Daniel Englander
The Morning Feedstock March 27, 2008 at 7:33 AM
A mercantile court in Bilbão has ordered EdF to declare if it has begun or will begin an acquisition of Iberdrola. The court also demanded to know whether EdF plans to carry out the acquisition by itself or with a partner, like Iberdrola’s main shareholder ACS, and if it planned to break up the Spanish utility. EdF has five days to answer the court. In a separate action, Iberdrola has asked Spanish energy regulator CNE to reverse its decision allowing ACS to buy a bigger stake in the embattled power producer. If ACS is able to increase its voting stock above 10 percent, Iberdrola would be powerless in fending off a takeover bid from ACS and EdF.
Iberdrola isn’t the only utility running into problems with regulators. Last year Florida Power & Light had its Manatee landfill gas plant proposal blocked by the Florida Public Service Commission. FPL has now issued another series of RFPs to comply with the state’s RPS. Outside of the state, FPL has applied to the California Energy Commission for permission to build a 250 MW solar thermal park in the Mojave Desert. Closer to the Pacific coast, Southern California Edision and Gov. Schwarzenegger will announce today SCE’s plan to build an $875 million, 250 MW rooftop solar project.
Australian offset company Carbon Conscious is attempting to raise $7.4 million on the Australian Stock Exchange to expand its credit generation operations ahead of the debut of Australia’s carbon exchange. The company’s model involves planting Malle Eucalypt trees in Western Australia and selling credits created through bio-sequestration. JP Morgan has purchased ClimateCare, the first offset company and one with a much more believable business model than Carbon Conscious. ClimateCare has operations in five countries and focuses on renewable energy project origination, which will help JP Morgan expand its growing offset financing business to nearly 60,000 corporate clients.
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