[BETA] Fortnightly

Clean-energy R&D needs better funding and leadership to meet aggressive greenhouse-gas emissions reduction targets. But how does the industry get there, and what management model best suits achieving such lofty goals? A new ‘clean-energy institute’ might be the answer.

Southern Company named Ronnie Labrato vice president, internal auditing. FirstEnergy’s board of directors elected Gary R. Leidich executive vice president and president of FirstEnergy Generation, and Richard R. Grigg executive vice president and president of FirstEnergy Utilities. Exelon named Ian P. McLean to lead its finance and markets organization. And others...

David L. Goodin became president of Montana-Dakota Utilities and Great Plains Natural Gas. ONEOK announced three new officer appointments. Duke Energy named Bruce H. Hamilton as vice president of McGuire Nuclear Station. PJM named W. Terry Boston its new president and CEO. And others...

The Interstate Natural Gas Association named Richard R. Hoffmann executive director of the The INGAA Foundation. E. Kevin Bethel joined Sierra Pacific Resources as chief accounting officer. Dominion East Ohio promoted Bruce C. Klink to president. American Electric Power announced several changes. And others...

Greenhouse gas (GHG) regulation picks up where Acid Rain legislation left off, but affects far more sources and pollutants. Utility compliance programs face major uncertainties.

You might have thought the Feds closed the book on any broad, region-wide sharing of sunk transmission costs—especially after FERC ruled last spring in Opinion No. 494 that PJM could stick with license-plate pricing (LPP) for transmission lines already planned and built. If you thought that, you weren’t alone. Of 25 transmission owners (TOs) in the Midwest ISO (MISO), 24 voted recently to do the same for their market as well.

American Electric Power named Michael Rencheck senior vice president and chief nuclear officer for its D.C. Cook Nuclear Plant in Bridgman, Mich. The American Public Power Association elected Roger B. Kelley to its board of directors. OGE Energy Corp. named Danny P. Harris as COO. Glen Justis joined Deloitte & Touche LLP as a director in the global energy markets group of the organization’s regulatory and capital markets practice. And others...

Energy producers already have begun to prepare for coming CO₂ regulations. As a first step, many companies are implementing internal trading schemes. In this article, we have focused on AEP and Southern Co. as case studies of how companies are preparing for a carbon-constrained world, because they are in the top 5 companies in the United States with the highest proportion of coal-fired generation in their fleets.

Something seems deeply disturbing about the utility industry these days. An almost palpable tension rises whenever the utility CEO is asked how he will build enough power plants to meet the skyrocketing demand for power. Some consultants predict that sometime after this decade the time will come when utilities won’t be able to build enough to meet demand, no matter what they try.

(December 2006) Michael Heyeck was named senior vice president of transmission at American Electric Power Co. Duke Energy announced that Jim Stanley would lead its Indiana utility as president. ITC Transmission, a subsidiary of ITC Holdings, hired Frances (Francie) Brown as director, state governmental affairs. Edward (Ted) J. Mooney and Jesse H. Ruiz were appointed to ComEd’s board of directors. And others.