Arkansas Delays Deregulation

Gov. Mike Huckabee signed a bill in February amending the Electric Consumer Choice Act of 1999 to delay electric deregulation from Jan. 1, 2002, to Oct 1, 2003. The governor said the delay was a response to the electricity panic that deregulation caused in California. In addition to delaying the onset of deregulation by a year, the amendment also gives the Public Service Commission the authority to delay deregulation by increments of one year until Oct. 1, 2005, if the commission finds that the majority of consumers will not benefit from competition.

North Carolina "Standing Still" on Dereg

Just a couple of years ago, it looked as if North Carolina was headed for full deregulation of its electric industry by 2006. But California's problems appear to have forced Tar Heel leaders to rethink deregulation altogether. "We are not moving toward deregulation and we're not moving away from it; we're standing still," said state Sen. David Hoyle, D-Gastonia recently. Hoyle has co-chaired the Commission on the Future of Electric Service in North Carolina. Prior to California's problems, North Carolina officials were preparing for deregulation within five years. Now, officials say deregulation will not happen in the state unless it means lower prices for consumers.

Florida Opens Door to Deregulation

A statewide energy study commission delivered a report to Gov. Jeb Bush in February that paves the way for the construction of power plants in Florida owned by third parties -- a first step toward opening Florida's wholesale market to competition. The report calls for a three-year phase-in of deregulation of wholesale electricity. The state's utilities would sell off their power plants to entities -- most likely affiliated companies -- solely engaged in the power generation business. Transmission lines would be run separately by a newly created organization called FloridaGrid.

TECO Buys Texas Plant

TECO Energy Corp.'s TECO Power Services announced it has agreed to purchase American Electric Power's Frontera Power Station near McAllen, Tex. AEP is required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to divest its ownership of the facility as part of its merger with Central and South West Corp.

Entergy to Build 900-Megawatt Power Generating Plant in Greenville County, S.C.

A $380 million project has been announced by Entergy Power Generating Corporation of Woodlands, Texas. The company will build a 900-megawatt gas-fired electrical power generating plant in Greenville County. The plant will be a boon to Greenville. As Rich Cauthen, vice president of economic development for the Greenville Chamber of Commerce said, "It adds high quality power to the area, not only to keep our existing industry happy, but to enhance our ability to recruit new industry." Entergy, a subsidiary of Entergy Wholesale Operations, owns, manages or invests in power plants generating more than 30,000 megawatts of electricity both domestically and internationally. It currently delivers electricity to 2.5 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

Louisiana Port Building Power Plant

Port officials throughout the country are going to be closely monitoring the Port of Shreveport-Bossier as it launches its plan to construct a $500 million electric power plant. The plant represents the first U.S. public port that will own its own energy system. The port's primary goal is to better compete for large electricity users, such as steel mills, oil refineries and chemical facilities. Just over two years ago, IPSCO chose Mobile, Ala., over Shreveport for its $425 million steel plant. Plans are to use power from the new plant to users at the port, with surplus power being sold for residential and business use in the Shreveport-Bossier region.

Wind Farms Studied in Oklahoma

Researchers with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State Universities are studying the feasibility of using wind to generate electric power in western Oklahoma. Powerful winds sweeping down the plains of western Oklahoma seem to make that region a fertile ground for wind farms. Already, several wind energy projects are being built in Texas and Kansas. In fact, over $1 billion has been invested in wind farms in Texas already this year. Oklahoma is ranked eighth nationally in wind farm potential.

Duke Energy Plans Arkansas Plant

Duke Energy North America of Charlotte, N.C., plans to build a 620-megawatt generating plant in Hot Springs, Ark., by the summer of 2002. The new plant is part of a plan to build six new merchant power plants that will generate more than 6,000 megawatts of power for the utility. Duke is also building plants in Arizona, Ohio, Georgia and California.

LG&E Buyout by PowerGen Completed

The acquisition of Louisville-based LG&E Energy Corporation by PowerGen of the United Kingdom has received the approval of all state and federal regulatory bodies as well as shareholders of both companies, and is now complete. LG&E will keep its headquarters in Louisville, which will serve as the headquarters for PowerGen's North American operations. LG&E Energy's utility subsidiaries, Louisville Gas and Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities, will continue as separate subsidiary corporations with joint operations and with headquarters in Louisville and Lexington.

First "Green" Power Provider Licensed in Texas

Austin-based Green Mountain Energy Company is now licensed by the Texas Public Utility Commission to become an electricity provider in Texas. Green Mountain will begin providing energy in Texas when the state begins a pilot deregulation program this summer. The company is the first exclusively "green" power supplier to be licensed in Texas. Their renewable energy sources include solar, wind and hydroelectric. The company also does business in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Duke Energy, Williams Purchase Gulfstream Pipeline Project

Subsidiaries of Duke Energy and Williams closed the purchase of Gulfstream Natural Gas System from the Coastal Corp. Financial terms of the purchase were not disclosed. The project sponsors expect the $1.6 billion Gulfstream pipeline project to receive Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval in first quarter of 2001. Gulfstream's proposed 744-mile pipeline is designed to primarily serve Florida utilities and power-generation facilities.

Newly Formed PennEnergy Relocates Headquarters to Houston

PennWell Corp has formed PennEnergy Inc., and has relocated its headquarters from San Mateo, California to Houston. PennEnergy will own and operate the Oil & Gas Journal Exchange, which has operated in Houston since January 2000, and Oil & Gas Journal Online, which has operated in Houston since 1996. PennEnergy's operations include all oil, gas, electric power and related energy market sites and content that pennNet formerly managed. PennEnergy will also include Oil & Gas Journal Online. PennEnergy will host PennPoint, which owns and updates a massive database of historical well and production data for 1.5 million U.S. oil and gas wells which will be available on the Internet this year. The new company also holds the exclusive online content rights for Oil & Gas Journal, Offshore, Oil, Gas & Petrochem Equipment, Power Engineering, Electric Light & Power, POWER-GEN conferences, as well as PennWell's other energy publications and conferences and exhibitions to includes virtual shows. PennEnergy is a business-to-business Internet marketplace for energy.

Wichita May Create Municipal Utility

Wichita, Kan., currently provided electricity by Western Resources, is considering creating a municipal electric utility. Electricity rates could drop by 20 percent, the Wichita City Council was told by a consultant, which would mean a savings of $654 million in electricity costs for citizens and businesses over the next 20 years. The national consulting firm, R.W. Beck, was hired to conduct a financial feasibility study after a task force of 30 civic and business leaders was formed last year to explore the legal, technical and financial feasibility of establishing Wichita Municipal Electric Utility. The group recommended the establishment of the municipal utility.

SkyGen Energy to Build Augusta Facility

San Jose, California-based SkyGen Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Calpine Corp., will build an 800-megawatt natural gas-fired cogeneration facility in Augusta, Ga. The 25-acre Augusta Energy Center will be fueled with natural gas and will supply energy to DSM Chemicals North America, which manufactures nylon and chemicals used to create nylon. Construction will begin in the second quarter of 2001.

Construction Begins on Bastrop Electrical Plant

FPL Energy, a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based FPL Group, has begun construction on a 535-megawatt natural gas-fired electrical generation plant in Bastrop County. FPL Energy and Coastal Power Co., a subsididary of Houston-based Coastal Corp. are equal partners in the project. The plant will be operated by FPL Energy. The project, called the Bastrop Energy Center, is adjacent to the electrical transmission systems of the Lower Colorado River and Austin Energy. Upon completion of the center, FPL Energy will control nearly 1,500 megawatts of operating generation in Texas. Construction will be completed by second quarter, 2002.

East Kentucky Power Issues Requests for Proposals

Winchester, Kentucky-based East Kentucky Power Cooperative issued a request for proposals for the purchase of up to 500 megawatts for a mix of peaking and baseload capacity to meet energy requirements beginning January 1, 2003. The notice of the request is being sent to utilities, power marketers, qualifying cogenerators, independent power producers and energy service companies.

CP&L Receives Emergency Response Award

CP&L, a subsidiary of Progress Energy, received the Edison Electric Institute's annual Emergency Response Award for the assistance it provided customers during the January 2000 snowstorm. More than 173,000 customers, or about 20 percent of the company's service area, were without power after the January 24 storm hit. Within 24 hours CP&L had restored power to about half of the affected customers. The company says it was able to act quickly by using storm modeling to identify available and necessary resources, centralized staging and logistical support and a centralized damage assessment system. CP&L also won the Emergency Response Award in 1999 for its efforts to help victims of Hurricane Floyd.

Panda Energy to Build West Point Power Plant

Panda Energy International Inc. has signed an agreement to build the Panda Black Prairie Project, a $400 million merchant electric power plant in West Point, Mississippi. Under the agreement, Panda will build a 1,300-megawatt facility on 170 acres at the corner of Eshman and Industrial Access Roads beginning in the spring of 2002. When the plant goes into service in 2004, it will employ 45 people. Privately-held Panda Energy develops and operates power plants and is a partner in four merchant plants currently under construction in the U.S.

Enron Sells Pipeline System to American Electric Power

Enron Corporation sold a 4,400 Texas natural gas pipeline system to a unit of American Electric Power for an undisclosed sum. Enron is selling Houston Pipe Line Co., which owns an intrastate gas gathering and transportation system with a capacity of 2.4 billion cubic feet per day, to AEP Energy Services Gas Holding Co. Houston Pipe Line also owns one of the largest gas storage facilities in North America, with 118 billion cubic feet of capacity. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter. Columbus, Ohio-base AEP owns and operates more than 38,000 megawatts of generation and is also a wholesale energy marketer and trader.

UtiliCorp Will Move Away From Strategy of Utility Expansion

UtiliCorp United, which recently announced the success of one merger, and the failure of another, said it has de-emphasized its strategy of expanding its public service operations. UtiliCorp's $190 million merger with St. Joseph Light & Power Co., was completed Dec. 31. But UtiliCorp announced January 2 that it had terminated its $800 million merger with Joplin-based Empire District Electric Company because of regulatory concerns. UtiliCorp had wanted to strengthen its public service operations two years ago in anticipation of deregulation coming more quickly to the Midwest. Now, deregulation appears to have stalled, and UtiliCorp will turn its attention to its international operations, telecommunications plans and Aquila Energy Corp., which recently announced plans for an initial public offering.

Cinergy Plans to Buy Two Generation Plants

Houston-based Enron Corp will sell two recently completed natural gas-powered merchant electrical generation plants in West Tennessee and Mississippi. The company will sell its plants in Brownsville, Tennessee and Caledonia, Mississippi to Cincinnati, Ohio-based Cinergy Corp. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The plants will be acquired by Cinergy unit Cinergy Capital & Trading, Inc., from Enron Capital & Trade Corp., a unit of Enron. The completion of the acquisition is subject to, among other things, approval of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and antitrust scrutiny.

FPL Energy to Build Wind Farm Out West

FPL Energy, a subsidiary of Juno Beach-based FPL Group, and Portland, Oregon-based PacifiCorp, through its non-regulated subsidiary PacifiCorp Power Marketing (PPM), announced an agreement to develop and market power from the world's largest single wind energy development. FPL Energy will build, own and operate the new wind farm along the Washington-Oregon border southwest of Walla Walla, Washington. PPM will purchase and market the entire output of the project over a 25-year period. At 300 megawatts, the Stateline Wind Generating Project will consist of more than 450 wind turbines that will produce electricity for 70,000 homes annually--about one-third of the residential customers in Portland.

Memphis Light, Gas & Water to Launch Power Generation Operations

In order to ease some of the burden the Tennessee Valley Authority has meeting power demands, Memphis Light, Gas & Water is considering launching its own power generation operations. MLG&W will acquire a second parcel of land where a power plant could be located and begin negotiations with TVA. A proposal could be ready for MLGW's board of commissioners next summer.

Cielo to Build Another Wind Power Plant

Austin, Tex.-based Cielo Wind Power LLC plans to build an 80-turbine wind power site near White Deer, which is located 40 miles east of Amarillo. Construction of the Llano Estacado Wind Ranch at White Deer is scheduled to being in July. Electricity produced at the site will be sold to Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy under a 15-year contract. Cielo has built other wind ranches, including the 107-turbine Southwest Mesa Wind Farm near McCamey, the largest wind ranch in Texas.