Calpine Corp., a San Jose-based independent power company,announced plans to build, own and operate a 540-megawatt gas-firedpower plant in Westbrook, ME. Calpine acquired development rightsfor the Westbrook Power Plant from Genesis Power Corp. of Needham,MA. Construction of the $300 million facility is scheduled to beginlater this month. The plant, which will burn about 90 MMcf/d, isscheduled to begin power deliveries as early as November 2000 andwill serve the New England market. Westbrook is Calpine’s fourthcombined-cycle facility under development in the New Englandmarket.
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North Atlantic Withdraws But Vows to Return
Conceding defeat – at least temporarily – North AtlanticPipeline Partners withdrew from FERC its application to build amassive 575-mile subsea pipeline system to carry initially 2 Bcf/dof gas from the Scotian Shelf offshore Nova Scotia to markets inAtlantic Canada and New England.
TransCanada Files Lake Erie Crossing for Millennium
TransCanada PipeLines has filed an application with the NationalEnergy Board (NEB) to build a 61-mile, 36-inch diameter pipelineacross Lake Erie. The line would provide the upstream supplyconnection for the proposed Millennium Pipeline project, whichwould extend to New York City.
Avista invests in Gas-Fired Generation
Washington Water Power’s newly formed affiliate Avista PowerInc. and Cogentrix Energy Inc. agreed to jointly build and/or buyinterests in gas-fired electric generation plants in the PacificNorthwest states of Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The first projectunder the new agreement is an approximately 270 megawatt facilityto be located in Rathdrum, ID. A power purchase agreement for theRathdrum project was signed simultaneously with the developmentagreement.
Market Continues to Build on Weather-Driven Gains
Cash prices kept climbing higher Tuesday, though not at thedazzling rate of Monday’s run-up. New gains of 20-40 cents at manypoints were still pretty impressive, though.
Questar Plans ARCO Line Extensions
Questar Pipeline said last week it plans to build severalextensions on the converted Southern Trails Pipeline (formerlyARCO’s Line 90) to provide greater access to San Juan Basin andRocky Mountain region supplies and to create a link to El Paso,Transwestern and others at the California border. The company alsois planning a short extension to several Long Beach, CA,refineries. Questar completed the $38 million purchase of the linefrom ARCO Pipe Line Co. last week.
Shocking Amount of New Generation Planned
The rush to build new gas-fired generation has become nothingless than a frenzy, according to a new report which shows thatsince summer the tally on new generation projects has grown 61% to59,000 MW. That’s up from 49,463 MW reported in late-September, and36,600 MW in July, said Resource Data International’s (RDI) EnergyInsight (EI), an Internet-based analytical service that keeps aclose watch on the power generation market.
TransCanada Wins Mexican Pipeline Bid.
TransCanada del Bajio was awarded a permit to build and operatea system to transport gas from Calamanca, Guanajuato, Mexico, tothe capital city of Aquascalientes. Mexico’s Energy RegulatoryCommission (CRE) awarded the permit to the consortium made up of TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. (95%) and Mexico’s Corporacion GUTSA(5%). The project entails construction of a 126-mile network of 12-and 16-inch pipelines with capacity of 90 MMcf/d. TransCanada delBajio will invest $56.4 million during the first five years of thesystem’s operation. The project is intended to supply gas to theBajio geographic zone whose distribution permit has been put up forbidding by the CRE. The winner of this permit will be announced byDec. 17.
Enron, Columbia Still Paying for Retail Build-Up
Third quarter earnings of both Enron Corp. and Columbia EnergyGroup continued to show the costs of building up a retail marketingpresence. Both companies reported losses in their retail businessesin earnings reports.
Midwest Electric AEP Acquires Louisiana Gas
In a move to build up the natural gas side of its business andbecome a Btu trading power, American Electric Power subsidiary AEPResources agreed to buy the midstream gas operations of EquitableResources, principally the Louisiana Intrastate Gas (LIG) system,for $320 million in cash. The addition will be AEP’s firstmidstream gas holdings.