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WEI Member News 18th Annual LADWP Science Bowl Puts L.A.'s Brightest Science Students to the Test More than 250 students on 54 teams from 33 public, charter and private high schools throughout the city competed at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) Science Bowl Regional Competition on Saturday, February 27 at the Department's downtown headquarters. More ATCO Electric Donation Helps Move Stettler Sports Park to First Base Thanks to a $25,000 boost from ATCO Electric, planners for Stettler’s new outdoor Sports Park are able to move ahead with the initial phase of the facility’s construction. More Avista Shifts Timing for Acquisition of Renewable Resources Avista has decided to postpone acquisition of additional renewable resources that were sought in a recent request for proposals, including development of the Reardan Wind Project, until the 2014-2015 timeframe. More BCUC Decides BC Hydro's Purchase of One-Third of Waneta Dam is in Public's Interest BC Hydro is pleased with the British Columbia Utilities Commission’s decision that it is in the public interest for BC Hydro to purchase one third of Teck Resources Limited’s Waneta Dam and generating facility near Trail, B.C. More Business Customers Give Pacific Power High Marks in Satisfaction Study Despite an economic downturn that has many business customers grinding their teeth, Pacific Power customers are feeling good about the electric utility’s level of service in J.D. Power and Associates’ 2010 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study released February 3. More Chelan PUD Bracing for Another Year of Financial Shortfall Financial results for Chelan County PUD turned out better than expected in 2009 but were still far short of where the PUD wanted to be, commissioners were told in February. A negative early forecast for 2010 is beginning to overshadow the outlook this year as well. More Clark Public Utilities, Clark County and the City of Vancouver Kick Off Million Dollar Energy Conservation Effort El Paso Corporation Announces Agreement to Sell Mexican Pipeline Assets El Paso Corporation announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell its interest in Mexican pipeline and compression assets to Sempra Pipelines & Storage, a unit of Sempra Energy, for $300 million. More El Paso Electric's Race for the Cure Team is HUGE The El Paso Electric team that participated in the 2010 Susan G. Komen El Paso Race for the Cure on Sunday February 21 at Cohen Stadium numbered more than 280 participants including employees, their families and friends. The team included linemen, meter readers, power plant operators, accountants, customer service reps, engineers and eight breast cancer survivors. More Greenpower Grants to Fund Renewable Projects The Eugene Water & Electric Board accepted applications in February for two Greenpower Grants of up to $100,000 each to fund high-impact projects and programs that drive advancements in renewable energy for EWEB customers, with emphasis on EWEB products, resources and priorities. More IDACORP Makes Extra Project Share Donation Representatives from Idaho Power, The Salvation Army and the Project Share Board of Directors recently gathered at The Salvation Army headquarters in Boise for a very special occasion. Idaho Power Vice President of Customer Service & Regional Operations Warren Kline presented an additional $75,000 IDACORP shareowner contribution to Project Share. More New Terasen Gas Training Program Teaches At-Risk Participants Critical Job Skills, Helps REnEW Self-confidence Terasen Gas recently announced a new program designed to provide at-risk participants in British Columbia with training and teach them essential trade skills in the growing area of energy efficiency retrofits. Nexen Provides Long Lake Project Update With the completion of the turnaround at Long Lake, steam reliability has improved significantly and steam rates are at an all time high of over 105,000 bbls/d and increasing. As a result, the company is injecting more steam into more wells than ever before with 57 well pairs now on production and steam circulating in an additional 19 pairs. These circulating wells will be converted to production over the next few months. MoreNorthWestern Energy Announces Open Season Informational Meetings NorthWestern Energy will host informational meetings for potential bidders interested in participating in the upcoming Open Seasons on two proposed electric transmission projects. Both meetings will be held at the Best Western Great Northern Hotel in Helena, Montana, on March 25, 2010. More NW Natural Hopes to be Catalyst for Giving Palo Verde Unit 1 Sets Production Record Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station’s Unit 1 just completed its best year since beginning commercial operation more than 20 years ago. The unit, which began operation in 1986, generated more than 11.5 billion net kilowatt-hours (kWh) of power in 2009, enough to serve more than a million people in four Southwestern states. Overall, the three units at Palo Verde produced more than 30 billion net kWh for only the fifth time in its 24-year history. More Preservation Group Reaches Agreement with PGE to Acquire Bull Run Powerhouse Powerhouse Re Gen LLC and Portland General Electric announced an agreement for Re Gen to acquire the Bull Run Powerhouse, pending necessary federal, local and regulatory approvals. The agreement ensures the Bull Run Powerhouse, eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, will be preserved for future generations. PSE Expanding Renewable Energy Grant Program Puget Sound Energy’s work in bringing renewable energy demonstration systems to Washington state schools is expanding its reach this year. Monday, February 8, the utility opened the application period for schools and, new to the program this year, select institutions that educate the public about renewable energy and the environment, to apply for a small scale solar array or wind turbine grant. Between $5,000 and $20,000 in funding will be available for renewable energy demonstration systems ranging from 900 watts to 2 kilowatts to be installed in 2010. More SMUD Ranked Highest in West in Business Customer Satisfaction The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) was awarded top honors in the Western region among midsized utilities in business customer satisfaction and scored second nationwide, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study. More Snohomish PUD Customers & Employees Help Those in Need PUD customers and employees gave more than $110,000 last year to help people struggling to pay their utility bills. The contributions, collected through two community programs, helped nearly 1,100 customers in 2009. More Southern California Edison to Install Smart Meters in San Gabriel Foothill Communities Southern California Edison (SCE) will install smart electric meters throughout communities in the San Gabriel foothills as part of the Edison SmartConnect program. More SRP Ranked Highest in West with Business Customers In a report issued in February by J.D. Power and Associates, SRP scored highest in customer satisfaction for business electric service among large electricity providers in the western United States. More Washoe School District Cuts Costs with Energy Efficiency NV Energy's Sure Bet for Schools incentive program for energy efficiency is helping the Washoe County School District reduce its energy costs. The improvements have reduced the district’s annual energy bill by approximately $2.3 million since 2005, according to John Hargrove, project manager for energy efficiency and conservation at NV Energy. More Williams, Williams Partners Complete Asset Contribution Transactions Designed to Drive Value, Growth Williams and Williams Partners L.P. announced that they have completed the asset contribution transactions that are part of the strategic restructuring they announced in January. More
Rest of the West
PG&E Seeks Approval to Lower Electric Rates for Customers Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is asking the California Public Utilities Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve proposals that would reduce average electric rates by 2.5 percent from March 1 levels, beginning June 1. The proposals are among a number of measures PG&E is taking to help customers with their electricity costs. More UniSource Energy Teams With Employees to Contribute $22,000 to Haiti Relief UniSource Energy Corporation, parent company of Tucson Electric Power (TEP) and UniSource Energy Services (UES), will match more than $11,000 donated by employees to relief efforts for earthquake victims in Haiti. More Xcel Energy Program Offers Energy-Efficient Bulbs for as Low as $1 Xcel Energy has announced that Colorado electric customers can purchase energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) for as little as $1 per bulb. Customers who purchase a CFL for $1 and install it can expect a payback in energy savings in approximately three months. Customers also will continue to save energy over the life of the bulb, which is 7 to 10 years. Energy savings over that period can total as much as $50. More On the Move
SRP President John M. Williams Will Not Seek Second Term More NV Energy Announces Departure of CFO William Rogers More Spectra Energy Announces Management Appointments of Steve Baker, Allen Capps More
News Senators Look at Cap-and-Trade Alternatives Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) have been working on a cap-and-trade alternative that would attempt to reduce greenhouse gas output by imposing targeted carbon controls on electric utilities, transportation and industry. More Arizona Leaves Western Climate Initiative Arizona governor Jan Brewer issued an executive order in February removing the state from the regional cap-and-trade program known as the Western Climate Initiative. More Independent Board to Review IPCC Report An independent board of scientists is being convened to review the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in light of recent revelations that some parts of the panel’s 2007 report were scientifically unsubstantiated. More ConocoPhillips, BP Leave Greenhouse Gas Lobbying Alliance Claiming that pending climate change legislation doesn’t do enough to help the oil and gas industry, ConocoPhillips and BP have withdrawn from the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP). More Poor Economy, Regulatory Uncertainty Are Drag on U.S. Electric Utilities With industrial and commercial sales of electricity still in a slump, U.S. utilities are focusing on ensuring reliability while preserving their financial stability, reported Black & Veatch in its fourth quarter “Strategic Directions in the Electric Utility Industry Survey.” More Renewables Transmission Cost Allocation Battle Continues Fourteen power companies and utilities from California and the Pacific Northwest have joined industry players from other regions in calling for the cost of transmission expansion related to renewables projects to be borne by those projects’ developers and their customers. More Canada Formally Notifies U.N. of Emissions Reduction Targets Canada will reduce its carbon emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels over the next decade, a target that has been submitted to the U.N. in accordance with the plan outlined in the Copenhagen Accord. NOAA to Set Up Climate-Change Agency Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said that a new agency was being set up to examine and report on climate change issues. More China Could Be Customer for Alaska Gas Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell recently invited Chinese officials to visit the state following his lieutenant governor’s trip to China in December. TransCanada Offers More Pipeline Details In February TransCanada provided Alaska legislators with additional details on its pipeline plans. Its open season, which will take place from April 30 to July 30, will offer both a North Slope to Alberta option and a North Slope to Valdez option in which the pipeline would terminate at an LNG facility. More EPA Official Says Current State Oversight of Hydro-Fracking is Adequate In response to pressure from environmentalists and some lawmakers, an EPA official recently said that state regulators were doing a good job overseeing the hydraulic fracturing process used to extract natural gas from shale formations. More Small Nuclear Reactor Design Receives Utilities’ Support A nuclear reactor that is smaller than a rail car recently received the support of three major utilities in its efforts to gain certification by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. More Obama Administration Moves Forward on Nuclear Waste Review Panel Former Congressman Lee Hamilton and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft have been appointed by the Obama administration to oversee a commission that will evaluate nuclear waste disposal and storage options that do not include Yucca Mountain. More U.K. Regulator Proposes Interventionist Policy to Develop New Supply Britain’s energy regulator, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), said in February that obtaining the £200 billion investment critical to developing new energy supply in the current climate will require an interventionist policy far different than that which has previously characterized U.K. energy markets. More Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Could be Clean Energy Commercial Success Silicon Valley’s Bloom Energy recently unveiled a solid oxide fuel cell that can be powered either by fossil fuel or renewable sources and is cleaner and more reliable than other fuel cells. Thousands of cells can be placed in a refrigerator-sized box the company is calling the Bloom Energy Server—with each box capable of producing 100 KW of power. More
Western Natural Gas Market Review More
Western LNG Update Oregon DEQ Says Bradwood Landing Water Quality Permit is Unlikely More FERC Puts Jordan Cove Re-Hearing Decision on Indefinite Hold More Three New Oregon Bills Resemble Previously Failed LNG Legislation More Ruling Favors Oregon LNG in Lawsuit against Port of Astoria More Obama Administration Slow to Change LNG Policy More U.S. LNG Developers Waiting Out Shale Gas-Driven Slump More January 2010 LNG Imports Twice January 2009 Levels More |
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