Atlantic Power Corporation and Capital Power Income L.P. jointly announced that the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta has granted the final order to approve the previously announced plan of arrangement under the Canada Business Corporations Act involving the proposed direct and indirect acquisition of all of the limited partnership units of CPILP by Atlantic Power. It is currently anticipated that the Arrangement will be completed on or about November 5, 2011, provided that all other closing conditions have been satisfied or waived.

NRGreen Power and GE today announced plans for a new recovered energy project that will produce up to 14 MW of power without additional emissions using the first global application of GE’s innovative ORegen system. The technology will be installed at Alliance Pipeline’s Windfall Compressor Station near Whitecourt, Alberta, to generate electricity through the use of waste heat. The ORegen(TM) system is the latest in Organic Rankin Cycle technology and its introduction at the Global Clean Energy Congress in Calgary, AB, marks its official debut in the market. 

ABB, a power and automation technology group, has won an order worth over $50 million from Hydro-Quebec to upgrade vital components of Canada’s power utility’s ultra-high voltage transmission system that helps transport clean hydroelectric power from North to South Quebec. The two SVCs (Static Var Compensators) in the Nemiscau substation, about 1,000 km north of Montreal, provide fast-acting reactive power compensation in the 735 kilovolt electricity network. The upgrades are scheduled to be completed by 2014.

In an agreement was announced Monday by Quebec Premier Jean Charest, Quebec’s government is authorizing its provincially owned electric utility to provide Rio Tinto PLC’s Alouette aluminum smelter with a 500 MW block of power, a key step for a $2-billion modernization of the facility in Sept-Îles.  Alouette, the biggest aluminum smelter in North America, is 40% owned by Rio Tinto Alcan with five other investors including Investissement Quebec owning the remainder. The power will be available in December 2015. The power investment is part of a major economic development push of Quebec’s north by Mr. Charest’s government. The 25-year plan, called Plan Nord, aims to generate $80-billion worth of investment in the area over 25 years. The government has committed a 3,500 MW volume of electricity to companies who want to invest under the plan.

Entergy Corporation reported third quarter 2011 as-reported earnings of $628.1 million, or $3.53 per share, compared with $492.9 million, or $2.62 per share, for third quarter 2010. On an operational basis, Entergy’s third quarter 2011 earnings were $628.1 million, or $3.53 per share, compared with $518.1 million, or $2.76 per share, in third quarter 2010.

General Electric Co.’s newest high- capacity turbine may draw orders from wind farms across Europe because its increased yield makes equipment upgrades more viable, said Victor Abate, who runs the renewable energy unit. The 1.6-megawatt turbines with 100-meter rotor blades provide more power in lighter winds than their predecessors, offering a better yield than any turbine in commercial production, GE said. The company has won $2.7 billion in orders since introducing the product in May as developers from Brazil to Kansas pay premiums for higher electricity output.

SunEdison Canada Origination, an associate company of MEMC Electronic Materials, has declared the receipt of a letter of confirmation from the Ontario Power Authority that they are meeting 60% of domestic content requirements to support the solar energy project under the Feed-in-Tariff program.

 Global power company AES Corp is to buy smaller rival DPL Inc for $3.5 billion, as it looks to strengthen its regulated power business that provides steady returns even in weak market conditions. Deal activity in the power sector has picked up as companies, hurt by falling electricity prices due to the economic downturn, eye assured returns from regulated power and brace for the huge costs facing the sector.