Utilities

GE Landing Major Orders for Wind Turbines

Conn.-based GE is diving headfirst into the business of wind power. The corporate giant expects to generate more than $1 billion this year in revenue from its wind power business, which it bought from bankrupt Enron just a year ago. GE has already closed deals on wind turbines that total $2 billion, including the first offshore wind farm in the U.S. GE is a major electric utility supplier, but its future for traditional gas turbines for power plants is cloudy. The company has laid off hundreds of workers in that business division. Some of GE's wind turbine deals to date include 130 units for a wind farm being built off the coast of Cape Cod. The project will be the first offshore wind farm in the U.S. Also, GE has sold 10 turbines to a Japanese utility and 80 units to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Currently, GE is supplying 20 wind turbines for the largest wind farm in New York. Those wind turbines are 328 feet high, or as tall as a 33-story building, and use a 231-foot rotor. The turbines being sold for the Cape Cod wind farm project are 420 feet tall.

TXU Raising Electricity Prices

Texas' deregulated electric utility market is a little over a year old. Two of the biggest stories to date in Texas since deregulation is the bankruptcy filing by Texas Commercial Energy, a retail electric provider and TXU's recent announcement it will raise electricity rates for residential and small business customers by 12 percent, or about $10.33 a month. Texas Commercial Energy cited significantly higher volatility and uncertainty in the Texas wholesale power supply market for its decision to seek Chapter 11 protection. The company went bankrupt after competiting for just one year in Texas' deregulated energy market. TXU cited rising natural gas prices for its rate hike.

Duke Submits Plutonium Application

Charlotte-based Duke Energy has submitted an application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission seeking approval to use mixed-oxide-fuel assemblies at nuclear reactors in order to process electricity from weapons-grade plutonium. Duke plans to use the technology at either its Catawba or McGuire nuclear power plants. Both plants are located in the Charlotte area. Officials with Duke say that the technology to make electricity from weapons-grade plutonium will help dispose of surplus plutonium from nuclear weapons. The program is part of an initiative to reduce stockpiles of weapons-grade plutonium in the U.S. and Russia. Duke has already conducted environmental impact studies and officials with the utility say more are ongoing.

Thirteen Power Plant Projects Delayed in Texas, 11 Cancelled

Texas, which deregulated its electric power industry last year, is facing an oversupply of electric power. The problem of oversupply in Texas is so extreme that 13 new power plants, which were already scheduled to break ground, have been delayed. The surplus of power has also cancelled the development of 11 other power plants. Since 1995, electric generation is Texas has increased by 22,000 megawatts. The oversupply of power has led to environmental groups leading the charge to shut down older power plants that pollute the most. State officials project the Texas wholesale power market won't return to normal levels until 2007.

Duke Wins Power Industry Award

The Southeastern Electric Exchange's Industry Excellence Awards have named Duke Power No. 1 in the region. The Charlotte-based utility was recognized for developing and implementing a new customer billing system and for developing a cable packaging that uses no reel.

LG&E Wins J.D. Power's No. 1 Ranking Again

Louisville-based LG&E Energy has been ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction in the recently released J.D. Power and Associates' Electric Utility Midsize Customer Satisfaction Study for the fourth year in-a-row. LG&E customers gave the utility the highest customer satisfaction score in the Midwest as well as the U.S. The study found that overall, customer satisfaction in the utility industry has dropped since the economy began a downturn more than two years ago. Of the utilities ranked, nearly half saw their customer satisfaction index drop. Only four utilities studied in the survey saw their index rise.

Oklahoma Utilities to Add Wind Power

Three of Oklahoma's largest electric power producers are looking to add green power to their sources of energy generation. OG&E, the Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority and Western Farmers Electric Cooperative have announced plans to buy power from wind forms or build their own. Western Farmers is building a 64-megawatt wind farm near Lawton, Okla.

Florida-Based FPL Energy Building Three New Wind Farms

FPL Energy announced it will begin work on new wind energy facilities in North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma by the end of the year. The three projects represent 135-megawatts, which will be sold on the wholesale energy markets.