Kinder Morgan formally withdrew its application for the Northeast Energy Direct natural gas pipeline in a filing with FERC (CP16-21).
Tennessee Gas Pipeline, a Kinder Morgan subsidiary, in April suspended development of the $3.3 billion project that would have brought 1.3 million dekatherms per day into the New York-New England power markets from Pennsylvania. (See Kinder Morgan Board Suspends Work on Northeast Energy Direct Pipeline.) It cited a lack of customers and low natural gas prices.
“Tennessee provides notice of its withdrawal of the application in this proceeding,” the company wrote to FERC, with no further explanation.
More: New Hampshire Union Leader
Talen Energy Signals Retreat from Colstrip
Talen Energy gave notice that it will pull out of its operator role at the Colstrip coal-fired power plant in Montana by May 2018. The Pennsylvania-based merchant generating company co-owns the plant near Billings, part of the fleet it inherited from its predecessor, PPL.
Talen notified the other owners of the plant that its role as operator of the giant complex is “not economically viable” and that they should start seeking a new operator. “This decision is part of Talen Energy’s overall strategy to conclude our business operations in the state,” said Todd Martin, the company spokesman. Talen is obligated to give two years’ notice.
The other owners are Avista, Puget Sound Energy, Portland General Electric, PacifiCorp and NorthWestern Energy. Unlike the plant’s other shareholders, Talen is an unregulated entity and unable to recover costs related to the plant.
More: Billings Gazette; The Associated Press
TVA’s Watts Bar 2 Nuke Goes Critical
The Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Unit 2 went critical last week, the first new nuclear reactor to achieve a self-sustaining nuclear reaction in 20 years. When it comes online and is synchronized to the grid, it will bring 1,411 MW of generation to the region.
The plant’s $4.7 billion cost is far less than another new reactor in the wings, Southern Co.’s Plant Vogtle in Georgia, which has an estimated $14 billion price tag. Construction of Watts Bar began nearly 30 years ago.
More: Times Free Press
Ameren Illinois Touts Savings Secured Through Auction
Ameren Illinois is touting the lower prices it secured in April during MISO’s annual capacity auction. The company said its 2016 $72/MW-day capacity prices — compared with $150/MW-day in last year’s auction — will translate into a $1.75/month savings for the average utility customer.
“This year’s capacity planning auction resulted in a much more equitable distribution of charges for customers in the MISO footprint,” said Richard J. Mark, president of Ameren Illinois.
However, watchdog group Citizens Utility Board said more can be done to lower costs, including purchasing electricity at off-peak times. “Nobody thinks their electric bills are low, so we’ve got a lot more to do to fix the Illinois electricity market,” said CUB spokesman Jim Chilsen.
More: Herald & Review
Invenergy to Build 25-MW Solar Plant on Long Island
Invenergy announced that it will build a 25-MW solar facility on the grounds of Long Island’s former Tallgrass Golf Course in Brookhaven.
The Long Island Power Authority will buy the output, the company said. The plant, to be called the Shoreham Solar Commons project, still needs the approvals of the New York attorney general’s office and the state comptroller, according to a company spokeswoman. Construction is expected to begin in October.
More: Bloomberg
Lincoln Electric Accelerates Local Transmission Project
Lincoln Electric System, the public utility serving Nebraska’s capital city, is accelerating the timeline for a $17.7 million transmission line and substation that will help meet increasing electric demands. The SPP member plans to complete its Southeast Reliability Project in in 2018, two years earlier than planned.
LES held three open houses for the project last year and is now expediting the project to stay ahead of continuing development in the area, LES representatives said during the monthly meeting of the utility’s board.
The project includes construction of three substations and a 7.5-mile-long 115-kV overhead transmission line, as well as the relocation of a 345-kV line that will follow the same route.
More: Lincoln Journal Star
Chinese American Subsidiary Acquires Texas Wind Farm
China’s Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology says its American subsidiary, Goldwind Americas, has signed an agreement with Renewable Energy Systems Americas to acquire the 160-MW Rattlesnake Wind Project in West Texas.
Goldwind says the Rattlesnake project will be its largest U.S. wind project once it is operational.
Located approximately 125 miles northwest of Austin, the project will use 64 Goldwind 2.5-MW permanent magnet direct-drive wind turbines. According to Goldwind, the development represents the first phase of an expected 300-MW wind project, which will be constructed under a balance-of-plant agreement by RES.
More: North American Windpower
ND Allam Cycle Project Sponsors Seek More Funding
North Dakota researchers and regional energy companies are asking the state’s Lignite Research Council for $3.5 million to continue research on what the industry considers a promising carbon-capture technology.
Energy & Environmental Research Center, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, 8 Rivers and ALLETE say the funds are needed for further lab testing and pre-planning for a synthetic gas-fired pilot plant using the Allam Cycle system for lignite coal. The Allam Cycle, invented by 8 Rivers, uses pressurized carbon dioxide rather than steam to generate power more efficiently, cheaply and cleanly.
A $140 million, 50-MW natural gas-fired Allam Cycle pilot power plant in Texas will start up in 2017. If the technology is proven to work with natural gas, the lignite coal industry is hopeful the system and processes can be adapted to handle gasified lignite.
More: The Bismarck Tribune
New York Hydro Owner Says It Has Buyer
The owner of the 33-MW Glen Park hydro facility near Watertown, N.Y., says it has a prospective buyer for the plant.
Calgary-based Veresen did not identify the prospective buyer, but it expects to close the $61 million transaction by the end of September, pending FERC approval.
Veresen, previously known as Fort Chicago Energy Partners, acquired the facility in 2010 for $80.1 million.
More: HydroWorld.com
Caithness II Plant Proponents Urge PSEG, LIPA to Deal
Proponents of Caithness II, a proposed 750-MW natural gas-fired power plant, are calling for PSEG Long Island and the Long Island Power Authority to enter into power purchase agreements with the plant. Caithness Energy already operates a 350-MW plant in Yaphank on Long Island and sells the output to PSEG and LIPA.
PSEG hasn’t committed to Caithness II and questions the need for it. But local elected officials and others say the area is served by outdated, inefficient plants that should be replaced.
“Caithness II will help offset Long Island’s reliance on aging power plants that are inefficient and costly,” said Brookhaven Councilman Kevin LaValle. “Brookhaven and the entire region stands to prosper greatly from a modernized electric power supply, and this project brings us closer to the goal of providing Long Island ratepayers with more affordable and reliable energy.”
More: Long Island Business News (subscription required)
Fluor Says Brunswick County Generating Station Complete
Fluor, the primary contractor for Dominion Resources’ Brunswick County Power Station in Virginia, said that it has completed constructing the 1,358-MW natural gas-fired plant. Final testing will be needed before it goes into operation.
Fluor is now scheduled to begin construction of another Dominion project, the 1,600-MW gas-fired Greensville County generating station, which will be located 7 miles from Brunswick Station.
More: Fluor
Duke Signs Deal to Use Captured Swine Manure Gas
Duke Energy has signed a deal with pork producers in North Carolina to use captured methane to run two power stations.
Methane from the Smithfield Foods farms in the Kenansville area will be captured by Optima KV, converted to pipeline-quality fuel and transported to the H.F. Lee and Sutton power plants. Optima has a 15-year contract with Duke.
Duke in March joined in a similar project with Carbon Cycle Energy to capture manure gas to fuel four of its plants in the state.
More: Charlotte Business Journal
Union, Talen Offer Conflicting Reports on Job Losses
Talen Energy plans to eliminate 125 union jobs at three Pennsylvania power plants, according to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 1600.
A Talen spokesman, however, disputed the report and would confirm only job cuts at the Susquehanna nuclear plant. The other two plants slated for job losses, according to the union, are the Brunner Island and Montour coal-fired facilities.
The company and the union cited the depressed cost of electricity as a driver in the restructuring.
More: The Morning Call; The Daily Item
PSE&G Says Upgrades Will Help Meet Summer Demand
Public Service Electric and Gas this year has deployed $2.7 billion in infrastructure improvements that it said will help it meet summer demand.
“Equipment has been replaced, facilities upgraded and additional redundancies added systemwide in order to maintain reliability,” said John Latka, vice president of electric and gas operations.
The summer peak is expected to hit 10,090 MW, compared with last year’s peak of 9,579 MW, set July 20.
More: Transmission & Distribution World
Utah Supreme Court Upholds PacifiCorp Fine
The Utah Supreme Court last week voted to uphold a $130.7 million jury award against PacifiCorp and its lawyers for violating trade secrets when the company constructed a power plant similar to a nearby facility being built by Dallas-based USA Power.
In bringing the suit in 2005, USA Power argued that PacifiCorp — parent of Utah’s Rocky Mountain Power — had copied the plans for the air-cooled, gas-fired Spring Canyon plant, which was designed to limit impact on the local environment. PacifiCorp had previously entered negotiations to buy the plant, but it later backed out and constructed a similar unit a mile away.
After a five-week trial in 2012, a jury awarded USA Power $18.2 million in damages for stealing trade secrets and $112.5 million in damages because PacifiCorp unjustly profited from the theft.
More: KSL.com