Black Hills Corp., Rapids City, SD, reported completing a $400 million revolving credit facility, replacing the company's previous short-term credit lines, which totaled $290 million June 30. The credit facility was arranged by ABN Amro Bank NV, US Bank NA, and Union Bank of California NA, with 10 other banks participating. The facility consists of two $200 million tranches, one of which has a 364-day term and the other a 3-year term.
Reliant Energy Wholesale Group, a unit of Reliant Resources Inc., Houston, said it plans to build a 580 Mw combined cycle generating facility near its recently completed Desert Basin facility in Pinal County, Ariz. Phase I, scheduled for commercial operation in 2004, will include two natural gas-powered turbines and one steam-powered turbine. Reliant said it will use an air-cooled condenser that reduces water use to only about 300 acre-ft/year, less than a tenth of the water used for natural gas-powered generating facilities with conventional cooling towers.
A unit of Williams, Tulsa, Okla., said it is holding an open season on its Kern River natural gas pipeline system for binding commitments for seasonal and year-round firm backhaul transportation service from Kern River's new interconnect with Questar Pipeline's ML No. 104 near Elberta, Utah, to markets along the Wasatch Front upstream of the interconnect. The new backhaul transportation service will be available on the joint in-service date of Questar Pipeline's ML No. 104 and Kern River's new Elberta receipt point, which is scheduled to be Nov. 1, 2001.
Both of American Electric Power Co. Inc.'s Cook nuclear plant units in Bridgman, Mich., are projected to be back on line by the end of September, the Columbus, Ohio, company reported. Unit 1 will return first, with Unit 2 following about 1 week later. AEP said it determined silt intrusion that resulted in the shutdown of Unit 2 Aug. 30 will require cleaning and flushing. Unit 1 was taken off-line Aug. 27 to replace a circulating water pump discharge valve, but both units are affected by the silting issue.
Piedmont Natural Gas Co., Charlotte, NC, said it joined Dominion Resources Inc., Richmond, Va., as a 33% equity owner in Greenbrier Pipeline Co. LLC, which is proposing a $497 million, 600,000 decatherms/day 263-mile interstate gas pipeline linking multiple supply basins and storage to growing demand in residential, commercial, industrial, and power generation markets in the Southeast. The proposed pipeline will extend through southwest Virginia and into Granville County, NC. The FERC certificate application for the project will be filed in the first quarter 2002.
Alliant Energy International, a unit of Alliant Energy Corp., Cedar Rapids, Ohio, reported it acquired three combined heat and power (CHP) facilities in the People's Republic of China through Peak Pacific Investment Co. Ltd., a newly created joint venture company. A unit of the World Bank will provide a $25 million, 10-year loan to Peak Pacific to help fund the company's investments in China, the company said. The three acquired facilities are coal-fired and have a total generation capacity of 225 Mw.
CMS Energy Corp., Dearborn, Mich., said the Palisades nuclear plant is expected return to power operation in January 2002. The plant was taken out of service on June 20 to inspect a steam leak on a control rod drive assembly. Consumers said it estimated capital expenditures for the components and their installation to be $25-$30 million. From the start of the June 20 outage through the end of 2001, the incremental cost of replacement power and maintenance associated with the outage is now estimated to be 50¢cents/share of common stock.
Florida Power & Light Co. said it contracted for delivery of firm power from two peaking units owned by Constellation Energy Group. Inc., Baltimore, Md. The contracts call for the firm delivery to FPL of the output of two of Oleander's four 150 Mw generating units beginning next summer through mid-2003 for one unit, and mid-2005 for the other.