President George W. Bush has chosen St. Paul, Minn. to unveil his energy policy Thursday. Bush will first tour District Energy St. Paul before delivering his address. Nonprofit District Energy St. Paul uses a variety of fuels to supply heat and power through underground pipes to transport hot or chilled water to commercial and residential buildings in downtown St. Paul.
TransCanada Power LP, a unit of TransCanada PipeLines Ltd., said discussions with Westcoast Energy Inc. over the potential purchase of some of Westcoast's power generation facilities terminated without agreement. The partnership will continue to pursue other acquisition opportunities in the power generation sector, it said. TransCanada Power owns seven power plants in Canada and the US with total generating capacity of 328 Mw.
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it found no reason to block the proposed renewal of the operating license for Entergy Corp.'s Arkansas nuclear plant in Russellville, Ark. on environmental grounds. It said the NRC staff found there should be no significant environmental impact from an additional 20 years of plant operation and recommended that the commission determine there are no impacts that would preclude renewal of the license for environmental reasons, the NRC said in a statement. The current license for the 836 Mw Arkansas Unit 1 expires May 20, 2014.
EnerStar Power Corp. and CMS Energy Corp. jointly reported a plan to build, own, and operate a $160 million 400 Mw natural gas-fired power plant known as the CStar energy project, serving EnerStar Power's cooperative members and other Midwest power users. In addition, EnerStar has signed a long-term agreement with CMS Energy's marketing unit, under which CMS will become the principal energy supplier to EnerStar for the next 10 years. The power plant would utilize natural gas fuel transported to the site by CMS Energy's nearby interstate pipeline, CMS Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co.
Bonneville Power Administration said it will spend $15 million to fund 11 projects to provide immediate aid to endangered salmon and steelhead in the Columbia Basin. In addition, four projects will require further clarification before a final decision can be made to proceed. If these four "provisional" projects are authorized the total cost for high priority projects would be about $19 million.. All preliminary work must be sufficiently completed so that groundwork for the projects can begin by Sept. 30, 2001, BPA said.
Dominion Resources Inc., Richmond, Va., said it is forecasting peak power demand this summer at just over 16,000 Mw. The company's record power demand of 16,216 MW was set July 6, 1999. The company said it has 18,590 Mw of generation capability and that none of its power plants is scheduled to shut down for maintenance this summer.
In a draft decision, the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control determined that Connecticut Light & Power Co. will provide benefits of $24.4 million to customers to address over-earnings. Customers will benefit on a non-cash basis in the form of reduced stranded costs. The department originally approved $3.5 billion in stranded costs for CL&P, but that amount has been reduced by half, primarily from the sales of the Company�s generating facilities. A final decision is expected May 30.
Allegheny Energy Inc. said its electric generation subsidiary, Allegheny Energy Supply Co. LLC, signed a 15-year, natural gas tolling agreement with Las Vegas Cogeneration II for 222 Mw of generating capacity. Under the contract, Allegheny Energy will have control of the natural gas-fired, combined cycle generating facility in Las Vegas, Nev., beginning third quarter 2002. The output will be sold into the Western Systems Coordinating Council.
Orion Power Holdings Inc. said it filed a registration statement relating to its proposed sale of 13 million shares of its common stock and $200 million of convertible debt. The equity offering includes 10.4 million shares to be sold by Orion Power and 2.6 million shares to be sold by certain selling shareholders. Proceeds from the sale of these securities will be used to fund the development of Kelson Ridge generating station, a 1,650 Mw natural gas-fired base load facility located in Maryland, to repay outstanding debt, and fund future potential acquisition and development opportunities.
Aquila Inc. and a unit of Williams executed agreements under which Williams will provide up to 60,000 MMBtu/day of summer no-notice natural gas transportation service to the new 320 Mw Crossroads energy center to be constructed and operated by Aquila near Clarksdale, Miss., Williams reported. Williams will build 5,400 ft of 12-in. diameter pipeline and related meter facilities off its Texas Gas system to serve the simple cycle peaking facility starting in June 2002.
Keyspan Corp. and the Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) signed a proposal to build a 250 Mw gas-fired power plant in Melville, only the second major power plant to be built on Long Island in 25 years. Keyspan will build, own, and operate the plant and LIPA will purchase half the output for its customers. If approved, the plant is scheduled to come on line in summer 2004.