Taiwan Power (Taipower) is looking to get by with a little help from its friends. With a generating capacity of more than 38,080 MW, the state-owned utility serves nearly 12 million industrial, commercial, and residential customers. Thermal sources (coal, oil, and liquefied natural gas) fuel most of Taipower's plants; nuclear energy and hydroelectric sources make up the balance. Unable to meet Taiwan's power needs on its own, the utility has opened its market to independent power producers, allowing companies to build power plants and sell to Taipower. Taipower has resumed construction on the nation's fourth nuclear plant. The Taiwan government has announced plans to privatize Taipower (it owned 97% in 2009).

Pepco Energy Services continues to sail right along. The company provides electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial, and governmental customers in deregulated areas (primarily the US eastern seaboard, Chicago, and Texas). The nonregulated energy supply company, a subsidiary of Pepco Holdings, offers services in energy management, energy-efficiency consulting, "green power" facilities development and construction, and equipment maintenance. It operates two power plants with a aggregate capacity of 790 MW. Pepco Energy Services also provides its customers the choice of sourcing power from green sources (from solar, wind, and biomass plants).

EVN spreads energy evenly across its territory in Lower Austria and beyond. The utility -- one of Austria's largest -- provides electricity, natural gas, heat, and related services. Outside its home borders, the company has gained control of electricity suppliers in Bulgaria and Macedonia, as these countries privatized their electricity industry. It is also marketing its environmental services (water, wastewater treatment, and waste incineration activities) around Europe. The company has built drinking water and wastewater treatment plants in Croatia, Poland, and Russia EVN has also put its waste-incineration know-how to good use and has a waste-to-energy plant in Moscow.

Environmental Waste Controls (EWC) slows down the fill-up of UK landfills. The company leases and sells waste-compactor equipment and provides maintenance services for the compactors. It also collects, transports, and recycles or disposes of waste for its 400-plus public- and private-sector customers, which include manufacturing and retail companies, food processors, hotels (such as Hilton and Radisson Hotels), railway stations, National Health Service Trusts, and local governments. The company was the subject of a management buyout in 2004. EWC was founded in 1993.

Through its regulated utility subsidiaries, Aquarion distributes water to more than 180,000 homes and businesses (or about 580,000 people) in some 39 communities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. It is one of the 10 largest investor-owned utilities in the US. The company's Aquarion Services unit provides contract management of municipal water and wastewater systems, along with engineering and management consulting services and consumer water line protection plans. In 2007 UK-based Kelda Group sold control of Aquarion to Australia's Macquarie Bank for $860 million.

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.

Clearford Industries provides water and wastewater management and sewage treatment services throughout North America. For rural areas the company's patented Small Bore Sewer technology obviates the need for a septic tank by using pipes with a narrow diameter -- as opposed to larger ones used in urban systems -- to transport waste from a residence to a wastewater treatment plant. In 2008 the company sold its Brooklin Concrete division, a leading producer of septic tanks in Ontario, to Armtec Limited Partnership.

ENVIRON is looking to clean up financially while helping to clean up the environment. An international environmental consulting firm, ENVIRON specializes in assessing risk factors related to the presence of chemicals in the environment and in products such as food, drugs, medical devices, and consumer goods. The consulting firm also helps clients comply with various environmental regulations. The company operates through two practices: environmental sciences and energy services; and health sciences. ENVIRON maintains offices in 18 countries the US, Europe, and the Asia/Pacific region, and has completed projects in more than 70 countries.

Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency,the power provider supplies wholesale electricity to its 18 member municipal distribution utilities, which in turn distribute power to more than 109,000 retail customers. The agency's main power source is the 900 MW Sherco 3-power plant generating unit near Becker, Minnesota. Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency owns 41% of the low-sulfur Western coal fueled plant in partnership Northern States Power Company, the unit's operator. It also relies on a range of intermediate and peaking units owned by the agency's members.

South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G) is a regulated utility with 659,000 electricity and 313,000 natural gas customers in the Palmetto State. The utility, a subsidiary of SCANA, owns 24,500 miles of power distribution lines and more than 15,700 miles of gas transmission mains; it also operates 17 fossil-fueled, nuclear, and hydroelectric power generation facilities with 5,695 MW of capacity. Its service area covers 23,000 sq. mls.SCE&G purchases additional power from other independent generators and utility companies, including SCANA-owned affiliate South Carolina Generating, and it sells wholesale power to other utilities and marketers.

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