Finance
Canadian geothermal power producer and developer Magma Energy Corp. (TSX: MXY.TO) said today it will sell a 25% share of its 98.5%-owned Icelandic geothermal power company HS Orka hf to a group of Icelandic pension funds for approximately C$71.5 million, approximately equal to Magma’s original cost of the acquisition.
Most stock markets finished in negative territory for the week, with the broader markets slightly stronger than the clean energy sectors.
MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. (NYSE: WFR) subsidiary SunEdison LLC said today the Ontario Power Authority has confirmed that the company has met the 60% domestic content requirements of the Ontario feed-in-tariff (FIT) program for solar projects. This means the company’s solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, to be manufactured at a new facility in Newmarket, Ontario beginning in Q2 2011, will be accepted in FIT projects in the province.
Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE: DUK) said today it has chosen a 36 megawatt (MW) battery system developed by Xtreme Power Inc. to store and manage power generated at Duke’s 153 MW Notrees Windpower Project in west Texas. The company said the storage system will be one of the largest of its kind in the world and will be operating by late 2012.
Kior, Inc., which began construction in Q1 2011 on a $190-million commercial-scale plant to convert Southern Yellow Pine chips into renewable crude oil and diesel, has filed a $100 milion Initial Public Offering with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Kior, based in Pasadena, Texas, is 74.5% owned by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Khosla Ventures.
Shares of Allentown, Pennsylvania-based power utility PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) are up 4.5% this week after the company announced Monday that it will issue common shares worth about $2.1 billion and equity units worth about $750 million to help finance the acquisition of an energy company in the U.K. The shares and units are expected to be issued April 15.
Enmax Energy Corporation, wholly owned by the City of Calgary, Alberta, said Monday construction will begin this month on its 800-megawatt Shepard natural gas-fired generation plant. The plant, expected to cost more than CDN$1.3 billion, will provide enough power for about half of the city’s population of one million residents.
BrightSource Energy, Inc. said Monday it has finalized U.S. federal government loan guarantees of $1.6 billion and has received a $168 million equity investment from Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) for its proposed 392-megawatt (MW) Ivanpah thermal solar power project under construction in California’s Mohave Desert.
Shares of French-based renewable energy company EDF Energies Nouvelles S.A. (Paris: EEN.PA) closed up 10% today after French state-controlled power giant Electricite de France SA (Paris: EDF.PA) announced on Friday it will launch a €1.5 billion offer for the 50% of EDF Energies Nouvelles it does not hold. Electricite de France will offer €40 a share in cash or 13 EDF shares for 11 EDF Energies Nouvelles shares. (€1 = $1.44 April 11)
ABB Ltd. (NYSE: ABB) (2010 net income $2.73 billion, revenue $31.59 billion) said Sunday it has begun construction on a $90 million factory at Huntersville, North Carolina, that will provide AC and DC high-voltage land cables for power transmission. The facility will employ approximately 100 people and begin operation in late 2012.
