Louisiana Coops Hit Net Metering Cap
Posted on Sep 19, 2013
The Louisiana Public Service Commission (PSC) set a September 30 deadline for retail customers to install generating devices (e.g., solar panels) in order to participate in net metering. The deadline applies only to customers of certain coops who have reached the 0.5% cap set by the Louisiana PSC at which the coops are no longer required to offer net metering. Instead, the coops may choose to accept or deny applications by retail customers to participate. The Shreveport Times has the full story.
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Alaska Coop Appeals Order to Bury Lines
Posted on Sep 19, 2013
Matanuska Electric Association (MEA) has filed an appeal of the city of Wasilla’s decision to give MEA a permit to build a 115-kilovolt transmission line only if the coop puts the line underground. The city says that it wants to safeguard Wasilla’s scenery and property values, but MEA has said the requirement to bury the lines could quadruple the cost of the project to $40 million. MEA said it would try to recoup the increased costs from city residents on their power bills. The Anchorage Daily News has more on this story.
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Iowa Coops Protest Denial of Aid for Storm Damage
Posted on Sep 19, 2013
Representatives of several Iowa power providers traveled to Washington, D.C., after they learned the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) denied disaster aid for coops in Dickinson, Osceola, Lyon, Sioux and O’Brien counties. Three Iowa electric cooperatives and two municipal utilities reported damage to infrastructure after a severe ice storm passed through the Iowa Great Lakes on April 10-11. The area was designated a major disaster area by federal officials following the mid-April storms. However, FEMA later told area electric coop administrators that disaster aid could not be...
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G&T Coop to Share Emissions Reduction Technology with Chinese Company
Posted on Sep 19, 2013
An emissions reduction technology developed by Minnesota-based Great River Energy (GRE) will now have an international impact. GRE has signed a 10-year licensing and technology transfer agreement to make its DryFining™ technology available in China. The DryFining™ technology will be used by Shenzhou Manufacturing Co., which provides coal processing equipment that serves mines and utilities in China. GRE developed the DryFining™ technology, which uses residual or waste process heat to reduce the amount of water in lignite coal, as part of the Department of Energy’s Clean Coal Initiative....
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Colorado Coops Crippled by Floods
Posted on Sep 17, 2013
Colorado electric coops have not begun calculating the damage to their systems from the recent floods because crews cannot access the damaged areas. The roads – especially bridges – have been so hard hit by rising waters that crews are forced to wait before they can respond and repair. Click here for more.
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Alaska Coop Finalizes Financing to Purchase Plant
Posted on Sep 16, 2013
Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA) of Fairbanks, Alaska, has finalized financing from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and the Cooperative Finance Bank to purchase the 50-MW Healy Clean Coal Project from the State of Alaska. The Cooperative Finance Bank will finance the purchase of the plant, which will be renamed “Healy Unit 2,” while the RUS loan will finance new emissions control systems, which will include Selective Catalytic Reduction systems to reduce nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions. GVEA will also spend approximately $35 million to upgrade parts of the plant and...
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White Paper Argues EPA Cannot Limit Power Plant Emissions
Posted on Sep 16, 2013
Attorneys general from 17 states recently submitted a white paper to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Administrator, arguing that Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act limits the EPA’s authority to develop procedures to guide states in establishing emissions standards for existing power plants. The white paper is in response to an expected revised EPA rule directly capping greenhouse gas emissions from new power plants and President Obama’s directive to the EPA to craft a similar proposal for existing power plants by 2014. Read more about this story here.
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Suit Over Wildfire Broadened to Include Tree-Trimming Company
Posted on Sep 13, 2013
Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative is seeking redress from a tree-trimming company for damages caused to homes from a 2011 wildfire in the amount of $35 million. This move comes after the coop was sued by individuals who lost their homes to the wildfire. The coop is seeking remedies from the tree-trimming company to protect its ratepayers and to enforce what it claims is the proper allocation of liability under the contract with the tree-trimming company. The Austin American-Statesman is covering this story.
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NRECA Voices Concern Over Proposed EPA Startup and Shutdown Rule
Posted on Sep 13, 2013
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) voiced concerns that some cooperatives may not be able to satisfy, in a timely manner, the new rule on startup and shutdown of coal-based generation designed to limit emissions of hazardous air pollutants. Among other concerns, NRECA called for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consider how compliance with the proposed rule may affect compliance with other environmental rules and to build in enough flexibility for plants of differing designs. Electric Co-op Today has the full story.
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USDA Announces Funding for Coop Projects in Seven States
Posted on Sep 13, 2013
In a news release, the Secretary of Agriculture has announced funding for a variety of projects through the Rural Utilities Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The projects include, among other things, funding for smart grid technology and improvements on Native American lands across seven states: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming. Read more here.
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Virginia Has a New Biomass Plant
Posted on Sep 12, 2013
Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative and NOVI Energy’s 49.9-MW biomass plant was recently connected to the PJM regional electric transmission grid and will continue pre-commercial operational testing for several more weeks. The $170 million plant uses waste wood from Southside Virginia’s logging industry to fuel the facility and will recycle wood ash. Read more here.
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New Natural Gas-Fired Plant Online in North Dakota
Posted on Sep 12, 2013
Basin Electric Power Cooperative recently began operation of a new 45-MW natural gas-fired power plant located near Williston, North Dakota. The $64.5 million unit is one of three planned for the site. The Bismarck Tribune has the full story.
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More Solar to be Built in South Carolina
Posted on Sep 12, 2013
Santee Cooper is partnering with Central Electric Power Cooperative and other South Carolina coops to build a 3-MW solar farm scheduled to begin construction by the end of 2013. Renewable energy makes up roughly 1 percent of the state’s generation portfolio, and the new solar project would be the largest in the state. Click here for more information.
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Court Denies Request to Delay Pollution Control Upgrades
Posted on Sep 12, 2013
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied a request by Arizona and four utilities, including Arizona Electric Power Cooperative (AEPCO), to delay Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional haze requirements while litigation against the new rules remains pending. AEPCO previously appealed the requirements requesting that it use an Arizona Department of Environmental Quality pollution control plan, rather than the EPA’s plan, to save the coop approximately $160 million. Arizona Range News has more.
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