Energy Roundup: Biomass from Areva-Duke, Green Credit Crunch, Funding for Confluence...

(MoneyWatch)  Areva and Duke team to develop biomass -- French nuclear power giant Areva and Duke Energy are planning a joint venture to develop biomass power plants in the U.S. Areva is to will design and build the plants and Duke Energy it to manage them. [Source: StrategyEye]

Confluence raises $12.7 million -- Confluence Solar has raised nearly $13 million in a Series A round from Convexa Capital, DC Chemical, Scatec Adventure, Oceanshore Ventures and others. The funding will help finance a new factory to produce a new form of single crystal silicon. [Source: StrategyEye]

Credit crunch going green -- Solar and other alt-energy firms will soon be feeling the heat as Wall Street continues its ugly meltdown, according to Idealab founder Bill Gross, now chairman of solar power plant developer eSolar, which recently won $130 million in funding from Google. "I think if you're going to get project financing," Gross said. "You're just going to have to show higher returns to get people to take the money out of the mattress." [Source: Green Wombat]

Tax breaks for renewables amid bailouts for finance, auto -- The U.S. Senate has passed a bill to extend the Investment Tax Credit (ITC), extending tax credits for solar and other renewables for eight years, easing fears that they would be phased out at the end of 2008. [Source: News.com]

Masdar buys 40 percent in WinWinD -- In a deal worth $177 million, Masdar Institute (United Arab Emirates) acquired a 40 percent stake in the cleverly-named Finnish wind power firm, WinWinD. WinWinD says it will pursue wind development in the Mideast and Gulf regions. [Source: StrategyEye]

Occidental nabs Permian and Piceance Basins -- Occidental Petroleum Corporation announced an agreement with Plains Exploration & Production Company to purchase its interests in the Permian Basin (West Texas and New Mexico) and Piceance Basin (Colorado) for $1.25 billion. The properties currently produce 13,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. [Source: Rigzone]
Lucas drills deep in the heart of Texas (again) -- High oil prices are bringing new life to old wells. Lucas Energy, Inc. began drilling operations on its Hagen Ranch-3 well in Gonzales County, Texas on Sept. 23. Hagen Ranch-3 was originally drilled in 1994 but later shut-down due to sagging oil prices. [Source: Rigzone]