Ratchaburi Electricity Generating is a powerful force. The company, known as Ratch, is Thailand's largest independent electric utility. Subsidiary Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Company runs the power plant, which has a total capacity of about 4,500 MW of electricity. Ratchaburi Energy Company, the other major subsidiary, funds smaller power plants and other power generating operations. Ratch also owns stakes in ethanol and natural gas companies and it participates in a joint venture with SouthEast Asia Energy to run a hydro-electricity plant in Laos. Established in 2000, the company is 45% owned by the Thai government via the EGAT Public Company.

Sunflower Electric Power is an electricity generation and transmission cooperative. The utility has interests in six fossil-fueled generation facilities (600 MW of capacity) and operates a more-than-1,150-mile transmission system with 76 substations. Sunflower Electric Power provides electricity to its owners, six member distribution cooperatives which collectively have more than 51,000 customers in western Kansas; it also indirectly serves a further 10,000 meters as wholesale power suppliers to regional cities and towns.

TransCanada Corporation operates as an energy infrastructure company in North America. The company operates in two segments, Pipelines and Energy. The Pipelines segment develops and operates energy infrastructure, including natural gas pipelines, regulated gas storage facilities, and projects related to oil pipelines. As of December 31, 2009, its pipelines network extended approximately 60,000 kilometers tapping into various gas supply basins in North America. The Energy segment engages in the acquisition, development, construction, ownership, and operation of electrical power generation plants; the purchase and marketing of electricity; the provision of electricity account services to energy and industrial customers; and the development, construction, ownership, and operation of non-regulated natural gas storage in Alberta. As of December 31, 2009, its power generation plants had 11,700 megawatts of power generation capacity. TransCanada Corporation was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Questar Gas provides retail natural gas-distribution service to almost 900,000 customers in Utah, southwestern Wyoming and a small portion of southeastern Idaho. Questar Gas is regulated by the Public Service Commission of Utah and the Wyoming Public Service Commission. Historically, about half of the natural gas sold to Questar Gas retail customers comes from Questar-owned supplies that are typically more-stably priced than gas purchased from other suppliers. Questar Gas is also one of the most efficient natural gas utilities in the nation. As a result, rates paid by Questar Gas customers are traditionally among the lowest in the country. A Questar Gas predecessor began serving customers in 1929. In the decades since, there has never been a major natural gas service interruption.

The dryly named electric utility Electric Power Development Co. has a much more fun nickname -- J-POWER. With a generating capacity of 16,380 MW, the company supplies power used all over Japan. It has 67 hydroelectric plants, as well as some thermal and geothermal plants, and owns a transmission network that covers 2,400 km. J-POWER acts as a wholesale electric utility, selling to other electric power companies. Established by the Japanese government in 1952, J-POWER went through the privatization process, finally achieving full privatization and trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2004. The company is also sometimes referred to as EPDC.

The city-owned utility also produces and distributes steam to 250 customers along 14 miles of steam line. Lansing Board of Water and Light can chill out too. Its chilled water system delivers up to 10,000 tons of chilled water capacity to 14 customers to cool the interior of buildings in the downtown area. Lansing Board of Water and Light is the largest municipally owned utility in the state. It is also a major employer in the Lansing area.Letting off a little steam is a good thing for Lansing Board of Water and Light, which provides electricity to 96,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers and water to about 55,000 customers in Lansing, Michigan

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) is prepared to serve an entire island nation. Founded in 1941, the government-owned utility is the sole electricity distributor for Puerto Rico, where it serves approximately 1.4 million residential and business customers. PREPA owns five primarily fossil-fueled power plants that give it nearly 5,800 MW of generating capacity, and it has more than 30,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines. In order to keep up with increasing demand, the Puerto Rican government has allowed independent power producers to build cogeneration plants on the island to sell power to PREPA.

Global Water Resources (GWRI) took the phrase "Think globally, act locally" to heart. The company provides water, wastewater, and recycled water utility services to 14 utilities and more than 60,000 people in its service area around Phoenix. Its recycled water is treated and purified wastewater used for non-potable and outdoor purposes, sent through a separate system of pipes than drinking water. GWRI says its reclaimed water project saves up to 40% of drought-prone Arizona's scarce groundwater. The utility also extends water and wastewater infrastructure financing to regional developers and builders. The company was formed in 2003. Once privately held, GWRI went public in an IPO in late 2010.

Mesa Power Group, it takes an oil tycoon from Texas to raise the profile of wind energy in North America. Controlled by veteran oilman and renewable energy proponent T. Boone Pickens, who gained national attention with the Pickens Plan, a campaign aimed at reducing US dependence on foreign oil, the company is engaged in developing and investing in wind power projects. It acquires these projects and completes development on them through a joint venture with GE called the American Wind Alliance (AWA). It typically targets projects in Canada and the US that have secured land control, access to transmission lines, and minimum capacity of 100 megawatts.

Global Environmental Energy Corporation wants to improve China and other countries by turning their unwanted waste into energy. It also searches for oil and gas and has interests in clean coal technology. The company's alternative power generation technology uses waste from industrial, municipal, and agricultural facilities to produce electricity for its clients. Subsidiary Biosphere Development Corp has sold nine Biosphere Process Systems in China and one in Lebanon. Subsidiary Sahara Petroleum Exploration explores for oil in North Africa but has been inactive since 2007.

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