Last week, Southern Power – a subsidiary of electric utility company Southern Co. (SO) – announced its decision to build one of the country’s largest biomass power plants in eastern Sacul, Texas. Construction of the 100-megawatt plant is slated to commence this fall, with commercial operation projected for the summer of 2012.   As part of the project, Southern Power has agreed to acquire the Nacogdoches Power LLC biomass project from American Renewables LLC, a developer and operator of clean energy facilities utilizing biomass materials as fuels.   The power plant’s output has already been committed through a 20-year power purchase agreement with Austin Energy, the municipal utility owned by and serving Austin, Texas.   The plant, to be built over 165 acres, will use about 1 million tons of biomass materials (including forest residue, wood processing residues and municipal wood waste) annually as fuel, which is planned ...

FirstEnergy (FE) expects to complete construction of the Fremont Energy Center by the end of 2010 and start commercial operation in 2011. Earlier, the company had extended the construction schedule of the plant through 2012 due to challenging economic environment and lower electricity demand.

FirstEnergy had purchased the partially complete plant from Calpine Corp. (CPN) in January 2008. The plant includes two natural gas combined-cycle combustion turbines and a steam turbine with 544 MW of load-following capacity and 163 MW of peaking capacity. With the revised construction schedule in place, FirstEnergy expects to spend around $200 million to complete the plant.

Ohio-based FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company engaged in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity, as well as energy management and other energy-related services. It controls over 14,000 megawatts of generation capacity and serves more than 4.5 million customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

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A subsidiary of Sempra Energy (SRE) recently became an equal partner of a BP Plc. (BP) unit for developing a 200MW Fowler Ridge II Wind Farm in Benton County, Indiana. 

The Fowler Ridge joint venture is currently under construction on a 17,000-acre site, about 90 miles northwest of Indianapolis and is expected to be operational in the first quarter of fiscal 2010. The 200MW facility will produce enough electricity for nearly 60,000 homes.

The project's entire power output has already been sold under four, long-term 50-MW contracts. Three of these deals were signed with units of American Electric Power (AEP) and one with Vectren Energy Delivery (VVC) of Indiana for 20-year terms each. The project will use 133 wind turbines, each with the ability to generate 1.5 MW.

The Fowler Ridge II development is an expansion of Fowler Ridge I, a 400-MW wind farm that commenced operations

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FirstEnergy Corp. (FE) stated yesterday that its previously announced tender offer for its Series B Notes due 2011, with coupon rate of 6.45%, is oversubscribed. The company has increased the size of the offer to $1.2 billion from $725 million. The increased cap is to match the $1.253 billion principal amount of the Notes already tendered by holders.   FirstEnergy intends to fund the repurchase either through liquid cash or by delving into its $2.75 billion revolving credit facility from 25 banks. On a pro-rata basis, the company will disburse $1,092.50 to holders of per $1,000 principal amount of Notes who have tendered before the original deadline of midnight Aug 17, 2009. However, holders who have tendered subsequent to that will receive $1,062.50 per $1,000 principal amount of Notes.   FirstEnergy’s move to clean its balance sheet will further strengthen its financial profile. The high dividend yielding (5.04%) ...