BPL Meters

Advanced, digital meters continuously record and report information about the electric system, making it possible to know automatically when the power is out, where to send repair crews, and when the power is back on. This steady stream of data helps reduce restoration time when outages occur, pinpoint problems on the system and provide a constant supply of information on the system's overall performance.

TXU Electric Delivery plans to have its 3 million automated meters by 2011, complementing an advanced grid intelligent enough to monitor electric service real-time. By year's end TXU Electric Delivery expects to have 370,000 automated meters system-wide, including 10,000 BPL-enabled meters.

CURRENT Communications Group, through its subsidiary CURRENT Technologies, will provide BPL-enabled communications technology for the Landis+Gyr meters. Through this agreement, CURRENT will provide the bandwidth to support advanced technologies enabling improved reliability and provision of new energy management and conservation services by third parties to consumers.

TXU Electric Delivery's automated meter network will use BPL-enabled meters and other meter technologies in order to increase network reliability and power quality, prevent, detect and restore customer outages more effectively and implement system-wide automated meter reading.

GE and Hitachi Form Alliance

The transaction will proceed through a cross-shareholding arrangement under which Hitachi will take a 40% holding in GE's existing nuclear business and GE will take approximately 20% holding in Hitachi's existing nuclear business. The parties anticipate that the transaction will be completed in the first half of 2007, subject to all required approvals and negotiation of the definitive agreement.

Within the new alliance GE and Hitachi will execute a single strategic vision that will create a broader portfolio of industry solutions, an improved capacity for new build opportunities, and the assets to invest and grow the business. GE and Hitachi believe that this will enable improved customer service and support.

The move will strengthen GE and Hitachi's existing boiling water reactor (BWR) capabilities in the light water reactor industry while positioning the alliance for expansion into new nuclear energy segments and technologies. Potential areas of investment include new infrastructure, advanced reactor design, and service technology, with a focus on new spaces across the industry value chain.

SCE Receives Approval

Business requirements, technology feasibility, and cost/benefit analyses will be performed during the 18-month first phase. SCE has assembled an engineering team comprised of IBM, EnerNex, and KEMA to help with the first phase and is also seeking input from providers of AMI technology.

The second phase will focus on final development activities, including field testing advanced metering solutions. After successful completion of development and CPUC authorization, full deployment of the company's AMI program could begin in late 2009. SCE estimates it could take about four years to replace current meters withadvanced ones.

An advanced metering infrastructure can reduce the costs of day-to-day utility operations, eliminate the need for employees to do work typically done manually in the field, provide real-time information on usage and pricing, communicate with "smart" devices such as thermostats and energy-management systems, continuously monitor service quality and distribution system performance, and provide customers with better information and service when they call with a problem.

For further information interested parties can visit www.sce.com/ami.

Power Plants in Spain

Hc energia, a subsidiary of the EDP—Energias de Portugal group, has chosen ALSTOM to provide the engineering, supply, erection and commissioning of the plants along with long-term operation-supervision and maintenance services for the main power generation equipment within the plants.

One unit will be built at Castejon, Navarra, where hc energia has another ALSTOM GT26 power plant, which has been in operation for over three years. The other unit will be built at Soto de Ribera, Asturias.

These new power plants will add 800 MW to the capacity of the ALSTOM GT26 combined cycle power plant fleet in Spain, bringing the total to 4,000 MW.

Wind in Europe

Spain will remain as Europe's main growth engine over the next five years according to the new study, European Wind Power Markets and Strategies, 2006–2011, while significant new growth is expected from other Southern European markets (Italy, Portugal, France), select northern European markets (United Kingdom, Sweden) and emerging Eastern Europe. Overall wind power capacity in Europe is expected to more than double, from 40,605 MW in 2005 to 83,061 MW by 2011, according to EER.

Expansion of Europe's wind power base will increasingly be led by IPPs and utilities, as these firms build up their in-house development capabilities and leverage their balance sheets to facilitate project acquisition. The last four years indicate a clear shift in ownership from German private investors, which held over 50% of MW installed in 2002, to utilities and IPPs, which controlled 57% of the market in 2005, according to EER.

Consolidation of wind plant ownership largely reflects the shift in market growth from Germany to other European markets where institutional investors and utilities own the lion's share of MW installed.

Cannon Technologies Acquired

Cannon Technologies serves more than 400 utility customers in North America with automation technologies. Cannon's Yukon Advanced Energy Services software provides a scalable platform for remotely reading meters, controlling peak load, managing power, and monitoring substation and distribution system assets. The company's Yukon software communicates to hundreds of thousands of endpoint devices at utilities of all sizes.

Study of Energy Policy

With Asia's energy consumption taking a heavy toll on the environment, ADB is planning to develop a new strategy to guide energy sector operations for the next five years. According to the International Energy Agency, Asia's current annual energy consumption of over 2.1 trillion tons of oil equivalent is expected to more than double by 2025.

A team of energy specialists will develop and recommend strategies that ADB will adopt in its lending operations from 2007 to 2012 to enhance the effectiveness of its energy sector assistance. The team will build on the recently-launched ADB Energy Efficiency Initiative which plans an annual allocation of US$1 billion to finance clean energy projects within the next two to three years, according to the report.

Under the grant project, ADB will also produce a book that will provide developing countries with comprehensive energy data and available options. It will be jointly prepared with a group of reputable energy research institutions, including the International Energy Agency, the report said.

Forces Join to Build Plant

ALSTOM will design, construct, and operate a 5-MW pilot system that will capture CO₂ from a portion of boiler flue gas at the We Energies power plant in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, United States. The system, the first of its kind in the United States, will incorporate the carbon dioxide capture processes developed by ALSTOM. The pilot is scheduled to be commissioned at the Pleasant Prairie Power Plant in mid-2007 and will be operated for at least one year. EPRI will conduct an engineering/environmental performance and cost analysis during the operation.

The ALSTOM carbon capture process uses chilled ammonia to capture CO₂. This process dramatically reduces the energy required to capture carbon dioxide and isolate it in a highly concentrated, high-pressure form. In laboratory testing sponsored by ALSTOM, EPRI, Statoil and others, the process has demonstrated the potential to capture over 90% of CO₂ at a cost that is far less expensive than other carbon capture technologies. The isolated CO₂, once captured, can be used commercially or sequestered in suitable underground geological sites.

EPRI will conduct an extensive evaluation of the system's performance and support the development of technological and economic analyses associated with applying the carbon-capture process on a commercial scale, primarily to larger, coal-burning power plants.