Valencia Power Reaches Major Operations Milestone
NEW MEXICO -- August 4, 2010, Valenica Power achieved a perfect 100% contract availability between August 2009 to August 2010. Contract availability is the measure of how well the plant operates or is available to operate to within the requirements of the agreement with Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM).

“The plant has barely been dispatched more then 100 Gwh since commercial operation and the staff has worked out
most of the new plant bugs to obtain such a great availability factor…..that is remarkable,”
Greg Trewitt, VP Operations, said.

The Valenica Power facility began operation in June of 2008 and has provided needed gas fired capacity to PNM electric system. The plant utilizes a GE 7FA industrial technology and is operated by a highly qualified staff of 7.

“Valencia’s success is attributed to a team effort,” Bailey “Hud” Griffith, Valencia O&M Manager, said.

Valenica Power sells electric capacity and energy under a tolling arrangement through an agreement until June of 2028.

August 11, 2010

Southwest Generation Sponsors 2009 Women's Foundation of Colorado
DENVER -- Over 300,000 Colorado women and girls live in poverty, and twice that many struggle to pay for basics such as food and shelter. Southwest Generation along with 93 Local and National businesses showed their support for the Women's Foundation of Colorado, by sponsoring and supporting a Denver Luncheon held at the Colorado Convention Center last week.

This year, The Women's Foundation of Colorado has created more awareness of the challenges that low income women face in accessing consistent, quality childcare, allowing them to work and provide for their children. In addition, they have provided victims of domestic violence with job readiness skills to re-enter the work force, and have given girls facing incarceration a second chance at an education and the opportunity to succeed. Their achievements for the year did not stop there. They were also successful in organizing their national level funding into housing and caseworkers for girls who are transitioning out of foster care programs.

November 12, 2009

 

Southwest Generation announces the appointment of a new CFO
DENVER -- Denver-based Southwest Generation today announced the appointment of Mr. William J. Krysiak as its Chief Financial Officer. William J. Krysiak previously served as Chief Financial Officer of Aspect Holdings from September 2007 to July 2009 and as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Western Gas Resources, Inc. ("WGR") from May 2002 until the sale of that company to Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in June 2006. Prior to May 2002, Mr. Krysiak served WGR as its Chief Financial Officer from October 2001 to May 2002, Vice President - Finance from September 1993 to October 2001, and in various other management positions in the finance, accounting and tax areas since August 1985. Subsequent to the sale of WGR to Anadarko, Mr. Krysiak served as Director - Financial Projects with Anadarko until June 2007. In this role, Mr. Krysiak analyzed and directed various monetization strategies for Anadarko's midstream operations including sale of assets and the formation of its MLP. Mr. Krysiak received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Colorado State University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Mr. Mo Klefeker, Chief Executive Officer and President of Southwest Generation, stated, "We are excited to have Bill join the team at Southwest Generation. We will all benefit from his 20 plus years of experience in the natural gas industry and Bill will play an important role in the management and growth of our company."

October 26, 2009

 

Safety and Organization Milestone met at Harbor Cogeneration
LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA -– Harbor Cogeneration Company achieved 500,000 man-hours worked with no lost time accidents and more remarkable, no OSHA “reportable injuries”. “This milestone was almost 20 years in the making since Harbor has never had more than 17 full time employees at any given time”, Ron Hoffard, Plant Manager, said. “Harbor’s success was mostly attributed to strict adherence to California Utilities General Safety Policies”. Ron also added, “Four of our employees including myself have been with Harbor Cogeneration since before commercial operation”. April 12, 2009, Harbor Cogeneration Company achieved 20 years of commercial operation. The milestone achievement marks 11 years of base load operation under a Power Purchase Agreement, 1 year of facility layup anticipating divesture of the facility, 4 years of self merchant power sales, and 4 years peaking operation under various Tolling Agreements.

The 20 year milestone was achievable only due the efforts of the plant employees. In 1999, plant employees presented to the owners a plan to convert the plant from contract generation to merchant generation, thus heading off the divesture of the facility. The facility started out as an 80 MW peaking facility. During the California Energy Crisis of 2000 and 2001 the facility was retrofitted to add 20 more MW of summer capacity. The improvements over the course of 20 years were all employee driven, which highlights the ability of Harbor to achieve this milestone.

May 12, 2009