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Sundance#4 went offline at 02:17 Saturday; Battle River#5 came back online at 11:38 Saturday; Sundance#4 came back online at 16:46 Sunday…The country’s first utility-scale wave power project is moving forward in construction.  The 1.5 megawatt wave energy park will generate enough energy to power 375 or more homes. The park will likely be located 2.5 miles off the Oregon coast near Reedsport, and use ten electricity-generating buoys. PB150 PowerBuoys will be used to generate power, and the first one has been constructed at Oregon IronWorks. The PowerBuoy works by moving up and down with wave motion, which causes an internal piston like structure to drive an electrical generator. Sensors and communication technology allow the buoys to be adjusted to maximize electricity generation in different wave conditions. The wave park will also include an underwater substation for power collection and an underwater cable to sent the power to the Pacific Northwest electric grid. It is estimated the wave park will reduce CO2 emissions by 2,110 tons each year. Wave energy is renewable because once the technology is in place, there is a sufficient wave activity to maintain energy production for years. Potentially, the Reedsport wave park could be expanded to generate up to 50 MW of energy.  Ocean Power Technologies is the company responsible for constructing the energy park. Reedsport has a population of about 4,500, and is near the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.

Battle River#5 went offline at 15:59 yesterday…Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia scolded Quebec Premier Jean Charest on Thursday for interfering in their energy plans, with Premier Danny Williams accusing Quebec of showing “unmitigated gall” by objecting to its financing application for a subsea transmission line for power from Labrador. Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia are trying to get funding for a subsea cable to ship surplus power from Labrador across the Gulf of St. Lawrence to Cape Breton…The CEO of Shear Wind Inc. says his company could be producing up to 500 megawatts of wind-generated electricity within five years, including 100 megawatts at a large wind farm in northern New Brunswick including a plan for a 100-megawatt wind farm in New Brunswick’s Restigouche region. The planned location, referred to as the Mann Siding site, is situated on Crown-leased land just outside the town of Saint-Quentin. Shear Wind is waiting for the New Brunswick government to issue a request for more wind power production in the province…B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell gave California legislators a vote of encouragement Thursday in a rare appearance before the state’s assembly. The premier’s remarks are diplomatic but the subtext here is that the premier is voicing support for the assembly’s efforts to tackle greenhouse-gas emissions.

A new plant to manufacture solar energy panels will open in Guelph early next year. At full production, the $30 million plant will employ up to 500 workers, and be able each year to turn out panels capable of turning sunlight into 200 megawatts of power. Although the company is headquartered in Kitchener, the Guelph plant will be its first manufacturing facility in Canada…Vermont’s two largest utilities will announce details of a new long-term power-purchase contract today with Hydro Quebec. Officials announced a tentative deal on March 11 and set a July 31 deadline for executing the contract but that will not be met. Under the deal, Vermont will get 225 megawatts of power – equal to about a quarter of the state’s demand for electricity – from Quebec from 2012 to 2038.

Madrid-based Renovalia Energy announced construction of the 120-megawatt Peace Butte wind farm will start in the first quarter of 2011 and the facility is expected be completed by the end of next year…Plutonic Power Corporation and GE Financial Services announced that their Toba Montrose General Partnership has commenced selling electricity to BC Hydro under an Electricity Purchase Agreement from power generated by the East Toba River. TMGP has received confirmation from BC Hydro that the project has met its guaranteed commercial operations date commitment under the EPA.

Sundance#2 went offline at 15:02 Friday and back online at 03:29 Monday and then offline at 10:46 Monday…SaskPower says nuclear could still be in its future, despite the Saskatchewan Party government’s decision late last year not to pursue the nuclear power option at this time.  Citing the need to replace its aging fleet of thermal generating stations with non-greenhouse-gas-emitting baseload power, SaskPower believes nuclear could play a role in Saskatchewan’s energy mix in the longer term.  SaskPower say the utility has to keep all of its options open as it decides how to rebuild, replace or buy more than 4,000MW of electrical generating capacity by 2030…Northland Power Income Fund announced that Investissement Québec has agreed to lend $15 million to the construction of Northland’s 100MW wind farm located in the Gaspésie region of Quebec near the Municipality of Mont Louis. The project was awarded a contract in 2004 to supply power to Hydro-Québec under a 20 year Power Purchase Agreement. Site clearing began in early July and the project is expected to achieve commercial operations in the third quarter of 2011…Nevada owns one of the country’s biggest renewable bases. Unlike most states, Nevada offers major access to sunlight, hot springs and wind — three key sources of green power. Data from the federal Energy Information Administration show that nearly half of Nevada has enough sunlight to generate at least 6 kilowatt hours of solar power per square meter daily. Another sizeable chunk receives enough sun to yield 4 to 6 kilowatt hours per square meter every day.

TransAlta Corp. moved back into the black during the second quarter on stronger production numbers and $30-million tax recovery. The TransAlta executive warned low natural gas prices and flat demand would dampen power price rebounds until 2011, when Alberta, its main market, is expected to see two-to-three per cent growth. Prices in Alberta more than doubled during the quarter to average $81 per megawatt hour from $32 per MWh a year prior on lower available supply and transmission issues. However, the average year-to-date price has softened to $61 per MWh, and is expected to continue its slide… Vancouver-based developer Finavera Renewable Inc has signed a pact with GE Energy that paves the way for the multinational to invest C$7.5 million toward the development of Finavera’s Peace Region wind projects in BC. The funding will be repaid at the financial close of each respective project…Central Maine Power Company has received the final federal permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin work on a $1.4 billion upgrade of its power transmission system. CMP plans to construct five new substations in central and southern Maine, linked by 450 miles of new or rebuilt transmission lines. CMP expects the project to take five years and employ an average of 2,000 people and generate $60 million in wages.

Seaforth Energy Inc. of Dartmouth — a wind turbine manufacturer with a specialty in integrating renewable energy projects — will be able to use the $2 million it’s raised recently to scale up operations in order to deliver on backlogged orders for its 50 kilowatt turbine – an all Canadian product built in Nova Scotia. The company’s turbines are a fraction of the size of the three-megawatt turbines being installed on Dalhousie Mountain, Pictou County. The turbine would go on a 30- to 36-metre tower and it would have a rotor diameter of 15 metres. A large turbine would have a rotor diameter nowadays, probably, of 60 to 80 metres…The mighty St. Lawrence River will soon be home to an underwater power-generating project that could one day churn in rivers across Canada. a pair of 3.2-metre-high river turbines — which resemble giant jet engines — will be plunked into the waves near Montreal as part of a pilot project. The operation will start off small, producing a total of 500 kilowatts of energy. The federal and provincial governments are also on board, funding one-third of the $18-million project. But the underwater powerhouses have also been known to cripple — and kill — underwater wildlife – the bigger fish in the St. Lawrence, such as the sturgeon, are at the most risk…Ballard Power Systems announced the successful completion, during second quarter, of factory testing of a utility-scale distributed generation system using the company’s proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Installation and commissioning of the system for a multi- year demonstration at FirstEnergy Generation Corp’s Eastlake Plant in Ohio is planned for third quarter of this year. Ballard designed the generator to provide clean energy peaking capacity, which is particularly useful during heavy energy demand periods in the summer months, and tested the generator to a power level of one megawatt.

The British Columbia government continues to give serious consideration to a major hydroelectric expansion project on the Columbia River system. Bill Bennett told The Vancouver Sun editorial board on Monday that plans for a 335-megawatt expansion of the Waneta generating station on the Pend d’Oreille River south of Trail are being seriously scoped out right now. Plans for the expansion were approved by government regulators in 2008, but Columbia Power Corp. announced nine months ago the process had stalled due to the absence of a deal with BC Hydro to buy the extra power that would be generated. A contract awarded last year to SNC-Lavalin to build a two-unit powerhouse expires in mid-August, adding some urgency to negotiations among Columbia Power, BC Hydro and Fortis to buy the power that would be produced. Bennett said he continues to impress upon his cabinet colleagues the urgency of preparing for a review of the Columbia River Treaty between Canada and the United States which expires in 2014. The treaty annually earns B.C. around $200 million, for water management services that facilitate flood control, irrigation and hydroelectricity production south of the border… International Power Canada Inc is taking a majority stake in what is expected to be Vancouver Island’s first operating wind power project from Sea Breeze Power Corp. – when construction of phase one of the $300 million project is complete, Knob Hill is expected to generate 99MW. As Knob Hill is located on the traditional territories of three First Nations – the Quatsino, Tlatlasikwals, and Kwakiutl — development is still subject to the signing of impact/benefit agreements with the aboriginals.