Lighting For US Highway 85, State Highway 23 Corridor Near Watford City -- December 24, 2014

Bakken.com is reporting:

State transportation officials say additional roadway lights will be installed on the U.S. Highway 85 and North Dakota Highway 23 corridor near Watford City.

The project is scheduled to be completed in mid-February.

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Ohio-Area Electric Grid -- For The Archives

ColumbusBusinessJournal is reporting:

The electric grid operator that includes Ohio lines wants to postpone some planned generating plant retirements next year to help hedge against potential winter power shortages in 2015.

PJM Interconnection, a regional transmission organization that handles electricity for 61 million Americans in 13 states and Washington, D.C., said this week it will seek to delay the idling of 2,500 megawatts of electric generation through April 2016.

"PJM Vice President for Operations Mike Kormos said the RTO is acting in light of the 22 percent forced outage rate from last January and uncertainty over the role of demand response in the wholesale markets," the publication said.

During January 2013's polar vortex cold snap, peak electricity demand led to 22 percent, or 40,000 megawatts, in forced outages of PJM capacity, compared with the average rate of 7 percent.

American Electric Power Company Inc. CEO Nick Akins has pointed to such strained capacity as a warning sign that environmental regulations starting next year, which will shut down 7,200 megawatts worth of AEP generation, will threaten reliability.