Generators

Energy marketers and merchant power generators have watched their stocks drop precipitously as investors continue to run from companies even remotely associated with, or similar to, bankrupt Enron Corp. The walking wounded include Mirant (down about 36% by midday Friday from the prior Friday’s close), Calpine (down 37% for the week), Williams (-16%) and Dynegy (-17%), NRG (-14%), Aquila (-14%), El Paso (down 6%), and Reliant (-5%).

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has called on FERC to initiate a new investigation into allegations that generators manipulated California power prices in the wake of a new General Accounting Office (GAO) report, which found the Commission’s initial probe to be faulty.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has called on FERC to initiate a new investigation into allegations that generators manipulated California power prices in the wake of a General Accounting Office (GAO) report, which found the Commission’s initial probe to be faulty.

Despite a negative ruling earlier in the month, small energy generators, so-called qualifying facilities (QFs), continue to pursue relief from regulated rates of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. through the federal bankruptcy court judge in San Francisco who is overseeing the utility’s Chapter 11 proceedings. Separately, the PG&E utility is meeting with individual QFs to try to negotiate deals that will allow them to cover their costs of generation at minimum.

The nation’s leading maker of microturbines, Chatsworth, CA-based Capstone Turbine Corp., and the on-site generator part of Columbus, IN-based Cummins Inc. inked a three-year deal that could be worth $10-15 million during its first two years. Cummins will market Capstone’s commercially available 30 kW and 60 kW microturbines as part of its stationary power systems. The deal seeks to marry Capstone’s technological advantages with Cummins’ worldwide market presence.

Natural gas supply can be adequate for the expected demand in the future from power generators as well as LDCs, as long as rigs remain in the ground and the industry pays attention to indicators, according to Bruce Henning, director of Energy and Environmental Analysis Inc. (EEA) at the Energy Bar Association’s 55th meeting in Washington, D.C. last week

A group representing qualifying facility (QF) generators last week called on FERC to immediately order California’s two troubled investor-owned utilities to provide “interconnection, scheduling, transmission and related services” to QF plants in California, and to “cease and desist” from carrying out actions that are blocking sales of QF power.

A group representing qualifying facility (QF) generators has called on FERC to immediately order California’s two troubled investor-owned utilities to provide “interconnection, scheduling, transmission and related services” to QF plants in California, and to “cease and desist” from carrying out actions that are blocking sales of QF power.

A month has gone by since a special commission formed by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush recommended that the state break up its monopoly utilities and pave the way for competition in the power generation market, but still there has been no word from the legislature. There have been signs that the state senate will move much slower than previously expected on electric restructuring because of growing awareness of what can happen when power planning goes awry.