AES Corp. reported it had commenced an offering of 10 million shares of its common stock (plus an overallotment option of up to an additional 1.5 shares of its common stock). Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. is acting as the underwriter for the offering.
Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America (NGPL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Inc. reported it will build a 47-mile, $35 million, 24-in lateral natural gas pipeline from Centralia, Ill., to a point on Illinois Power Co.'s distribution system in the east St. Louis market. A contract with Dynegy Marketing and Trade, a unit of Dynegy Inc., will anchor the project. The pipeline will have transportation capacity of 300,000 dekatherms/day (Dth) of gas and is expected to be completed in June 2002, according to NGPL..
Detroit Edison, a unit of DTE Energy Co., is working with the US Department of Energy and Sandia National Laboratory to test a prototype for a transportable Advanced Battery Energy Storage System (ABESS). When connected to an electric power circuit with daily seasonal customer peak demand, ABESS reduces peaks in the electrical load by adding energy to the circuit at predetermined times. When the peak use period passes, the system will be recharged using energy from the power grid when energy cost is lower. Detroit Edison will provide the electric utility distribution circuit to test the ABESS as a load leveling and power quality device. The ABESS consists of a 200 kw/ 400 kw-hr zinc-bromine battery made by ZBB Technologies Inc. and a power conditioning system made by Inverpower Controls Ltd.
Duke Energy Corp. reported its Duke Energy International business unit has completed a $75 million expansion and modernization of its Acajutla power generating facility in El Salvador. The project included installation of an additional 100 Mw of generating capacity, bringing the total capacity of the plant to 300 Mw.
TNPC Inc., parent of the New Power Co., said it has been certified as a competitive retail electric service provider by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. The New Power Co. will begin to serve electric customers in Ohio in 2001. The New Power Co. has acquired 285,000 customers in eight states from subsidiaries of Columbia Energy Group, including 120,000 natural gas customers in Ohio.
Coastal Corp. said its Gulfstream Natural Gas System LLC has signed a $310 million purchase agreement with Berg Steel Pipe Corp., a unit of Europipe GmbH, Ratingen, Germany, for Berg to manufacture most of the steel pipe to build the Gulfstream system. The agreement covers all the 36-in. diameter pipe for the offshore section of Gulfstream as well as the 36 and 30-in. diameter pipe to construct the onshore segment in Florida. The pipe will be delivered to Port Manatee, Fla., and Mobile, Ala., starting early in 2001.
The Bank of New York, Prebon Yamane, and Amerex reported forming EnergyClear, a joint venture clearinghouse to offer comparison, netting, and settlement of wholesale energy contracts for the over-the-counter (OTC) market. The companies said they anticipate EnergyClear will initially serve participants in the wholesale power and natural gas markets beginning in spring 2001. In the future, EnergyClear anticipates servicing contracts for other OTC commodities such as crude oil, petroleum products, petrochemicals, and bandwidth.
Royale Energy Inc., San Diego, said it sold 7,000 Mcfd of gas for the 31 days in December for $14.50/Mcf, representing 70% of Royale's operated daily natural gas production. The transaction does not include nonoperated wells. Remaining December production will be sold on an index price, the company said. Additional wells will begin production during the month.
Macerich Co., a publicly traded real estate investment trust, has signed a 10-year energy management agreement with Enron Energy Services, a subsidiary of Enron Corp., for more than 40 wholly owned and joint venture properties, Enron reported. Under the agreement, Enron will manage the supply of electricity and natural gas and provide related energy management services, including energy infrastructure upgrades, to increase the energy efficiency of Macerich properties. Terms were not disclosed.