January 13, 2011
 
Dynegy's hard past will soon have a new beginning. Carl Icahn has agreed to take the independent power producer private at a price of $665 million in cash plus the assumption of $4 billion in debt - unless the company can attract a better all-cash deal in the coming weeks.

Luring capital is no small task. As such, power companies have to consider all options -- including those beyond the traditional debt and equity markets. Private equity firms are good prospects: They have the cash and they seek productive assets. Utilities, meantime, are short generation and transmission and need solid partners. The two have already met and time has shown they work well together.

January 12, 2011

Duke Energy is vowing to buy Progress Energy in what would become the largest utility in the country. But would the mega-merger create excessive market power? Regulators will decide.

It's not a surprise that two contiguous power companies would want to unite. Any company with a solid financial and pot of cash has its eye on others. Simply, merging could potentially improve earnings and thereby help to bankroll future projects. The secret, though, is to make buys that are reasonably priced and that are synergistic - all to gain size and scope while increasing cost savings.

January 11, 2011

The Middle East is long synonymous with oil production. But the region will soon have a new power broker and one that specializes in finding natural gas: Israel.

Last month, Texas-based Noble Energy and its Israeli partners discovered the world's largest natural gas deposit in 10 years that is roughly 80 miles off the shores of Haifa, Israel. Leviathan, as it known and which is said to 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, could at least allow the small nation to replace much of its oil-and- coal- based electric generation with that of the cleaner burning natural gas.

1/4/2011
Cincinnati.com
by Mike Boyer

WEST CHESTER TWP. - New U.S. energy-efficiency standards started to take hold Tuesday, when home furnishings store Ikea announced it is stopping the sale of traditional, incandescent light bulbs.

The retailer, which operates a local store in West Chester Township, said it's the first major retailer to stop selling the traditional bulbs, which trace their roots to Thomas Edison in the 1870s.

New standards, required by the Energy Independence and Security Act and signed into law in 2007 by former President George W. Bush, eventually will make it more costly and complex to buy light bulbs for the home or office.

December 23, 2010

The global economy is winding its way out of the long, dark tunnel that has enveloped it for two years. Next year promises to be brighter.

The utility sector will play its part and in doing so, help the nation's overall financial picture. It will be called upon to invest in and to implement to some of the latest and cleanest technologies to hit markets -- everything from smart grids to sustainable energy sources. While conditions in the recent past have been soggy, the same underlying fundamentals that have existed will persist: The push to go greener and to cut emissions.