Lessen

Despite some fall-off, Houston-based CARBO Ceramics Inc. Thursday said it continues to see strong ceramic proppant sales volumes in the active major shale plays such as the Eagle Ford, Permian and Bakken.

Large, utility-scale solar-powered generation developments as outlined for California will grow in national interest and eventually may lessen the need for natural gas-fired peaking and medium size traditional electric generation plants, according to a senior executive with Solel Solar Systems, a globally operating solar thermal project developer/operator. And the trend could take hold in less than the next 10 years.

Large, utility-scale solar-powered generation developments as outlined for California will grow in national interest and eventually can lessen the need for natural gas-fired peaking and medium size traditional electric generation plants, according to a senior executive with Solel Solar Systems, a globally operating solar thermal project developer/operator. And the trend could take hold in less than the next 10 years.

The inherent vulnerability of the Pacific Northwest’s energy infrastructure to terrorist attack is a strong reason to expand energy efficiency and conservation programs to lessen the general public’s dependence on centralized oil, natural gas and electricity supply sources, according to the Seattle-based Northwest Environment Watch, a research organization, in its annual report released earlier this month.

The inherent vulnerability of the Pacific Northwest’s energy infrastructure to terrorist attack is a strong reason to expand energy efficiency and conservation programs to lessen the general public’s dependence on centralized oil, natural gas and electricity supply sources, according to the Seattle-based Northwest Environment Watch, a research organization, in its annual report released earlier this month.

Seeking to lessen a third quarter earnings hit now in the 20 cents/diluted-share range, Spokane, WA-based Avista Corp. last Friday asked Idaho regulators to reconsider up to $7.4 million in natural gas and electric disallowances that were part of a general rate case decision regarding Avista Utilities’ operations in the southern end of the state (see Power Market Today, Sept. 15).

Seeking to lessen a third quarter earnings hit now in the 20 cents/diluted-share range, Spokane, WA-based Avista Corp. last Friday asked Idaho regulators to reconsider up to $7.4 million in natural gas and electric disallowances that were part of a general rate case decision regarding Avista Utilities’ operations in the southern end of the state (see Power Market Today, Sept. 15).

Lingering concerns in the minds of some investors as to whether American Electric Power (AEP) is facing a liquidity crunch should be eased in the wake of a recently close debt offering by four of the company’s subsidiaries that yielded more than $2 billion in proceeds, a top official with AEP told a gathering of investment professionals on Thursday.

California regulators this week could start to lessen some of the uncertainty surrounding the in-state markets in the first of a series of natural gas infrastructure expansion decisions that ultimately could greatly expand the two major utility intra-state transmission/storage systems and make it easier for new interstate expansion projects into the state to get completed.