A brief look back at successes and setbacks in the energy industry.
Highs
GREAT PLAINS/WESTAR —
EVERSOURCE — Eversource Energy on June 2 announced that it agreed to acquire the Aquarion Water Co. utilities in a deal valued at about $1.68 billion. Eversource will pay about $880 million in cash and assume $795 million in debt to acquire all outstanding equity interests of Macquarie Utilities Inc. Macquarie Utilities owns Aquarion Water of Connecticut, Aquarion Water of Massachusetts and Aquarion Water of New Hampshire.
DAKOTA ACCESS — Energy Transfer Partners LP announced June 1 that the Dakota Access oil pipeline began commercial service along with the accompanying Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline. The 1,872-mile Bakken Pipeline system delivers crude oil from the Bakken formation in North Dakota to a storage and terminal hub near Patoka, Ill., and certain terminals near the Gulf Coast.
Between
PARIS PACT —
Lows
KEMPER —
PLANT CLOSURES — Nearly 2,800 MW of coal capacity shut down on June 1. Dynegy Inc. closed its coal- and oil-fired Brayton Point units in Somerset, Mass., representing about 1,528 MW of capacity. Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. followed suit with the permanent retirement of its 620-MW Hudson 2 plant in Jersey City, N.J., and 632-MW Mercer plant in Trenton, N.J. In addition, Great Plains Energy Inc. utility Kansas City Power & Light Co. announced June 1 that it will retire five coal units by the end of 2018 and a 97-MW Lake Road gas unit by the end of 2019. The company said it will stop burning coal at units 2 and 3 of the Montrose plant in Henry County, Mo., and shut down all three units of the Sibley plant in Jackson County, Mo.
TRANS MOUNTAIN — British Columbia's socialist Green Party and the left-leaning New Democratic Party have joined forces in an attempt to halt the expansion of Kinder Morgan Inc.'s C$7.4 billion Trans Mountain pipeline project. The two parties reached an agreement to form a minority government on May 29 after the British Columbia election on May 9 gave the Green Party the power to swing decisions in the divided provincial legislature. They singled out the Kinder Morgan project in their collaboration agreement, which calls for the government to "immediately employ every tool available to the new government to stop the expansion."