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Exelon Generation will seek permission from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reserve space for a new reactor at its Clinton plant in DeWitt County, Illinois. The application, to be filed in June 2003, is part of a process that will allow the company to reserve the site for up to 20 years, during which time it may apply to build and operate a new reactor (Dow Jones, 4/30).

Kentucky Power filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday to periodically sell up to $375 million in unsecured notes. The Columbus, Ohio-based electric power distributor said it plans to use the proceeds from the shelf filing for general corporate purposes, which may include debt repayment (Reuters, 4/30).

Utility holding company Aquila has agreed to buy privately held power producer Cogentrix Energy for $415 million in cash and notes, nearly doubling its capacity to generate power. The purchase would also help Aquila report more predictable earnings (Reuters, 4/30).

Dynegy obtained $900 million in bank lines without having to pledge assets, but that was below the $1.2 billion that it was seeking, company officials said in a conference call to discuss first-quarter earnings. The announcement follows a week in which the company's accounting practices and creditworthiness were called into question (Dow Jones, 4/30).

Edipower and its seven mandated lead arrangers will launch syndication tomorrow at a bank meeting in Milan of a EUR4.55 billion 18-month loan to finance the acquisition of Eurogen from Enel. A banker familiar with the transaction says the financing is being divided into a EUR1.8 billion non-recourse loan secured against some of Eurogen's generation assets and three corporate-level loans including a EUR150 million revolver.

Soccer, a wise commentator once observed, is a game of two halves. Nowhere will that famous aphorism be more clearly demonstrated than in the divergent fates of four European soccer teams sponsored by a quartet of the biggest power companies in the world as the season draws to a close in the coming weeks. And while executives at Germany's E.on and RWE are likely to be toasting with schnapps when the season ends, their counterparts at TXU and Scottish Hydro-Electric could be crying into their beer at the final whistle.

Even with the deluge of project cancellations, the U.S. power markets are facing the addition of 150,000 MW of fresh capacty by 2005, inflating reserve margins and therefore quelling volatility in power prices, according to George Given, senior economist at consultant Henwood Energy Services. He told the conference that this level of additional capacity will send reserve margins to 20-30% in many markets and even as high as 40% in some markets. "[The 150,000 MW] is well above what is needed for any reasonable reliability criteria," he said, adding this will keep power price volatility at low levels. On a much longer-term horizon, however, the view is more positive for power generators and traders. Henwood is forecasting that by 2015 the market will need 175,000 MW of new capacity to meet demand increases, Given said.

New York City topped a number of speaker lists for the market most likely to face a supply crunch this summer. "New York is in trouble. Big trouble," according to John O'Brien, principal at consultant Skipping Stone, during a session on transmission. Kevin Howell, president at Dominion Energy Clearinghouse, also picked the Big Apple as a location most susceptible to power price spikes this summer. "There is still a very low reserve margin [in New York City]," he told the audience in a separate Q&A session.

Houston-based Reliant Resources is preparing a corporate level loan that could top out at $1.93 billion to pay off two non-recourse mini-perms maturing in the fourth quarter. Bankers holding paper in the two project loans have been told by facility agents to expect the new deal details around the middle of next month, says one project financier. Bill Waller, treasurer at Reliant, declined all comment.

The New York Mercantile Exchange is looking to start allowing members to clear over-the-counter gas and power trades, as part of its aimed re-entry in to the power trading market. Brad Leach, senior director, told the conference the exchange is already offering an e-confirmation function for trading. The exchange is looking at ways of ensuring liquidity is higher in its hub power contracts when they eventually relaunch, and it views clearing as a way of generating interest and improving liquidity. NYMEX delisted its power trading contracts in February because of lackluster trading on some of the hubs, and is currently looking at which contracts should be fired up again.