North Dakota Scrubber Technology Prevails
Posted on Dec 22, 2011
North Dakota’s preferred emission reduction technology, which is used to scrub power plant boilers, withstood an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) challenge that a technology that can be adopted across the country should be used. The U.S. District Court found that North Dakota’s choice in selective noncatalytic reduction technology, as opposed to the EPA’s preferred selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology, was reasonable and in accordance with due diligence principles, given the physical and chemical characteristics of the boilers involved. The full story is available...
Continue Reading
Tennessee Coop to Connect New Solar Facility
Posted on Dec 20, 2011
Chickasaw Electric Cooperative, a Tennessee-based coop, is set to connect the new West Tennessee Solar Farm to the Tennessee Valley Authority with its distribution lines. The coop has upgraded seven miles of its distribution lines and added two additional miles to connect the 4.5-megawatt solar facility to the regional power grid. The project is estimated to have cost the coop $31 million, and the interconnection was completed 11 weeks ahead of schedule. Click here for more details.
Continue Reading
Georgia Transmission Corporation Obtains $275 Million Refinancing Deal
Posted on Dec 19, 2011
Georgia Transmission Corporation, which serves 39 electric membership corporations in Georgia, and owns more than 600 substations, recently closed a large refinancing deal on a facility that GTC will use for general corporate purposes. The National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation arranged a $275 million, five-year unsecured revolving credit facility for GTC, which is based in Tucker, GA. The deal refinanced an existing $180 million facility that CFC had arranged in 2007. To read more details about the deal, click here.
Continue Reading
Tri-State Returns $20 Million in Capital Credits
Posted on Dec 14, 2011
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association’s board has authorized the retirement of $20 million of capital credits to the association’s member coops. This is the 23rd consecutive year Tri-State has returned capital credits to its members. For more information, click here.
Continue Reading
Proposed Bills Seek to Minimize Dodd-Frank Impact on Energy Markets
Posted on Dec 14, 2011
Two recently proposed House bills, H.R. 3527 and H.R. 2682, attempt to clarify definitions and exemptions in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in favor of electric coops that participate in derivatives trading. Under Dodd-Frank, coops and other end-users that use swaps for hedging purposes fear they could be miscast as swap dealers or larger traders seeking to profit from speculation on derivatives and would be subject to substantial burdens and costs. The first proposed bill seeks to exclude coops from the definition of a swap dealer. The second bill would...
Continue Reading
EPA Regulations Threaten Coops
Posted on Dec 14, 2011
Emissions controls for coal-based generating units under current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rulemakings may cause significant financial and reliability challenges for electric coops, according to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). Because of their small size, coops may not be considered priority customers by emissions control companies that supply and install the needed equipment. This may interrupt operations after the 2015 deadline for compliance. You can read more about the NRECA comments on the EPA rules here.
Continue Reading
Pacific Northwest Coops Ordered to Rebalance Use of Hydropower and Wind Energy
Posted on Dec 12, 2011
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled that the Bonneville Power Administration discriminated against wind interests by cutting back on wind production at times of high hydroelectric generation. FERC gave the BPA 90 days to come up with a new program. BPA announced an “environmental redispatch” policy last May in an effort to balance supply and demand and comply with salmon recovery goals in the region. After high river flows last spring, which were potentially harmful to salmon, BPA curtailed some wind generation in favor of hydropower. The wind generators sued, claiming the...
Continue Reading
Maryland Coop Acquiring Distribution Networks to Increase Load
Posted on Dec 9, 2011
Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative has been pursing the acquisition of distribution networks as a way to add commercial and industrial load to its service territory. The coop was recently granted the right by state officials to acquire the electric system of St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Read more here.
Continue Reading
Coop Advocates Reliability-Based Exemption From EPA Regulations
Posted on Dec 9, 2011
At a recent FERC technical conference, Eric Baker, the president and CEO of Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative, talked of the need for a “safety-valve” approach to new EPA regulations that would balance environmental issues and reliability concerns. Mr. Baker, the NRECA and others are advocating various approaches that would provide extensions or exemptions for at least some coal-fired facilities in order to ensure system reliability. Electric Co-op Today has been covering this story.
Continue Reading
Washington State Coop Changes Capital Credit Policy
Posted on Dec 8, 2011
The Okanogan County Electric Cooperative board of directors opted to modify the coop’s capital credit distribution policy to better align with other coops in the area. Okanogan reduced the amount of distribution from 5 percent to 2 percent of the coop’s margin and narrowed the pool of members identified for distribution to only those belonging to the coop in 1992. Click here for more information.
Continue Reading
Colorado Coop’s Proposed Rate Structure Meets Protest
Posted on Dec 8, 2011
A new rate structure proposed by Delta-Montrose Electric Association (DMEA) will increase costs to its residential customers. The plan would raise monthly base charges by 60 percent in order to pay higher rates imposed by DMEA’s wholesale power supplier. Critics of the proposed rate structure say it will negate investments made in energy use efficiency and unfairly allocate costs to DMEA’s residential customers. The DMEA board is scheduled to set 2012 electric rates by December 13. Read more.
Continue Reading
Upper-Midwest Coops Critical of EPA Haze Plan
Posted on Dec 8, 2011
Minnkota Power Coop and North Star Electric Coop are among those opposed to proposed new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) haze pollution standards because any benefits would be far outweighed by the cost to consumers in the form of a rate increase. Proponents of the EPA standards claim they will improve public health, preserve national parks and create thousands of new jobs. International Falls Journal has the full story.
Continue Reading
Tri-State Subsidiary Buys Colorado Coal Mine
Posted on Dec 6, 2011
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, the largest electric coop in Colorado, has placed its bets on coal as its primary generation source for years to come. The coop’s subsidiary Western Fuels-Colorado LLC, a fuel supplier that delivers coal under contract to Tri-State’s plants, has purchased the Colowyo coal mine from Rio Tinto. Tri-State cites the lower cost of coal as the primary reason behind the move. Click here for the full story.
Continue Reading
SWEPCO Turk Plant Permit Stay Lifted
Posted on Dec 6, 2011
AEP/Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO), the majority owner of the John W. Turk, Jr., Power Plant under construction near Fulton, Arkansas, won a legal victory that will allow it to complete the $2 billion project. Environmental challenges to the coal-fired electrical generation plant resulted in a stay placed on the plant’s wastewater discharge permit. The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission voted on Friday to lift that stay. Click here for the full story.
Continue Reading
Subscribe
