Sector

Two West Coast utilities — one private- and the other public-sector — are leading the nation in offering green power programs to retail customers, according to the Department of Energy (DOE). Portland General Electric (PGE) in Oregon has more renewable energy customers than any utility in the nation, DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) indicated in national rankings released Tuesday. At the end of 2010, PGE had nearly 78,000 residential and business customers, or 12.6% of its eligible customers, enrolled in a renewable power program, well ahead of the national average of 2%. Portland, OR-based PGE led the nation in renewable sales in 2010 for the sixth consecutive year. In California the Santa Clara municipal utility, Silicon Valley Power, is in the top 10 nationally with its green power program, drawing more than 100 businesses and nearly 4,000 homes to the program, NREL’s report confirmed. Silicon Valley sold more than 70,000 MWh of green-based power last year.

The midstream sector continued to respond last week to producers’ thirst for natural gas liquids (NGL) profits with the announcement of two Gulf Coast projects to handle growing production and another that would increase transport of Rockies NGLs to the Gulf.

A week after President Obama lent his support to natural gas vehicles, the administration made clear it was not playing favorites in the transportation sector. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Friday announced a new federal program to expand flexible vehicle fuel pumps for ethanol.

If natural gas and nuclear power are included as part of the clean energy sector, the United States could already be more than half of the way toward meeting a national clean energy standard (CEC) as outlined by President Obama in his State of the Union address earlier this year, according to a white paper on the CES concept released Monday by the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

With the nation’s most ambitious renewable energy program, California’s three major private-sector utilities reported progress but still fell short of the state’s 20% 2010 goal, according to a report from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Each utility made progress from their positions a year earlier. Southern California Edison Co. reported 19.4% of their power coming from renewable sources, compared to 17.4% at the end of 2009; Pacific Gas and Electric Co. reported 17.7% compared with 14.4% in 2009; and San Diego Gas and Electric Co. reported 11.9% compared with 10.5% in 2009. Collectively the utilities averaged 18% of their power coming from renewable sources in 2010, compared with 15% a year earlier. Under the state renewable portfolio standard (RPS) program, the CPUC has established flexible compliance rules that allow the utilities to bank excess renewable energy and defer deficits in any year for up to three years when using what the regulators call an “allowance justification.” The CPUC estimates that aggregate utility RPS total will reach 20% before the end of 2012.

The Riverstone/Carlyle Global Energy and Power Funds Monday announced completion of the acquisition of USA Compression Holdings LP, the parent company of USA Compression Partners LLC, a natural gas compression services company headquartered in Austin and Dallas, TX. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Reducing market barriers that make it difficult for North America’s natural gas sector to compete would increase opportunities worldwide for the continent’s ample production, according to a new study by the Fraser Institute.

Reducing market barriers that make it difficult for North America’s natural gas sector to compete would increase opportunities worldwide for the continent’s ample production, according to a new study by the Fraser Institute.

Natural gas and electric utility rates changed Monday for the state of Washington’s three major private-sector energy utilities: Avista Corp., Cascade Natural Gas Corp. and Puget Sound Energy (PSE). The changes had previously been approved by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC).