Banco Santander has named Jorge Camina, head of corporate loans, as its new head of project finance in New York.
The lead banks arranging financing for the purchase of two Dominion natural gas utilities by a Babcock & Brown unit will launch syndication Tuesday.
SolarReserve has hired Michael Whalen, head of the Americas project and export finance team at HSBC in New York, as cfo.
KGen Power and auctioneer Credit Suisse have reportedly moved into the second phase of an auction for the company’s portfolio of projects in the Southeast.
Americas
* Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to invest $3-$6 billion in General Electric (Wall Street Journal, 10/2).
* Sempra Energy has wrapped a $510 million cash acquisition of EnergySouth (San Diego Business Journal, 10/2) and three top EnergySouth executives have resigned (Press-Register, 10/2).
* The U.S. Senate has approved the $700 billion bailout plan, which includes a one-year extension on wind production tax credits and an eight-year extension on solar investment tax credits. (Reuters, 10/2).
* Sierra Pacific Resources subsidiary, NV Energy, received state approval to build a 484 MW combined cycle plant and acquire the 562 MW Bighorn plant from Reliant Energy (Business Wire, 10/2).
* High Country Wind has completed the nation's first IPO related to the development of a wind project (MarketWatch, 10/1).
* Samuel Bodman, U.S. Secretary of Energy, says nuclear construction could be at risk because of the global financial crisis (Associated Press, 10/1).
* Constellation Energy Partners has hired Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Securities to review strategic alternatives for the company because of market conditions and the recent agreed merger of parent Constellation Energy group with MidAmerican Energy Holdings (MarketWatch, 9/30).
* Kinder Morgan Energy Partners and Energy Transfer Partners are planning to jointly develop a $1.3 billion, 187-mile gas pipeline from the Fayetteville Shale region in Arkansas to Quitman County, Miss. (Houston Chronicle, 10/1).
* OG&E has completed its acquisition of a 51% stake for $434.5 million in the 1,230 MW Redbud plant near Luther, Okla., from Kelson Holdings along with Grand River Dam Authority and Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority (OCKBusiness.com, 10/1).
* Reliant Energy will raise $1 billion of new capital because of hurricane damage and credit market turmoil (Wall Street Journal, 9/30).
* Duke Energy is drawing $1 billion from its $3.2 billion credit line to increase liquidity in light of uncertain credit markets (MarketWatch, 9/30).
* Entergy estimates that Hurricanes Ike and Gustav cost the company more than $1 billion (Associated Press, 9/30).
* DeepwaterWind, a New Jersey-based renewable energy firm, has been granted the rights to develop an estimated $1-2 billion offshore wind farm by Rhode Island officials (Associated Press, 9/25).
* Entergy Corp. has filed an application with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate a second nuclear reactor at the River Bend Station at St. Francisville, La. (Associated Press, 9/26).
* The U.S. House has passed a bill authorizing the Department of Defense's funding for Yucca Mountain, but it still needs Senate approval (Las Vegas Review-Journal, 9/26).
* Ontario-based Riverbank Power Corp. is considering building a $2 billion underground pump-and-storage plant at the site of the former Maine Yankee nuclear plant in Wiscasset (Portland Press Herald, 9/26).
Europe
* EDF is nearing a deal with private equity group KKR that may trump Warren Buffet's $4.7 billion takeover of Constellation Energy (Financial Times, 10/2)...EDF has agreed to buy Lehman Brothers' gas and power marketer Eagle Energy Partners (Wall Street Journal, 9/30).
* Iraq has signed deals with General Electric and Siemens worth $7-8 billion to supply equipment that will almost double its generation capacity (Reuters, 9/27).
* Germany's RWE has offered to pay a share from its EUR10 billion ($14 billion) in profits from nuclear facilities to the German government if efforts to phase out nuclear generation are stopped (Financial Times, 9/30).
* Hungarian MVM and RWE's Matrai Eromu will build a $1.18 billion, 400 MW lignite-fueled project (Reuters, 9/30).
* Scottish Power is unveiling its plans for the world's largest tidal power project and a factory to make tidal turbines in an effort to lead the world in tidal generation (Financial Times, 9/28).
* Russian power producers OGK-2 and OGK-6 are planning to discuss share sales valued at RUB70 billion ($2.77 billion) at their next board meetings (Reuters, 9/29).
* Italy's Enel and Czech CEZ