North Wind works to keep the air clean, the ground fresh, and the water clear in North America. The environmental consulting firm's services include site assessment, soil and groundwater remediation, geographic information system (GIS) data, hazardous and nonhazardous waste management, and project engineering and construction. North Wind has expanded by buying South Carolina-based Pinnacle Consulting Group, which offers engineering, environmental, and information technology consulting services.

Emera is an emerging force in a new energy era. Subsidiary Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NSPI) generates, transmits, and distributes more than 97% of the electricity in Nova Scotia, where it serves 486,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Most of NSPI's more than 2,290 MW generating capacity is from fossil fuel plants. Emera has electric utility operations into the US through its Maine-based Bangor Hydro-Electric, which serves about 117,000 customers. It markets wholesale energy and provides asset management services. Emera owns Brunswick Pipeline (which ships LNGs), and has a minority stake in Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline (natural gas). It also has minority stakes in utilities in the Caribbean.

Wheelabrator Technologies is on a roll. A subsidiary of solid-waste processing giant Waste Management, the company operates municipal-waste incinerators and trash-to-steam plants that convert 7 million tons of municipal solid waste annually into energy. Wheelabrator operates 16 waste-to-energy plants that burn solid waste to produce high-pressure steam; that steam turns turbines, generating more than 800 MW of electricity -- enough to power more than 900,000 homes. It also has five independent power producers (IPPs) that combust a combination of trash, waste wood, tires, coal, and gas to generate another 200 MW of electricity. Wheelabrator operates in the northeastern US, California, Florida, and Washington.

United Pumping Services provides hazardous and nonhazardous waste removal and remediation services. Its fleet of equipment includes truck-mounted pumps for sewer and storm drain cleaning, tankers for hauling liquid waste, and roll-off containers for solid waste. Services include dredging, hazardous material transportation, 24-hour spill response, demolition, above- and below-ground storage tank removal, sewer cleaning, and storm drain maintenance. The company operates primarily in Southern California. United Pumping Services was founded in 1970.

China Three Gorges Project Corporation (CTGPC) is building the world's largest hydropower project -- the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River. Located near the Xilingxia gorge, a 185-meter-high project dam controls a drainage area of 1 million square km and an average annual runoff of 451 billion cubic meters. Construction on the massive project broke ground in 1994 and is expected to formally wrap up in late 2008. Subsidiary China Yangtze Power was set up in 2002 to manage two power plants, Gezhouba and Three Gorges. In 2009, in a major cash infusion, this unit paid its parent for the remaining 18 generators at the Three Gorges project.

Rayburn Country Electric Cooperative (Rayburn Electric) operates in the old stomping grounds of the legendary Texas politician and former speaker of the US House of Representatives. Rayburn Electric is a power generation and transmission organization that supplies wholesale power to five rural distribution cooperatives operating in 16 counties in north central and northeastern Texas. The five distribution cooperatives (Fannin County Electric Coop, FEC Electric Coop, Grayson-Collin Electric Coop, Lamar County Electric Coop, and Trinity Valley Electric Coop) collectively own the company. In 2010 it acquired a 25% stake in a Texas power plant from Calpine for $215 million.

NorthWestern, once a holding company for several energy-related businesses, is now blowing in one direction only -- providing power and gas through regulated utilites. Through its NorthWestern Energy subsidiary, the company provides electricity and natural gas to about 661,000 customers in Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota. In Montana it delivers electricity to approximately 335,000 customers in 187 communities and surrounding rural areas, 15 rural electric cooperatives, and in Wyoming to the Yellowstone National Park. NorthWestern delivers gas to 180,100 Montana customers. In Nebraska and South Dakota it sells natural gas to 85,5100 customers.

Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative's mission is similar to the late Lady Bird Johnson's quest to spread wildflower seeds along Texas' highways -- the cooperative spreads currents of electricity among rural central Texas dwellers. One of the largest power distribution cooperatives in the state, Bluebonnet Electric serves almost 80,000 customers in 14 counties. The member-owned company, which was formed in 1939, operates approximately 11,000 miles of transmission and distribution lines, and 19 substations. It purchases its wholesale power supply at 21 Lower Colorado River Authority-owned substations.

Privatization is the light at the end of the tunnel for Companhia Energetica de Sao Paulo, one of Brazil's largest power generators. Known as CESP, the company is the largest generator of electricity used in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo. CESP's six hydroelectric facilities (57 generation units) have a capacity of more than 7,456 MW. It gets most of its revenues from distribution utilities. Sao Paulo state government-controlled CESP previously had 22 power plants, but it spun off two generating companies and a transmission company in 1999. The slimmer CESP was targeted for auction, but the state government postponed the sale. CESP is restructuring its debt and is focusing on operational efficiency.

Florida Municipal Power Agency doesn't believe in holding on to power. The non-profit public agency generates and supplies electric power to 30 county or municipally owned distribution utilities, which in turn serve 2 million Florida residents and businesses. Each of the distribution utilities appoints one representative to Florida Municipal Power Agency's board of directors, which governs the agency's activities. The Agency is authorized to undertake joint projects for its members and to issue tax-exempt bonds to finance the costs of such projects. It is also empowered to implement a pooled financing program for utility-related projects.

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