Louisiana PSC Approves Contract Extensions
Posted on Nov 1, 2012
The Louisiana Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved an 11-year contract extension for Louisiana Generating to provide power to two cooperatives, Claiborne Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Claiborne) and Washington – St. Tammany Electric Cooperative, Inc. (WSTE), through 2025. The two cooperatives combined have contracted for more than 450 megawatts of peak electrical power for their customers. Claiborne and WSTE both attribute their ability to charge competitive residential rates to their respective contracts with Louisiana Generating. Click here to read more about the approval of...
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Coops Lend Aid to Others in Sandy Aftermath
Posted on Nov 1, 2012
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, cooperative crews have banded together to help restore service to the millions of people who were affected by the massive storm. Crews from the Gulf Coast, Midwest and Southeast were dispatched to the areas in the mid-Atlantic and New England where service was disrupted due to the storm. Arkansas Electric Cooperative Inc. (AECI), based in Little Rock, Arkansas, is one of many coops that have sent crews and equipment to assist efforts to restore power. According to Pat McClafferty, vice president of utility sales and services for AECI, cooperatives...
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Electrical Demand Expected to Triple in the North Dakota Oil Patch
Posted on Oct 24, 2012
The Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative (MWEC) in North Dakota will energize six new substations today in an effort to keep up with rapidly increasing demand spurred by increased oil production in the state. According to a recent study, the electrical demand in the Williston Basin and surrounding areas is expected to triple by 2032. MWEC reported that it has seen its peak load grow from 30 megawatts to nearly 200 megawatts in just the past five years. This demand is projected to grow between 800 and 900 megawatts by 2025. To read more about the oil industry’s impact on electrical...
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Georgia Coop Protects Endangered Fish
Posted on Oct 24, 2012
Georgia Transmission Corporation (GTC), based in Tucker, GA, and federal wildlife officials have partnered together to protect the Cherokee darter, a one- to two-inch fish, by preventing sediment from entering its primary habitat. The fish, which has been on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Endangered Species List since 1994, is found only in streams in the Etowah River basin, which are located in two counties of GTC’s service area. Read more here.
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Hawaii Coop Reveals Solar Facility Progress
Posted on Oct 23, 2012
Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative of Hawaii is building a $40 million, 12-MW solar project on 67 acres on the south side of its island territory. The project site, a former sugar cane farm, will be leased from the Grove Farm Co. The coop hopes to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals by July 2013, and the goal is to have the site online by late 2014. Read more on this story here.
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CFTC Provides Temporary Exemption for Coops
Posted on Oct 23, 2012
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has passed a temporary “no-action relief” provision exempting most transactions among and between electric coops and other not-for-profit electric utilities from most Commodity Exchange Act regulations. Deals exempted include those involved with the physical delivery of electricity, generation capacity, transmission services, fuel, and environmental rights and attributes. Certain cross-commodity transactions and other goods and services also are included. This exemption is currently effective until March 31, 2013. Read...
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Lowell Mountain Wind Project Survives Legal Challenge
Posted on Oct 22, 2012
Green Mountain Power and Vermont Electric Cooperative, Inc. can proceed with the construction of an industrial wind project on Lowell Mountain, as the Vermont Supreme Court has dismissed a legal challenge to the project. The 21-turbine Kingdom Community Wind project is due to come on line in December 2012. The project’s challengers, Lowell Mountains Group Inc. and the towns of Albany and Craftsbury, Vermont, claimed the project ignored or departed from plans to minimize environmental disruption. The Supreme Court disagreed, upholding the project’s certificate of public good, granted...
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Texas Coop Finalizes Financing for Biomass Plant
Posted on Oct 22, 2012
East Texas Electric Cooperative, based in Nacogdoches, Texas, has finalized long-term financing for a 49.9-MW biomass plant currently under construction. The coop will fund the project with $55 million in Clean Renewable Energy Bonds issued by the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation and a loan from the Rural Utilities Service through the Federal Financing Bank. Click here for more.
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Public Regulation Commission Rescinds Internet Spin-off Order
Posted on Oct 17, 2012
On October 16, the Public Regulation Commission (PRC) voted to rescind an order it made last year requiring Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (Kit Carson) to spin-off its Internet division in order to protect electric ratepayers from potential losses. Kit Carson did not provide official notice of the PRC order to the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), and as a result, RUS instituted a funding freeze on Kit Carson’s $64-million broadband project. Kit Carson officials are hopeful that the rescission of the PRC’s order will lift the funding freeze. Click here for more.
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Ninth Circuit Upholds Power Rate Contract
Posted on Oct 17, 2012
On October 16, the Ninth Circuit denied requests by utility cooperatives to review a power rate contract between Alcoa, Inc. (Alcoa) and Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The coops argued that BPA was selling power to Alcoa at the statutorily mandated industrial firm power rate, thereby forgoing profits that could have been used to lower rates to its customers. The Ninth Circuit held that BPA is not required by law to maximize its profits and that BPA’s decision not to sell power to Alcoa at the market rate was not arbitrary and capricious. To read more about the Ninth Circuit’s...
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An Activist Framework for Cybersecurity Oversight
Posted on Oct 16, 2012
Three recent initiatives by different arms of the federal government intended to help combat cyber threats to the nation’s critical energy infrastructure reveal an activist approach to regulating cybersecurity. At this juncture, it is difficult to ascertain the legal and political ramifications of the three initiatives, but members of the energy sector should pay attention — the current legislative impasse will not preclude efforts to address the cybersecurity risks facing the nation’s critical energy infrastructure. Read the full Sutherland Legal Alert.
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Federal Grants to Boost Smart Grid Development
Posted on Oct 15, 2012
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced $134 million in grant funding for rural electric coops and utilities to develop smart grid technologies. These funds will be added to the $250 million in financing announced by the USDA in August. (See previous Sutherland Coop team reports on this USDA grant funding from August 6, August 10, September 10, October 5 and October 9, 2012.). To read more about the rural utilities set to receive federal funding, click here.
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Increased Solar Access on Horizon for Texas Coop
Posted on Oct 15, 2012
Pedernales Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Pedernales) plans to boost its solar generation portfolio beginning with new pilot programs in 2013. The programs will offer interested coop members the option to purchase a portion of large-scale solar projects or lease rooftop solar panels as part of Pedernales’ efforts to attain 30 percent of its generation requirements from renewable resources. Click here for more.
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Shippers Push Against Increased Coal Dust Costs
Posted on Oct 15, 2012
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) was among the filers opposing a BNSF Railway tariff that would cost shippers $50 to $150 million annually to control coal dust from rail cars. In the filings, submitted to the Surface Transportation Board, opponents argued that these costs are unreasonable and result in double-payment obligations for shippers. Read more here.
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