Minnkota Power Cooperative keeps the juice flowing to power users in northwestern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota. The generation and transmission cooperative supplies electricity to its 11 member-owner distribution cooperatives, and, as operating agent for the Northern Municipal Power Agency, to 12 municipal systems, to serve more than 129,000 retail customers in a 34,500-sq.-mi. region. Minnkota owns and operates a 235 MW lignite coal-fired generation plant in Center, North Dakota; also at the site it operates the 455 MW Milton R. Young plant owned by Square Butte Cooperative. Minnkota is also pushing green power through its ownership stakes in two wind turbine projects.

Alabamans and Floridians come together in PowerSouth Energy Cooperative (formerly Alabama Electric Cooperative), which provides wholesale power services to its member-owners (20 cooperative and municipal distribution utilities and one industrial company). Its distribution members provide electric services to almost 419,000 meters in central and southern Alabama (39 counties) and western Florida (10 counties). PowerSouth Energy Cooperative operates a 2,200-mile power transmission system and has more than 1,600 MW of generating capacity from interests in fossil-fueled and hydroelectric power plants.

BKW FMB Energy has been lighting up the lives of the Swiss for more than a century. BKW produces, transmits, and distributes energy to more than 1 million residential and business end users in Switzerland and neighboring countries. The company also trades in energy. BKW operates about 13 hydroelectric plants and one nuclear power plant; it has stakes in another 15 hydroelectric plants, three nuclear power plants, and two plants that generate electricity from wind, solar and biomass sources. The total generating capacity of its plants is 640 MW. The government of the canton of Bern owns more than half of BKW.

Seeking fame and fortune in and outside Finland, energy powerhouse Fortum generates electric power across the region. In the Baltic Rim its power plants create electricity (more than 10,980 MW of generation capacity), and heat. Fortum distributes electricity to 1.6 million customers (primarily in Estonia, Finland, Norway, and Sweden). The company also has significant operations in a growth area, Russia, including 2,785 MW of power generation capacity. (Russia accounted for about 9% of Fortum's total revenues in 2009). Fortum has divested its oil and engineering assets in order to focus on its core power and heating businesses.

Zodiac Marine and Pool (formerly Polaris Pool Systems) wants your backyard retreat to be sparkly clean, and your maritime sector to have access to the best in liferafts and inflatable boats. The swimming pool and spa maintenance division manufactures a wide range of automatic pool cleaners, automated chlorinators, and related accessories. The marine division makes inlflatable boats for recreational use and for the military, as well as a toilets, grease separators, marine incinerators, and other environmental equipment for the marine sector. Zodiac Marine and Pool, a Carlyle Group company, has operations throughout the US, as well as in Australia and in Europe.

Caithness region might well serve as an inspiration for Caithness Corp., which develops wind and other renewable power plants in the US under the Caithness Energy brand. Although the firm has focused on the development, acquisition, operation, and management of geothermal, hydroelectric, wind, and solar energy power projects, it also develops environmentally friendly fossil-fueled plants. Caithness is one of the largest producers of renewable energy in the US, and has developed more than 350 MW of geothermal projects, 160 MW of solar plants, and 440 MW produced by wind turbines. On the cleaner fossil fuel plant side it has also developed more than 2,000 MW of gas-turbine powered capacity.

Porvair wants to reign in pores. The company makes specialist porous filtration products out of ceramics, plastic, metal, and carbon for a variety of industries, including aerospace, aluminum, high-purity liquids, life sciences, and nuclear maintenance. The company's specialist laboratory filter systems are used by pharmaceutical and drug companies for diagnostic and testing kits, medical devices, and pharmaceutical production. Porvair also makes high performance bi-polar planes for fuel-cell manufacturers. The company operates in both the UK and US.

Although South Central Power Company may sound like a power plant in Watts, Los Angeles, it is in fact a member-owned cooperative that provides electricity to consumers and businesses in southern Ohio. An affiliate of the nationwide Touchstone Energy Cooperative network, the electric cooperative provides power to more than 110,000 customers over more than 11,000 miles of power lines. In addition to distributing electricity, South Central Power also provides outdoor lighting, surge suppression products, security systems, water heater switches, and other energy-related services.

Sempra Energy, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the development of energy infrastructure, operation of utilities, and provision of energy-related products and services worldwide. It operates through two divisions, Sempra Utilities and Sempra Global. The Sempra Utilities division includes San Diego Gas & Electric, a regulated public utility that provides electric generation, transmission, and distribution services to 3.5 million consumers, and natural gas distribution services to 3.2 million consumers; and Southern California Gas, a regulated public utility that provides natural gas distribution, transmission and storage services to a population of 20.7 million. The Sempra Global division comprises of Sempra Commodities, a commodities-marketing business operating under the joint venture, RBS Sempra Commodities, with The Royal Bank of Scotland; Sempra Generation, which develops, owns and operates, or holds interest in electric power plants serving wholesale electricity markets in North America; Sempra Pipelines & Storage that develops, owns, operates, or holds interests in natural gas pipelines and storage facilities in the United States and Mexico, as well as in companies that provide natural gas or electric services in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Peru; and Sempra LNG, which develops, owns, and operates receipt terminals for importing liquefied natural gas. Sempra Energy was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

Plambeck Neue Energien develops and operates renewable power wind farms in Germany and other European countries. The company has developed 74 wind farms in Germany. Plambeck developed its first wind farm -- Windpark Marschland -- in 1995. The company bought SSP Technology A/S, a maker of light and efficient rotor blades based in Denmark. Plambeck has sold its solar business in order to focus on its wind farm operations. In 2006 the company announced plans to join with Evelop to develop an 80-wind turbine offshore wind farm project, Gode Wind I, in Germany. In 2008 Plambeck established a subsidiary in the US.

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