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WEI Member News Avista Requesting to Lower Natural Gas Prices for Washington and Idaho Customers for Second Time This Year Avista filed requests in May with the utility commissions in Washington and Idaho to reduce natural gas prices by 8.1 percent and 6.7 percent respectively, effective June 1. If approved, this would be the second time in 2009 that Avista customers in both states will see a decrease in their natural gas rates. More BC Hydro Launches Second Phase of Bioenergy Call for Power BC Hydro has launched the second phase of its two-phase Bioenergy Call for Power, to provide the province with additional sources of clean electricity while helping to diversify rural economies. More Clark Public Utilities Completes Sale of Bonds LADWP Unveils Memorial to Honor Fallen Employees More Than 1,200 Customers Receive $200 Job Loss Credit Since launching a $1 million assistance fund in March to help Eugene Water & Electric Board customers left jobless due to the economic downturn, the utility has provided a total of $244,200 to 1,221 unemployed residential customers. More New Children’s Alternative Energy Play to Premiere at Children’s Festival The environment will take center stage in “Power Up! The Alternative Energy Show,” sponsored by ENMAX Energy Corporation, at this year’s Northern Alberta Children’s Festival. More Newman Power Plant Unit 5 Begins Commercial Operation El Paso Electric has completed Phase 1 of the Newman Power Plant Unit 5 construction project. The two gas turbines began commercial operation on Friday, May 22. MoreNW Natural Receives Approval for Early Credit Request In April, NW Natural voluntarily requested an early refund of $32 million in gas cost savings for Oregon customers, in light of the current economic conditions. The Public Utility Commission of Oregon approved that request on May 19. More PGE Ranks among Highest in Nation in Solar Power Generation PSE Salmon-Protection Efforts Receive National Recognition for 2nd Time This Year Puget Sound Energy has received the hydropower industry’s highest environmental award for an innovative system the utility built to aide juvenile-salmon migration around tall hydroelectric dams. More Rocky Mountain Power Launches Refrigerator Recycling Program Tom Forslund’s fridge is 30 years old, takes up space in his garage and wastes tons of extra energy. Due to its inefficiency, Forslund decided to have Rocky Mountain Power remove the old energy hog at no cost to him. The utility is making it easy for energy customers such as Forslund to recycle their old, secondary refrigerators and freezers. They will not only save on energy costs, but will receive a $30 incentive for participating in the free refrigerator recycling program.Seattle City Light Wins for Communication Excellence SMUD Honored for Using Environmentally Friendly Transformer Oil The Sacramento Municipal Utility District was recently recognized as the first utility in the country to commit to purchasing all new transformers with natural ester transformer oil. More Solar Panels Generating Power for Pyramid Lake Tribal Health Clinic A new solar energy system is providing about half of the electricity needed to power the Pyramid Lake Tribal Health Clinic in Nixon. The 30-kilowatt photovoltaic array was made possible by a combination of donated labor and materials, and a program created by the Nevada State Legislature to encourage Nevadans to use renewable energy, which is managed statewide by NV Energy. More Southern California Edison Will Not Seek License to Construct Transmission Line in Arizona at This Time Southern California Edison has announced it will not pursue a re-filing of its application with the Arizona Corporation Commission to build the Arizona portion of the Devers-PaloVerde No. 2 electric transmission line at this time. More Spectra Energy Shareholders Vote to Declassify Board of Directors At the company’s annual meeting, Spectra Energy Corp.’s shareholders approved an amendment to the company’s Certificate of Incorporation to eliminate the classified board of directors structure. SRP Donates $25,000 to Area Food Banks In light of area food banks reporting record levels of people seeking assistance, SRP has donated $25,000 to social service agencies across the Valley that provide food assistance to SRP customers and Valley residents. More Survey Finds Idaho Power Rates among Nation’s Lowest Idaho Power’s customer rates are among the lowest in the country, according to a semi-annual survey by the Edison Electric Institute of investor-owned utilities across the nation. More Terasen Gas Applies to Sell LNG as Cleaner, Greener Transportation Fuel Solution Terasen Gas has applied to the British Columbia Utilities Commission for approval to sell liquefied natural gas as a transportation fuel source for fleet vehicles. More TransCanada to Sell North Baja Pipeline to TC PipeLines, LP TransCanada Corporation has entered into an agreement to sell North Baja Pipeline, LLC to TC PipeLines, LP. More
Rest of the West
PG&E and BrightSource Sign Record Solar Power Deal Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced it has entered into a series of contracts with BrightSource Energy, Inc. for a record total of 1,310 megawatts of solar thermal power. More SDG&E Teams with Google to Provide Energy Usage Data to Customers San Diego Gas & Electric has announced a landmark effort with Google that, by the end of this year, will enable SDG&E customers for the first time to obtain their daily energy usage information via the popular Web site with Google’s new Google PowerMeter gadget. More Sempra Energy's Utilities Earn Top Ranking in Customer Satisfaction Sempra Energy’s California utilities, Southern California Gas Co. and San Diego Gas & Electric, rank No. 1 in customer satisfaction among the largest U.S. investor-owned energy utilities, according to a recent survey by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. More TEP to Help Local Governments Secure Federal Stimulus Funds for Efficiency & Conservation Tucson Electric Power hosted a workshop to help Arizona cities and counties prepare successful applications for newly available federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants. More Tri-State and Xcel Energy Move Forward with Significant Southern Colorado Transmission Project Proposal Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and Xcel Energy have filed applications with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to develop a new transmission project that will serve long-term electric grid requirements in southern Colorado. More
On the Move
Doug Foshee Elected Chairman of El Paso Corporation More Atmos Energy Corporation Elects Robert C. Grable to Board of Directors More Avista Corp. Board Appoints Marc Racicot as a New Director More Catherine Allen Joins El Paso Electric Board; Gary Hedrick Resigns More Southwestern Energy Company Promotes Steven L. Mueller to Chief Executive Officer More
Avista Names Jason Thackston VP Finance, Diane Thoren Treasurer More Jeffery Peltola Appointed CFO, Cecilia Weldon Named Chief Administrative Officer at LADWP More
Atmos Energy Corporation Promotes Christopher T. Forsythe to Vice President and Controller More
Gregg Carrington Takes on Additional Responsibilities at Chelan PUD More NorthWestern Energy Names Rick Hoffman as Huron Area Manager More
News Power Surpluses May Create Problems for Renewable Investments Declines in electricity consumption and the completion of previously-planned conventional power plants are creating power surpluses that may undermine the capacity of utilities to invest in new renewable facilities. More Demand Response Providers Expect Boon from Increased Renewables Use The need for demand response, the management of consumers' electric consumption in response to critical supply constraints, is expected to become increasingly important as the nation’s electricity grid is supplied by increasing amounts of intermittent renewable power. More Energy Industry Wary of Increased Derivatives Regulation In the wake of the housing crisis, the Treasury Department and other regulators want financial derivatives to be traded through a central counterparty—but the energy industry is claiming such measures will make it harder to manage price risk. More Military Tests Green Projects The Army’s Fort Irwin training center, where troops prepare for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan, has become a testing ground for green projects from plug-in cars to insulated tents. More Stimulus Package Will Provide Cash to Renewables-Owning Utilities In lieu of tax credits taken over ten years, the Obama stimulus package allows developers of renewable energy projects to apply for Treasury grants equivalent to 30 percent of a project’s cost in cash. More Solar Industry Endures, Adapts to Reduced Demand In the wake of the global credit crunch, dramatic cutbacks in European subsidies for solar power have resulted in substantially reduced demand for solar cells—causing prices to drop and new manufacturing operations to be delayed. More Obama Reduces Budget for Tidal, Wave Energy Research The White House has proposed cuts in wave and tidal energy research at the same time that it is seeking substantial increases in funding for research into solar and wind power. More Wind-Power Detractors’ Claims Refuted The Toronto Star recently examined some of the claims made by wind power opponents and offered counter-arguments from various industry experts. More MIT Says New Nuclear Won’t Happen Without Policy Help A 2003 study from MIT said that with the government’s help, nuclear power could experience a revival that would place it at the forefront in U.S. electricity generation. An update to that study concludes that while the technology may be better situated than ever thanks to climate-change concerns, it will take changes in government policy for new nuclear projects to become more viable. More Waxman-Markey Bill Will Raise Gasoline Prices, Say Refiners Oil refiners, who will likely have to purchase large numbers of emissions allowances, are complaining that they will be responsible for 44 percent of U.S. carbon emissions but will only receive 2 percent of allowances. More Industry Seeks to Broaden Definition of “Renewable” With the advent of renewable energy quotas as well as the authorization of federal tax breaks for renewable projects, more and more industries are vying to be called “renewable”—even those that might not fit the conventional understanding of that definition, such as the nuclear industry. More LED Lights Could Offer Easy Route to Efficiency Studies indicate that converting to LED lights could cut emissions associated with lighting in half over a period of just 20 years. In the U.S., that would represent an overall reduction in energy use of about 3 percent. More Yucca Mountain Still on Life Support Harry Reid, D-Nev. and Energy Secretary Steven Chu have announced a blue ribbon commission to evaluate nuclear waste storage alternatives—and will not move to end Yucca Mountain until its findings are delivered, at the earliest. More Inexpensive Process Derives Natural Gas from Algae A new method called catalytic hydrothermal gasification converts algae into natural gas and has been transferred from the DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, operated by Battelle, to the Genifuel Corporation. More Cold Fusion Increasingly Substantiated by Experiments Cold fusion, the room-temperature nuclear fusion reaction that twenty years ago found itself to be considered a scientific joke, is once again getting serious attention from researchers. More Western Natural Gas Market Review More Western LNG Update LNG Expected to Depress Natural Gas Prices More Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline, LP and Jordan Cove Energy Project, LP Receive FEIS from the FERC More |
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