Panda Energy International

Infobox_Company
company_name = Panda Energy International, Inc.
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 1982
location = Dallas, Texas, USA
key_people = Robert W. Carter, Founder, Chairman and CEO
Todd W. Carter, President
Janice Carter, EVP, Secretary, and Treasurer
industry = Gas Utilities,
Major Integrated Oil and Gas,
Oil and Gas Drilling and Exploration,
Oil and Gas Equipment and Services,
Oil and Gas Pipelines,
Oil and Gas Refining and Marketing
products = Power plants,
Pipelines,
Clean fuels,
Finance
revenue = $219 million USD (2005)
num_employees = 150 (2005)
homepage = [http://www.pandaenergy.com/ www.pandaenergy.com]

Panda Energy International, Inc. is an American privately-held company that constructs, maintains and operates environmentally friendly power plants, with the name of the company a reference to the endangered Giant Panda. The company is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with 150 employees and an annual revenue of $219 million USD for 2005. It is a division of The Panda Group.

History

Panda Energy was founded by current chairman Robert W. Carter in 1982. The creation of the company was a direct result of the passage of the 1978 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, which introduced favorable surplus disposal measures for small-scale commercial energy producers. The Carter family have owned a controlling stake in the company ever since, making Panda Energy a family business.

After Panda Energy was awarded a RFP to construct a power plant in North Carolina, it expanded throughout the 1980s, taking advantage of energy market deregulation.

Panda Energy has announced an intent to capitalise on the predicted energy crisis arising from a slump in oil production by offering environmentally friendly alternatives. Following the passage of the 2005 Energy Policy Act, which increased the mandatory quantity of ethanol used in blended gasoline, Panda Energy announced on August 25, 2005, that it would be constructing a $120 million USD ethanol plant in Yuma, Colorado that would process 100 million gallons of ethanol per year. This followed the announcement of a similar plant in Hereford, Texas in May 2005 and preceded the announcement on September 20, 2005, of a third plant, to be constructed in Haskell County, Kansas. In addition to producing ethanol the three plants will also remove millions of pounds of manure from the waste stream, as the manure will be used to fuel the plants.

Activities

Through a combination of financing, construction and operational activities, Panda Energy is involved in the creative developing, structuring, and financing of complex, capital-intensive energy projects that represent more than 9,000 megawatts of clean gas technology with a total cost of more than $5 billion in financing.

Panda Energy designs, builds and in some cases administers power plants, with a focus on renewable energy sources such as agricultural products, ethanol, clean coal, biofuel and hydropower.

Panda Energy finances the construction of power plants. A majority of the $98 million USD cost of the Bhote Koshi power plant in Nepal was supplied by Panda Energy, making the company the largest American investor in Nepal between 1997 and 2000. Panda Energy was also the first American company to construct a power plant in the People's Republic of China; this was addressed in the United States Senate on October 5, 2000.

Panda Ethanol, Inc.

On November 7, 2006, Panda Energy International announced that it had completed its merger of its Ethanol Branch and Cirracor, Inc., and that the resultant company would be known as Panda Ethanol, Inc. In 2006, Panda Ethanol, Inc. was spun off from Panda Energy International and listed on the OTC.BB under PDAE. Panda Energy International remains Panda Ethanol, Inc. largest share holder.

Ethanol Plants own by Panda Ethanol, Inc.
*Yuna, Colorado
*Haskell, Kansas
*Sherman, Texas
*Hereford, Texas
*Muleshoe, Texas

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling

In October 2002, Panda Energy purchased a controlling interest (72%) of the Nashville, Tennessee-based professional wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling from founder and CEO Jerry Jarrett.Fact|date=August 2008 The seemingly unlikely acquisition came about after Dixie Carter, the daughter of Robert W. Carter and a TNA publicist, contacted her father and persuaded him to purchase the company (which was facing bankruptcy after a major financial backer withdrew their support).

On october 31, 2002, Panda Energy created the limited liability company TNA Entertainment in order to administer TNA. While Jeff Jarrett, the former President of TNA, was appointed Vice President, the majority of other management positions were filled by former Panda executives. Chris Sobol, the Panda Manager of Business Development, was appointed Vice President of Operations, and Frank Dickerson (and later Kevin Day) was appointed chief executive officer, while Dixie Carter was made President.

References

* [http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=36794 "Cow Manure Powered Ethanol Plant Saves Oil and Gas"]
* [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/columnists/all/stories/092805dnbusHall.113f6aee.html "Ex-Hockaday girl wrangles wrestlers"]
* [http://www.hoovers.com/panda-energy/--ID__60388--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml Panda Energy International at Hoovers.com]
* [http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/60/60388.html Panda Energy International at Yahoo Finance]
* [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?i106:I09021:i106PALLA.html Panda Energy International: Remarks in Senate]
* [http://www.securityinfowatch.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=393&id=5391 "Panda to Build Fuel Ethanol Plant in Colorado"]
* [http://pandaethanol.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=17 Panda Ethanol, Inc. complets merger with Corracor, Inc.]

External links

* [http://www.pandaenergy.com/ PandaEnergy.com]
* [http://www.pandaethanol.com/ PandaEthanol.com]