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Dominion Energy and Entergy Nuclear are the frontrunners in the J.P. Morgan-run auction of the Seabrook nuclear power plant in New Hampshire, one of the largest generators in New England, says a New York banker familiar with the matter. He says the 1,158 MW plant is thought to be worth some $1 billion.

AES' decision to put its 363 MW Fifoots Point coal-fired plant in Wales into receivership is sending shockwaves around the City and has left project financiers fretting over which other distressed generation assets in the U.K.--and their associated project loans--could go to the wall. While a handful of plants have been mothballed since U.K. wholesale prices collapsed after the launch last spring of a new bilateral trading system, Fifoots is the first full-scale casualty, say bankers.

Corbin McNeill, chairman and co-ceo of Exelon, told PFR during the conference that the Midwestern utility and nuclear generator is looking to make plant acquisitions in the southwestern quartile of the U.S. once assets prices begin to soften.

Marcello Romano, a former Enron high flyer, has joined Dynegy Europe to head up its gas and oil trading desk out of London. Market watchers says Romano started his Enron career on the gas desk, but more recently made his name working with Louise Kitchen, coo, building the EnronOnline trading platform. Subsequently he headed up Enron's Europe broadband effort. Calls to Romano were not returned.

International Power, Europe's largest IPP, could shift its U.S. expansion program away from greenfield developments to generation acquisitions. David Crane, coo, explained that until now IP has had no chance of winning divestiture auctions because of the rich bids put in by rivals, but says the situation could be about to change. Crane says IP could be well positioned to take advantage of the distressed state of the U.S. power market because of its low gearing relative to rival U.S. IPPs and its diversified portfolio across the globe.

The U.K.'s National Grid is pushing its image as an Anglo-American entity and hopes to make a "significant expansion" in the U.S., Roger Urwin, ceo, told delegates. When National Grid is referred to in the U.S. as an American company "I chose not to disabuse them of that" he continued, noting that some 25% of the company's stock is held by U.S. investors.

Scottish and Southern Energy is keen to merge with a foreign power company, a move that Ian Marchant, finance director, likened to a marriage. "The girl I'm going to marry is vertically integrated, probably [lives] this side of the Rockies and [does] not [own] a lot of merchant energy," he said. However, the path to matrimony will falter unless the two ceos get on, he added.

Energy Northwest, a utility in Richland, Wash., has tapped the bond market with a $451 million offering of senior subordinated notes, after deciding to shelve the issue in December because it was unable to meet its pricing objectives. Jerry Kucera, cfo, says, "We found that the market this time around was very good [and] very receptive to the structure we put together. We got a very fair price."

Scottish and Southern plans to spend a total of GBP450 million over the next 10 years on renewable energy projects, according to Ian Marchant, finance director. This would put it in line with the U.K. government's target of sourcing 10% of power supplies from renewable energy by 2010. Some GBP200 million of the budget will go to refurbishing the company's 60 hydroelectric plants, which have a combined capacity of 1 GW. Refurbishment of the first six plants are underway. Most of the remainder of the renewables budget will be spent on new wind projects. The company was expecting to sign a construction contract to build a 13 MW wind project near Campbeltown, Scotland, last week.

Union Fenosa plans to spend 60% of its EUR4 billion capital expenditure budget over the next three years on increasing its presence in the domestic energy sector, Santos Vazquez, deputy general manager, told delegates. It has allocated 30% of the capital expenditure budget to international projects, most of which will be used to complete two combined cycle gas turbine projects in Mexico (PFR, 2/4). The Spanish company expects to complete construction of the Tuxpan III and IV power plants in 2003. The two facilities, located in the state of Vera Cruz, have a combined capacity of 938 MW.