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Plug Power Approved for $217M Investment

Plug Power Inc. has taken significant steps toward completion of the previously announced $217 million cash investment by the principal investors of Interros, a major Russian investment firm, and Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium. The parties have received Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust clearance and clearance by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). “With the regulatory approval process behind us, we are looking forward to our stockholder meeting later this month and moving closer to completion of the transaction,” said Dr. Roger Saillant, CEO and President of Plug Power. As previously disclosed, the transaction is expected to close this summer, subject to customary closing conditions and approval by Plug Power’s stockholders. Plug Power stockholders will vote on the proposed investment transaction at Plug Power’s Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 at 10:00 a.m. EDT at the NASDAQ, Four Times Square in New York, N.Y. In addition, the Company will host a live webcast of the Stockholders’ Meeting. To access the webcast, go directly to the following website and select the Stockholders’ Meeting link on the home page. A playback of the meeting will be available on the company’s […]

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Northern Power Gets $1.14M Contract

Northern Power, a subsidiary of Distributed Energy Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: DESC), has been awarded a contract for $1.14 million to install, commission and service three additional NorthWind 100 wind turbines for the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative (AVEC) in the rural village of Chevak, Alaska. The contract brings the total number of turbines AVEC has purchased from Northern Power to 13. The three new turbines, combined with an additional NorthWind 100 purchased by AVEC in October 2005, are expected to be installed in Chevak by the autumn of 2006. Together, the four turbines will produce approximately 905,332 kWh of electricity annually, replacing about 30% of the energy normally generated by diesel fuel. At current fuel prices, the turbines are expected to provide AVEC significant annual fuel cost savings. In addition to installing the turbines, Northern Power will provide maintenance and service on them for a period of at least two years. Northern Power will also provide its proprietary SmartView monitoring software, allowing AVEC to monitor and control the wind turbines as well as monitor the overall power generation system assets. The NorthWind 100 turbines ordered by AVEC to date are part of an important initiative to integrate renewable wind power into […]

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Evergreen Signs MOU for Polysilicon Supply

Evergreen Solar, Inc. (Nasdaq: ESLR) has executed a binding memorandum of understanding regarding new polysilicon supply agreements sufficient to allow its EverQ joint venture to increase its solar module production capacity. EverQ currently expects to ramp production capacity from about 30MW this year to approximately 300MW by 2010 and possibly as early as the second half of 2009. The supply agreements are expected to be finalized and become effective early in the third quarter of 2006. Under the proposed terms of a long-term supply agreement, Renewable Energy Corporation of Norway (OSEAX: REC.OL) will supply EverQ with a total of 7,400 metric tons of granular polysilicon over seven years beginning in 2008. Shipments of approximately 400 metric tons are expected to begin in the second half of 2008 and increase to 1,200 metric tons annually by 2010, continuing through 2014. This is in addition to the 190 metric tons REC is supplying EverQ annually under an existing arrangement. In conjunction with the implementation of today’s supply agreements and consistent with the existing joint venture documents, Evergreen Solar, Q-Cells AG of Germany (FSE: QCE) and REC have agreed to become equal partners in EverQ. It is anticipated that Evergreen Solar will continue […]

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Will Corporations Be Held Responsible for Global Warming?

On June 7, 2006, oral arguments will be heard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City on a first-of-its-kind lawsuit that, if successful, will hold corporations responsible for global warming. Eight states, the City of New York and three land trusts filed civil litigation against companies including American Electric Power Co., Southern Company, Tennessee Valley Authority, Xcel Energy Inc. and Cinergy Corp. in federal court in Manhattan in 2004. If the oral arguments are successful, the case will move forward and could ultimately lead to a legally binding emissions limit on greenhouse gases from major U.S. power corporations. The five companies named in the suit are responsible for approximately one quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions from the U.S. power sector (2.6 billion tons per year). Curtailing the emissions of these industry leaders will be a substantial first step toward stabilizing carbon dioxide levels and slowing global warming. Oral arguments on this corporate polluter case will be held before a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and attorney Matthew Pawa will be representing the plaintiff land trusts. For more information on the history and facts of the […]

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Debate Over Wind Power Creates Environmental Rift

By: Felicity Barringer OAKLAND, Md. ? Dan Boone has no doubt that his crusade against wind energy is the right way to protect the Allegheny highlands he loves. Let other environmentalists call him deluded at best, traitorous at worst. He remains undeterred. For four years or more, Mr. Boone has traveled across the mid-Atlantic to make every argument he can muster against local wind-power projects: they kill birds and bats; they are too noisy; they are inefficient, making no more than a symbolic contribution to energy needs. Wind farms on the empty prairies of North Dakota? Fine. But not, Mr. Boone insists, in the mountainous terrain of southwestern Pennsylvania, western Maryland or West Virginia, areas where 15 new projects have been proposed. If all were built, 750 to 1,000 giant turbines would line the hilltops, most producing, on average, enough electricity to power 600 homes. Wind projects are in the midst of a huge growth spurt in many parts of the country, driven by government incentives to promote alternatives to fossil fuels. But Mr. Boone, who wields a botanist’s trowel and a debater’s knife with equal ease, wants to slow them down with community activism, regulatory action and legal challenges. […]

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