February’s top stories: SunEdison completes debt financing, Ameren to build Illinois transmission project

SunEdison completes debt financing for UK solar power projects

Solar

US-based solar technology manufacturer SunEdison announced the completion of a debt financing deal with Deutsche Bank for the construction of photovoltaic (PV) plants in the UK.

The closing of the debt financing agreement will allow SunEdison to build four utility-scale PV solar plants with a combined capacity of 56MW. The agreement marks the company’s move into the UK market.

Located in Swindon, Wiltshire, North Devon and on the Essex/Suffolk border, the four plants are currently under construction.

Ameren receives approval to build Illinois Rivers transmission project

Transmission

Ameren Transmission Company of Illinois (ATXI) received siting approval of final routes and sub-stations from the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) ICC to build the $1.1bn Illinois Rivers transmission project.

The 345,000V transmission line project is claimed to be the longest single transmission line in Illinois history. It will facilitate the delivery of low-cost power and improve the reliability and efficiency of the electric power grid, as well as create new jobs.

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In August 2013, the ICC approved the need for the project and some of the project routes and substations. The current approval from ICC resolved all remaining routes and substation location issues.

US DOE provides $6.5bn loan guarantee for two nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced it will approve approximately $6.5bn in loan guarantees for the construction of two new Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear reactors at the Alvin W. Vogtle electric generating station, also known as Plant Vogtle, in Georgia.

Georgia Power, Oglethorpe Power, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG) and the City of Dalton in Georgia are the partners in the Vogtle project that is being constructed by a consortium led by Southern.

In 2010, the DOE made conditional commitments for a total of $8.33bn in loan guarantees for Plant Vogtle.

Hyundai E&C awards contract to Yokogawa for combined cycle power project in Uruguay

Hyundai Engineering & Construction (Hyundai E&C) awarded a contract to Yokogawa Electric Korea to supply a control system for the Punta del Tigre combined cycle power plant (CCPP) project, which is claimed to be the first combined cycle power project in Uruguay.

Under the contract, Yokogawa will supply a Centum VP integrated production control system to monitor and control all plant facilities, including gas turbines, exhaust-heat-recovery boilers and steam turbines.

The company will also deliver an Exaquantum plant information management system and DPharp EJA/EJX differential pressure/pressure transmitters for the power project.

FirstEnergy completes sale of US hydro plants to LS Power

Hydro

FirstEnergy completed the sale of 11 hydroelectric power stations in Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia to Harbor Hydro Holdings, an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of LS Power Equity Partners II, for a cash consideration of around $395m.

Having reached a sales agreement with LS Power affiliates on 23 August 2013 and received approval from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in November 2013, FirstEnergy subsidiaries have completed the sale of the plants.

FirstEnergy subsidiaries include Allegheny Energy Supply Company, FirstEnergy Generation and Green Valley Hydro that own the power stations totalling 527MW, which represents less than 3% of FirstEnergy’s generation fleet output.

Iceland creates world’s first magma-based geothermal energy system

Geothermal

The Icelandic Deep Drilling Project (IDDP), a collaboration of HS Energy, National Power Company (NPC), Reykjavik Energy and National Energy Authority of Iceland, created the world’s first magma-based geothermal energy system.

The system was created after drilling 2,100m through the earth’s crust and it is only the second instance that a drilling operation has broken through to magma with the first one in 2007 being in Hawaii.

The IDDP-1 borehole was the first in a series of wells being drilled by the IDDP in Iceland to explore high-temperature geothermal resources.

DONG Energy to sell half of 50% share in London Array 1 offshore wind farm

Wind

DONG Energy agreed to divest half of its 50% share in the 630MW London Array 1 offshore wind farm to Canadian institutional fund manager La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Quebec (La Caisse) for a consideration of £644m.

After completion of the transaction, La Caisse will own a 25% stake in the existing joint venture, alongside DONG Energy (25%), E.ON (30%) and Masdar (20%), while DONG Energy, which will then represent 157.5MW, will remain as O&M service provider for the project.

Located approximately 20km off the coasts of Kent and Essex, the wind farm features 175 Siemens 3.6MW turbines and will generate 630MW of electricity, which is enough to power around 500,000 homes and curb around 900,000t of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

Alstom to supply two 900MW units for Poland’s largest coal-fuelled facility

Coal-fired equipment

Alstom won contracts to provide two 900MW coal-fuelled units to Polska Grupa Energetyczna’s (PGE) project, which is claimed to be Poland’s largest coal-fuelled facility.

Awarded by Polimex, Rafako and Mostostal Warsawa, members of the consortium responsible for the supply of the equipment for the facility, the contracts valued at €1.25bn cover the units five and six for the new ultra-supercritical (USC) coal-fired power plant in Opole, Poland.

Pursuant to the contract, the company will provide its USC technology including USC boiler islands, the steam turbine generator islands including the turbine hall equipment, the air quality control systems and some balance of plant systems.