Electric Power Research

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(May 2006) Kinder Morgan Inc. named Steve Kean executive vice president and COO, and Larry Pierce was named vice president, corporate communications. MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. completed the purchase of PacifiCorp from ScottishPower and announced new staffing. Progress Energy named Jeffrey J. Lyash president and CEO of Progress Energy Florida. Westar Energy Inc. announced several changes in leadership. And others...

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Power-Plant Cooling: How Many Fish Per kWh?

EPA flounders on the Clean Water rule, while producers tackle the real enemy—shortage.

The U.S. EPA says that a typical sport fisherman working the Great Lakes would pay $4.58 for the privilege of catching a single walleye/pike, but would gladly fork over $7.99 to land a trout, or as much as $11.19 for a salmon. Sound fishy? Yet the EPA would rely heavily on these data, and other figures quite similar, to justify its proposed “Phase III” rule to regulate cooling water intake structures at small power plants and other similarly sized facilities, to preserve aquatic and marine life in the nation’s lakes, rivers, streams, bays, and estuaries.
Byline: 

Courtney Barry and Bruce W. Radford

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People

FERC Chairman Pat Wood III said he would leave the commission at the conclusion of his term of office June 30. Wood is the longest-serving appointee of George W. Bush, who as governor of Texas in 1995 appointed him to the Texas PUC. And others...
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Closing the Green Gap

Will wind power close the gap between state renewable portfolio standards and the current shortfall in viable technologies?

Renewable portfolio standards or mandatory renewable quotas have been established in 20 states and formally considered in 6 more. There is currently an energy shortfall of 118,400 GWh between operating non-hydro renewable electric output today and that required in 2020. Many state and local regulatory agencies have begun to work together to overcome many of the historic barriers to renewables development, such as transmission constraints, permitting, tax policy, and trading. It's clear that they will have to if renewable energy technologies are ever to meet state renewable portfolio standards.
Byline: 

Kent S. Knutson and Peter McMahan

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Guns, Butter, or Green?

Utilities will face stark tradeoffs in meeting the next round of emissions controls.

Some utility execs gasp at the shear breadth of environmental proposals being bandied about during the past few weeks. Even the environmentalists are calling "historical" the extent to which different kinds of emissions will be regulated.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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People

New Opportunities: Dynegy Inc. announced that Carolyn M. Campbell has been named group general counsel-corporate finance & securities, and corporate secretary. Campbell joins Dynegy from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

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Betting on Broadband

Are consumer broadband over powerline (BPL) services enough to make the business case for utilities?

After years of development, technology to deliver high-speed data over the existing electric power delivery network has emerged in the marketplace. In some sections of Cincinnati and Manassas, Va., consumers now have an alternative to DSL and cable for broadband Internet access. It's real and it works.
Byline: 

Karen George

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Coal Gasification Gets Real

The technology works, but public policy will dictate its future.

The future of integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) power plants depends on public support, but environmental and market factors are helping IGCC look like a winning technology for the future.
Byline: 

Michael T. Burr

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Reversing the Gas Crisis: The Methane Hydrate Solution

Commercialization of methane recovery from coastal deposits of methane hydrates could head off an impending gas shortage.

More than half of the Earth’s organic carbon is in the form of methane hydrates—also known as the ice that burns. U.S. potential is at least 100,000 Tcf., but commercial production has not been achieved.
Byline: 

Henry R. Linden

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IT Roundtable: The Digitized Grid

Data gathering and controllability offer the quickest path to reliability.

Technology leaders at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the Electric Power Research Institute, and the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative present their visions of energy IT in the 21st century.
Byline: 

Michael T. Burr

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