percent to 10 percent for this calendar year, and up to 50 percent next year, on higher...

Cadence secures additional funding.(Facility expense management software and services company)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Facility expense management software and services company, Cadence, Cincinnati, received another round of funding from Cinergy Ventures and Insight Capital Partners. Its latest software offering is Cadence Enterprise. Cadence helps multiple...

Milbank backs Enron wind farm.($36 mn debt financing for wind farm project in Pecos County, Texas)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... The Los Angeles office of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP served as counsel to Enron Wind Corp. in the $36 million debt financing of Indian Mesa, a 25.5 MW wind farm project in Pecos County, Texas. Development and construction of the...

El Paso sells $700M in 30-year debt.(pipeline company )(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... El Paso Corp., the Houston-based pipeline company formerly known as El Paso Energy, sold $700 million in 30-year medium-term notes, according to sole lead manager J.P. Morgan.

Customers lack faith in power pricing but love the service.(2001 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study)(Statistical Data Included)
October 1, 2001... Your residential customer isn't a happy camper. According to J.D. Power and Associates' 2001 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, faith in utilities has plunged. In fact, customers in 39 out of the 42 states involved in...

EDT fit to survive in competitive retail energy markets.(electronic data interchange )
October 1, 2001... While electronic data interchange (EDI) primarily evolved outside the energy industry, it remains an information sharing staple in competitive retail electric and natural gas markets. EDI as traditionally known will continue to exist for a...

Suppliers value Pantellos.(47 new suppliers added to energy exchange)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Pantellos continues to gain momentum with the addition of 47 new suppliers to its independent marketplace, averaging more than three new suppliers a week since April. Pantellos provides easy integration into the marketplace through technology...

Alliant chooses OSI monarch.(Open Systems International Inc. gets contract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Open Systems International Inc. (OSI) was awarded two separate contracts from Alliant Energy for the implementation of a Generation Management System (GMS) and a Distribution SCADA system. Both systems are based on OSI's open monarch platform.

Excelergy partners with Xperts.(Formal partnership signed)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Excelergy signed a formal partnership with Virginia-based systems integration firm Xperts Inc. Xperts will use Exclergy's two open co-action software product lines: Excelergy eXACT and the Excelergy Advanced Business Package for clients...

GE Power Systems acquires Praxis.(Praxis Engineers Inc. sells full ownership)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... GE Power Systems will fully acquire Praxis Engineers Inc., provider of coal-fired plant optimization software solutions. GE Power Systems purchased 40 percent of Praxis in 1997 and will now have full ownership of the company. Praxis Engineers...

NEMA releases metering code.(American National Standard for Electric Meters Code for Electricity Metering)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... NEMA, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, released ANSI 012.1-2001; American National Standard for Electric Meters Code for Electricity Metering. This code established acceptable performance criteria for new types of ac watthour...

Mincom reports ERP success.(Mincom's enterprise resource planning software )(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Queensland Australia's Tarong Energy was the first company to go live with the latest release of Mincom's enterprise resource planning software solution, Ellipse, developed and tested with leading Australian utility companies Tarong and Western...

ABB releases Web-enabled AMR.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... ABB Inc. released EnergyAxis AMR Server version 2.4 which adds an AMR Web Report Manager and enhanced features for cost effective metering operations and value-added services for utility customers. The EnergyAxis AMR Server provides utilities...

ScottishPower likes TIBCO.(TIBOC's enterprise application integration software contract)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... ScottishPower chose TIBOC's enterprise application integration (EAI) solutions as its worldwide standard for corporate-wide integration. The license agreement also includes TIBCO's business process management, business-to-business integration...

eScout makes deal with UtiliCorp.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... eScout inked a deal with UtiliCorp United in which eScout will provide UtilitCorp with an e-procurement solution, whereby the company will use its internal People Soft software to access the eScout MarketPlace, an e-commerce exchange with an...

Thinking about the box: Ten ways to mitigate distribution transformer losses.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Every day, across the entire North American power grid, transmission and distribution system losses consume as much as eight to ten percent of the total net generation. About two-thirds of those losses are associated with wires, and the...

Control technology chisels away at mercury emissions.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... The initial phase of testing for ADA-ES's mercury control technology has been completed at Southern Company's Plant Gaston near Wilsonville, Ala. Results from the test show that mercury can be removed at rates between 80 and 85 percent...

Calpine to purchase Siemens turbines.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Calpine Corp announced plans to purchase 27 steam turbine generators from Siemens Westinghouse for its new fleet of North American power generating facilities. Calpine expects turbine deliveries to begin in September 2002, with full inventory...

Pratt & Whitney breaks a mil.(its FT8 fleet of industrial engines achieves one million hours of worldwide operation)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Pratt & Whitney Power Systems has reached a milestone as its FT8 fleet of industrial engines achieves one million hours of worldwide operation. The first FT8 gas turbine was installed in June 1991, and the fleet has grown to more than 125 units...

Intermagnetics to install HTS cable.(high-temperature superconducting (HTS) power cable in Albany, N.Y.)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Intermagnetics General Corp.'s IGC-Super-Power subsidiary will lead a $20 million project to install an underground, high-temperature superconducting (HTS) power cable in Albany, N.Y. The cable, to be installed in Niagara Mohawk Power Corp.'s...

AWEA urges panel to go with the wind.(American Wind Energy Association)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Wind energy can make a major contribution to America's electricity supply, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), if new transmission lines are built and transmission system operating procedures take the characteristics of...

Southern States conducts biofueled demo.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Southern States Power Co. Inc. held a demonstration of its standby back up power generation project for the University of California, Riverside (UCR) utilizing 100 percent biofuel. South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) permitted...

Black & Veatch goes to Washington.(Moses Lake, Wash, airport)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Black & Veatch and Overland Contracting Inc., the construction subsidiary of Black & Veatch, recently completed total engineering, procurement and construction work on a 20 unit diesel generator project in Washington, with the first unit...

Energy risk management: making the shift to Earnings at Risk.(Advancements in energy risk management capabilities)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Energy risk management was born during the deregulation of natural gas and power over the last decade. At the same time, there was a general mismanagement of the balance between the asset base that provides all types of energy and an...

ICF [SO.sub.2] study forecast risk.(Emissions Market Outlook 2001 )(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... ICF Consulting's [SO.sub.2] Emissions Market Outlook 2001 identified substantial upside risk for allowance prices due to coal market dynamics and probable cuts in the current emissions cap. ICF Consulting forecast these risks in its tenth...

Aquila launched Web-based risk manager.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Aquila Inc. launched Riski 80, a product providing full-service management of commodity transactions via the Web. Riski 80 will be marketed to utilities, municipalities, energy aggregators and small energy marketers, as well as large industrial...

Trader bills with LODESTAR.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... AmerenEnergy, the trading subsidiary of Ameren Corp., will implement LODESTAR Corp.'s BillingExpert to manage the company's increasingly complex electricity rate billing system for industrial and wholesale customers. BillingExpert is part of...

APX dabbles in ERCOT area.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Automated Power Exchange Inc. (APX) launched the APX Qualified Scheduling Entity (QSE) Service and the APX ERCOT Market in the ERCOT's new single control area. The APX services, with an initial total of nine power industry customers, are the...

e-Acumen delivered to Pinnacle West.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... e-Acumen Inc. has nearly completed the first installation of AcuRisk at Pinnacle West Capital Corp., parent company of Arizona Public Service Co. A comprehensive risk management solution dedicated to energy, AcuRisk combines physical assets,...

Financial institutions hesitant to trade energy.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Banks will have to wait for the major players- energy firms-to bring the energy trading market on a par with the financial products markets, said a report from Meridien Research. A number of issues must be resolved before financial institutions...

Altra Power dominates Calif.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Altra Energy Technologies Inc. implemented its state-of-the-art energy transaction delivery management system for California's largest energy player. Altra successfully installed Altra Power in one division of the California Department of Water...

Lagging industrial demand hurting gas use.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Natural gas consumption is expected to decline 1.3 percent this year, compared to last, a government agency said, reflecting sharp reductions in industrial gas demand, particularly related to processes other than the preduction of electricity....

KWI grows client base.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Alliant Energy Corp. purchased KWI's kW3000 system for front to back office management of trading, scheduling and generation assets. Alliant Energy is the second major energy company in Wisconsin to purchase the kW3000 system for...

Web tools and market data for traders.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Evolution Markets introduced a new Web site (www.evomarkets.com) with emissions and coal calculators and daily arid historical environmental market data. The site assists companies managing emissions to determine credits they might have and how...

AES NewEnergy faces ERCOT with Henwood.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... AES NewEnergy chose Henwood's RACM software application to provide sub-hourly forecasting and scheduling in the newly opened ERCOT market. RACM, a retail load management and forecasting system, is a major component of Henwood's EnerPrise...

Utilities positioned to drive residential gateway market.
October 1, 2001... Tight electric power supplies and high consumer demand for that power may help propel one relatively new technology into millions of homes over the course of the next three to five years. If the technology does indeed take hold, it is likely...

SRP manages customers with Rockwell.(Salt River Project)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Phoenix-based Salt River Project (SRP) finalized installation of a Rockwell Electronic Commerce customer-contact management solution to improve SRP's customer service capabilities. The installation includes Centergistic Solutions' AgentView...

JEA tackles customer management with SPL.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... JEA, Florida's. largest municipally owned electric power and water utility, chose SPL WorldGroup's (SPL) customer management product, designed and built by SPL and marketed by PeopleSoft Inc. JEA will implement the product to manage and...

Billserv selected Network Appliance storage solutions.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... Billserv Inc. deployed Network Appliance Inc.'s NetApp enterprise-class filers' in their IBM DB2 database environment. With Network Appliance providing the network storage to support its DB2 Universal Database servers, Billserv is able to...

EPCOR launched Canada's customer information services.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... EPCOR launched Canada's first comprehensive online suite of software applications that help residential and business customers understand how they are using energy and/or water, and what they can do to use it more efficiently. EPCOR, which...

Excelergy enables FES growth strategy.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... FirstEnergy Services Corp. (FES), an unregulated subsidiary, of FirstEnergy Corp., will increase the number of retail gas and electricity accounts it manages using the Excelergy Advanced Business Package software product. Since 1998,...

MANAGEMENT METHODS.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2001... UNDECIDED? TAKE A POLL! Politicians do it. Corporations do it. When you aren't sure what course of action to follow, why shouldn't you? Two heads are frequently better than one, and three may be still better. Of course, this is only true...