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11. September 2008 by admin.
HOUMA – Residents who purchased or rented generators in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav and hope to be reimbursed by FEMA must show that it was to support a documented medical need.
Residents must provide proof that the generator provided power for medical equipment like a kidney dialysis machines, apnea monitors for infants, oxygen concentrators, respirators, ventilators or feeding pumps.
FEMA reimburse the cost of rented or purchased generators if they were already paid for by other sources including Medicare, Medicaid or insurance.
“We know life is extremely difficult for residents following this disaster, especially if they don’t have power,” said FEMA’s Federal Coordinating Officer Mike Hall. “We want to ensure that people with medical needs receive assistance and are not put in danger because they don’t have a generator.”
Residents must live in a federal disaster parish like Terrebonne or Lafourche, or provide proof-of-purchase or rental receipts dated between the date the disaster was declared, which is Sept. 2, 2008, and the date that power was restored to the applicant’s home or the end of the disaster period, whichever occurs first.
FEMA and the state will not reimburse costs for generators rented or purchased outside of this timeframe.
In order to be considered for this and other types of disaster assistance, Louisiana residents who suffered damage or loss from the hurricane are urged to register with FEMA at 1-800-621-FEMA as the first step toward getting help.
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5. September 2008 by admin.
Power outages caused by Hurricane Gustav have shut down gas stations throughout Louisiana this week, but Florida officials are hoping a little-known state law can help them avoid the same complication the next time a major storm reaches their shores — which could be this weekend.
The Sunshine State in 2006 approved a law — believed to be the only one of its kind — that requires nearly 1,000 gas stations along interstate highways and other major evacuation routes in the state to install wiring allowing them to use backup power sources during emergencies.
The law, which also requires the stations to have generators on hand or available within 24 hours of an emergency, is meant to ensure that gas stations can stay open if hurricanes or other disasters knock out electricity, allowing residents to evacuate the state and return home more smoothly.
In Louisiana this week, Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) identified a lack of power at gas stations across much of the state as one of the fundamental problems awaiting an estimated 1.9 million residents who fled ahead of Gustav’s landfall. The evacuation is being called the largest in state history.
On Thursday (Sept. 4), Jindal announced that the state would spend about $20 million to purchase 400 generators to restore power at gas stations, grocery stores and pharmacies, as hundreds of thousands of evacuees return, including many from neighboring states.
Of the 970 gas stations that Florida officials have identified as falling under the generator law, almost all have complied with its demands, said Terence McElroy, a spokesman with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which inspected the stations. Gas stations that fail to comply could be shut down, and owners could face fines or even criminal charges.
“We found their compliance and cooperation very encouraging,” McElroy said of gas station owners and managers, noting that many in the business community agree that the law serves an important public-safety purpose.
But the law also carries significant costs for business owners, who have had to install “transfer switches” that are necessary for generators to power their gas stations — in addition to buying the generators themselves. More importantly, many owners complain, the law’s success largely depends on other factors during emergencies.
David Whitaker, general manager of the Flying J Travel Plaza off Interstate 95 in Fort Piece, Fla., said his company paid about $400,000 for a generator and $33,000 for the installation of a transfer switch to comply with the law. Even with those expenses, Whitaker said, there is no guarantee he will be able to open the travel plaza the next time a hurricane or other disaster hits the region.
“This is a giant truck stop, which means that it requires a minimum of 15 to 20 employees to run it,” Whitaker said in an interview with Stateline.org. The generator, he said, will be useless if he cannot find workers willing to stay behind during a storm, noting that the state cannot force him to keep his gas station open.
“It’s a wonderful idea as long as I have enough brave souls to operate the plaza,” he said.
Others have cautioned that fuel shortages during disasters are not caused simply by a lack of electricity at gas stations, but by an inability of suppliers to reach the stations to deliver the gas. Many gas stations in Louisiana this week have reported supply problems in addition to a lack of generators.
The law is not perfect, acknowledged Florida state Rep. Sandy Adams (R), chair of the House Domestic Security Committee, where the generator legislation originated two years ago. But she said lawmakers have learned from each storm that has hit Florida and continue to refine their approaches to make the state more prepared for the next emergency.
“It’s a lessons-learned approach,” she said.
McElroy, of the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, predicted that the law will prove useful. He said that residents who returned to Florida after the hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 “found areas, days later, that were without power and they couldn’t fill their cars. I don’t think they’ll find that again.”
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3. September 2008 by admin.
Many stores remained boarded up and closed Tuesday, leaving those seeking to replenish their supplies with limited options.
Lowe’s in Opelousas reopened Tuesday with abbreviated hours.
Peppy Glaze, a Lowe’s manager, said the store will open at 7 a.m. today and hold its regular hours.
Generators were in high demand as many people were without power.
Silver Sales Dollars, a Mississippi company, set up four trucks packed with generators in the parking lot of Stage to sell to customers in need of electricity.
Mike Harbin, a truck driver and salesman, said the company typically travels to storm-affected areas to sell generators.
The company visited Lafayette for Hurricane Lili, Deridder after Hurricane Rita and Hattisburg, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina.
Harbin insists that the business is legitimate and intends to help areas hit by hurricanes or blizzards.
Gas and diesel-powered generators sold anywhere from $450 to $1,200, Harbin said.
“Anything we sell, you’ll get a receipt with our company letterhead and a phone number and a business card,” he said.
Crowds of people and cars began to form in the parking lot before 10 a.m,. and by 1 p.m. the line stretched almost to the street.
Craig Tyler and Clifford Thierry of Opelousas considered purchasing a generator after losing power.
“If it goes for more than a day, then we will have to consider buying,” Thierry said.
Lines also formed at the other businesses that opened soon after the storm.
In other areas, the Sunset Mini Mart was open taking customers.
The Walgreens on Creswell Lane opened and began to see customer traffic.
In town, a line of motorists aiming to refill their vehicles with gasoline tried to fit on the small parking lot of the Tobacco Plus and ShopRite.
At the Lowe’s, Glaze said they were letting customers a few customers at the time.
Supplies were limited and the store sold out of many items.
“We do have trucks coming,” he said. “It’s just a matter of when they get here to us.”
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30. May 2008 by admin.
Investors looking for exposure to the booming U.S. wind power market don’t have a lot of options, since most companies in that business south of the border are privately owned, or controlled by European firms.
But one small Canadian company, Western Wind Energy Corp., has carved out a niche in California that gives investors a chance to get in on one of the hottest U.S. energy sectors.
The TSX/Venture-traded company, based in Vancouver, has had a stellar stock market performance in the past year, with its shares more than tripling to hit $3.50, although it has fallen back in the past week to the $3 range.
The company has two wind farms in California that are already producing electricity, and a portfolio of potential projects that could provide substantial growth going forward.
One of Western Wind’s two operating facilities is the Mesa project near Palm Springs, where more than 400 old turbines generate about 30 megawatts of power. The company plans to upgrade the small turbines to dramatically increase the output.
The other project in operation is the small 4 MW Windridge farm in the Tehachapi pass area about 160 kilometres northeast of Los Angeles.
Western Wind owns more land in the windy Tehachapi pass, and has a power contract there for a much bigger 120 MW project called Windstar. It hopes to get it up and running in the coming months.
Western Wind also has other potential development sites in California and in Arizona, and is considering getting into the solar power business.
The key to the company’s success, said analyst Massimo Fiore of Versant Partners Inc., is that California has both relatively high electricity prices, and a policy of quickly ramping up alternative energy production, with a goal of 20 per cent renewables by 2010. At the same time, federal production tax credits provide yet another incentive.
“There are only a few places in the U.S. where you can make good money per megawatt [of wind power], and California is one of those places,” Mr. Fiore said.
Still, Western Wind has not yet moved into the black. In the 11 months to Dec. 31 (the company changed its year-end) it lost $2.6-million on revenue of $4.3-million.
The company’s prospects were also clouded in the past 18 months because it was involved in a messy legal battle with one of its largest shareholders.
In 2006 Australia’s Pacific Hydro Ltd. held about 25 per cent of Western Wind’s shares, but at the Canadian firm’s annual meeting that year shareholders restricted their voting power to 20 per cent. Pacific got miffed and threatened to seize some of the Canadian company’s assets.
There was a flurry of litigation, but eventually a settlement was reached and Pacific Hydro agreed to sell its holdings. The distribution was completed last month.
Just this week, Western Wind announced a private placement to raise money that will be partly used to pay off the last $12.5-million it owes Pacific Hydro.
The balance, about $5-million, will boost the company’s working capital position.
Mr. Fiore, who rates the company a “strong buy” and has a one-year target of $5.10, said he is now more confident in Western Wind’s long-term value after the company announced last week that it had turned down a $228-million offer for development rights to the Windstar site.
That sets a floor for the value of the project, and may encourage others to bid more, Mr. Fiore said. Still, he was disappointed the company didn’t accept the offer, and said he expects eventually Western Wind will be acquired by a bigger player.
Robert McWhirter, president of money manager Selective Asset Management Inc., said he held Western Wind stock in one of the funds he manages, although he sold it recently when the shares appeared to stall.
The appeal, he said, was that Western Wind seemed underpriced compared with wind companies that operate in Canada. It also appeared well managed and clearly is “sitting on one of the windiest spots in California.”
While Mr. McWhirter has considered jumping back into Western Wind, he’s being very cautious because of concerns about a possible overall decline in equity markets.
Still, “I like the overall concept,” he said.
“California is a market that is very attractive.”
Wind power at a glance
While the pickings for U.S. wind power investments are slim, there are several public Canadian companies with heavy exposure to wind-generated power. Among them:
Boralex Inc. (BLX-TSX), a Quebec-based company that has wind, biomass and hydro-electric plants in Canada, the U.S. and France, recently won two new contracts from the Quebec government. Its stock has doubled in the past three years.
Canadian Hydro Developers Inc. (KHD-TSX), based in Calgary, has wind and hydro projects in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. Its stock has been flat for the past year.
Naikun Wind Energy Group Inc. (NKW-TSX-Ven) is planning a huge offshore wind farm in Hecate Straight between the Queen Charlotte Islands and the mainland of B.C. Its shares have gone from pennies to almost $4 in the past three years, and now trade in the $2.40 range.
Earthfirst Canada Inc. (EF-TSX) has just started construction on its first wind project in the Peace River region in northeastern British Columbia. The company has several other wind projects planned across Canada. Its stock is very volatile and trades thinly.
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29. April 2008 by admin.
Learn about China Made Generators
Bruce Power LP shut the 750-megawatt Unit 5 at the Bruce A nuclear power station in Ontario on April 28 to allow workers to repair control room computer equipment, the company said in a release.
The company expects the unit to return in a few days.
The 6,261 MW Bruce station is located on the eastern shore of Lake Huron north of Kincardine, about 155 miles (250 km) northwest of Toronto. There are four 750 MW Units 1-4 at the A station (which entered service in 1977-1979) and three 822 MW Units 5-7 and one 795 MW Unit 8 at the B station (1984-1987).
All of the other units were available for service.
Electricity traders noted the company will likely shut Unit 3 in early May for about a month for planned maintenance.
Unit 3 last shut from April 25-May 16, 2007. It is on a 12-month maintenance cycle.
Before the company replaces the steam generators on Units 3 and 4, it will continue to shut the units for maintenance more often than the Bruce B units (about every 12 months for Bruce A versus about 30 months for Bruce B) but for shorter outages (1 month for Bruce A versus 2 months for Bruce B).
The company plans to replace the steam generators in Unit 3 and 4 by 2013, after restarting Unit 2 in late 2009 and Unit 1 in early 2010. The cost to return Units 1 and 2 is estimated at C$3.1 to C$3.4 billion.
Ontario Hydro, the former province-owned power company, shut Units 1 and 2 in 1997 and 1995, respectively, because they needed extensive upgrades.
The company expects to increase the output of Unit 8 to about 822 MW by modifying the fuel-loading system by 2009.
One MW powers about 1,000 homes in Ontario.
Bruce Power LP, of Tiverton, Ontario, operates the entire Bruce complex and leases the Bruce B station from Ontario Power Generation, the province-owned generating company.
Bruce Power A LP, which leases the Bruce A station from OPG, was set up when Bruce Power and the government agreed to restore the A station to full service. It is a partnership among TransCanada (47.4 percent), BPC (47.4 percent), the Power Workers’ Union (4 percent) and the Society of Energy Professionals (1.2 percent).
BRUCE A RESTART
The return of Units 1 and 2 would replace more than 20 percent of the province’s 6,400 MW of coal-fired generation, which the government wants to shut for health and environmental reasons by 2014.
Bruce is also considering refurbishing the four Bruce B reactors and/or building new reactors at the station.
In January 2007, Bruce launched an environmental assessment of the possible new build project that will take about three years to complete. The project would add 4,000 MW of electricity to the grid by about 2016.
Bruce said it would need to refurbish all four Bruce B units between 2015 and 2020. The company said it would decide in the future whether it makes economic sense to refurbish the existing units, replace them with new reactors or do both. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by John Picinich)
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