GE completes acquisition of Alstom Power
General Electric has completed its $10.6 billion acquisition of Alstom Power, which joins the global conglomerate’s GE Power & Water Group to form GE Power.
“The completion of the Alstom power and grid acquisition is another significant step in GE’s transformation,” says GE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt. “The complementary technology, global capability, installed base and talent of Alstom will further our core industrial growth.”
GE Power will be based in Schenectady, N.Y., under the leadership of President and CEO Steve Bolze. The group includes more than 65,000 employees in more than 150 countries, with an estimated $30 billion in revenue. The group will be divided into six businesses: Power Services in Baden, Switzerland; Gas Power Systems in Schenectady; Steam Power Systems in Baden; Distributed Power in Jenbach, Austria; GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy in Wilmington, N.C.; and Water & Process Technologies in Trevose, Pa.
GE reached an agreement with Alstom in 2014 to purchase the Paris-based corporation’s power and grid business, and this represent the largest industrial acquisition in GE’s history.
Comment period begins for EPA’s Clean Power Plan
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan was published in the Federal Register Oct. 23, marking the beginning of a 90-day comment period and likely opening the door for a round of lawsuits from those opposing the controversial document.
The plan – unveiled by President Barack Obama and the EPA in August – is designed to reduce carbon emissions in the U.S. by more than 30% from 2005 levels by 2030. The plan sets emissions reductions goals for fossil-fueled plants and will require states to establish plans for reducing their own emissions by September 2016. States must then comply with their mandates by 2022.
EPA said the plan is a necessary response to alarming trends regarding global climate change, with 14 of the 15 warmest years on record having occurred since 2000.
The Clean Power Plan was met with near-immediate opposition from 16 states, led by West Virginia. The state of Colorado then announced it would file suit against the plan once it was published in the Federal Register.
The Clean Power Plan is available at http://1.usa.gov/1Q5ld7b.
FERC upholds relicensing of Yadkin-Pee Dee project
In a rehearing order, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has upheld relicensing of the two-development 108.6-MW Yadkin-Pee Dee project on the Yadkin and Pee Dee rivers in North Carolina.
FERC staff issued an environmental impact statement in 2008 supporting the relicensing by Progress Energy Carolina (now Duke Energy). The project includes 84-MW Tillery on the Yadkin River and 24.6-MW Blewett Falls on the Pee Dee River.
FERC issued a license order for the project in April, requiring mitigation to address environmental issues including minimum flows for recreation and support of aquatic life, dissolved oxygen downstream, adequacy of recreation access, and passage for American shad and American eel. In an Oct. 15 relicensing order, the commission granted a request by Duke to revise the license to account for a revised biological opinion by the National Marine Fisheries Service. However, FERC rejected the licensee’s request to extend the new license to 50 years from the license’s 40-year term.
FERC also denied rehearing requests by American Rivers and the city of Rockingham, N.C., that raised arguments regarding alleged procedural deficiencies and alleged violations of the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act.
Alterra acquires rights to four British Columbia projects
Alterra Power Corp. has acquired the water rights for four Canadian hydroelectric projects from Sigma Engineering. The projects are located near Alterra’s 62-MW Jimmie Creek and 88-MW Montrose hydropower plants along the Toba Montrose transmission line.
Included in the deal are rights to the Chusan, Powell, Eldred North and Eldred South projects – each of which is expected to have a capacity of 10 MW to 15 MW and could be eligible for BC Hydro’s Standing Offer Program.
The deal is expected to be completed by the end of the year pending the satisfaction of customary conditions.
NHA launches UnlockHydro initiative
An educational campaign announced in late October by the National Hydropower Association aims to increase awareness about the hydroelectric sector amongst the public and policymakers. The “UnlockHydro” initiative and its website at www.unlockhydro.org launched as leaders in the U.S. House and Senate worked toward passage of new energy legislation.
NHA says, “Hydropower is hamstrung by a licensing process that lacks coordination, resulting in duplicative reviews, conflicting priorities, deferred decision-making that delays both project deployment and real environmental improvements.”
“If we are serious about decreasing carbon emissions and expanding clean energy solutions, we simply can’t allow hydropower to be hindered by processes that can take up to 10 years,” NHA Executive Director Linda Church Ciocci said. “We hope to empower and encourage Americans to let their representatives know how important waterpower is to our clean energy future.”
Chief amongst NHA’s concerns is an outdated Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) licensing process. The association says nearly 40% of the projects awaiting approval have been delayed by at least five years past their license expiration dates, while almost 20% of pending relicensing applications have been delayed at least eight years past their expirations. More than 500 projects are up for FERC relicensing within the next 15 years.
Cube Hydro closes on US$140 million in long-term notes
Cube Hydro North America I LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cube Hydro Partners LLC, has closed on the issuance of US$140 million in senior secured notes, due October 2025. The private placement was launched Sept. 15 and received an investment grade rating and the notes were priced at a 4.75% coupon, which is payable semiannually in 2016 beginning April and October.
Cube Hydro is a joint venture formed by Enduring Hydro that is a portfolio company of the ISQ Global Infrastructure Fund and its affiliated funds. The company targets investments in mid-sized greenfield and operating hydro projects in the U.S. and Canada.
Cube Hydro owns 13 hydro plants with a capacity of 106 MW in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.
“The response from investors … demonstrates our ability to raise low-cost financing to support investments in clean, carbon-free hydroelectric generation,” said Kristina Johnson, Cube Hydro chief executive officer. “Investors continue to show a strong appetite for attractive investment opportunities in clean energy such as our hydroelectric generation portfolio.”
Three Sisters cuts ribbon at 700-kW Watson project
Officials from a number of state agencies joined the Three Sisters Irrigation District and Energy Trust of Oregon to inaugurate the 700-kW Watson plant in October.
Watson uses pressure from recently installed irrigation pipes, while simultaneously delivering water to farmers and maintaining flows in Whychys Creek. The plant is part of a decade-long water-saving initiative in which TSID worked with the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, Deschutes River Conservancy, Energy Trust of Oregon and others to install more than 50 miles of pipe in more than 75% of the district’s canals and removed more than 100 irrigator pumps.
Stream flows for the basin’s fish population have also improved, according to TSID. “For the first time since the late 1800s, there was summertime flow in Whycus Creek for salmon and steelhead,” said Marc Thalacker, TSID general manager. “We have 25% more water on farm compared to the 1977 drought, and we are generating clean, green, renewable power and conserving energy.”
Financing for the $25 million modernization project has come from the Pelton Fund, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the Energy Trust.
FERC revises rule requiring new start date for annual charges
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved rules that change the start date for assessment of annual charges on private hydropower licensees to the date the project is required by license to begin construction.
In a notice of proposed rulemaking (RM15-18) issued May 14, FERC noted that private licensees are required to notify FERC when project construction starts for the purpose of assessing annual charges. The assessment date therefore is uncertain, based on the licensee’s ability to begin construction, or upon occasion, to request an extension in the two-year construction start deadline.
Saying the change would provide “administrative efficiency,” FERC initially proposed simply requiring assessment of annual charges two years from the effective date of the license order, exemption, or amendment authorizing additional capacity. Based on previous experience, FERC estimated an average of 5.2 licensees or exemptees per year would begin paying annual charges before starting construction.
The National Hydropower Association and FFP New Hydro urged FERC to abandon the proposed new rules, saying FERC only issues about 10 licenses, exemptions or amendments per year, meaning about half of applicants would be adversely affected.
In its final order, issued Oct. 15, FERC rejected most industry objections, saying to delay assessing charges requires existing projects to subsidize the costs of uncompleted projects. The commission was swayed to a degree by the argument that the change might discourage hydropower development. “In light of these concerns, the commission has decided to set the commencement of assessment of annual charges to track the state-of-construction deadline for any license or exemption…” FERC said.
NHA seeks nominations for OSAW awards
The National Hydropower Association is accepting applications for the 2016 Outstanding Stewards of America’s Waters awards program. Applications at www.hydro.org/about-nha/awards/osaw and are due by midnight, Dec. 22, 2015.
Honors will be awarded in three categories, operational excellence; public education; and recreational, environmental and historical enhancement.
Nominations will be judged by a committee of NHA members from across a spectrum of hydropower disciplines, with winners to be recognized during an award ceremony at NHA’s Waterpower Week in Washington, April 25-27, 2016. The event combines the NHA Annual Conference, International Marine Renewable Energy Conference (IMREC) and Marine Energy Technology Symposium (METS).
The awards date to the Hydro Achievement Awards, which NHA created in 1994.
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