FPA § 203(a)(1)(B): A Deal is a Deal, No Matter How Small?
With apologies to Dr. Seuss.
There are questions whether FERC and industry resources are being expended on matters once considered, and arguably should continue to be considered, de minimis.
Federal Power Act
Utility Capital in the Twenty-First Century
What FERC might learn from Thomas Piketty and his best-selling book on wealth and income.
Thomas Piketty’s best-selling book, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” shows why utility transmission owners should not enjoy excessive returns.
Negawhat?
EPSA v. FERC: How the court went wrong on demand response.
The court’s ruling in EPSA v. FERC assigns a retail/wholesale dichotomy to demand response, but is that distinction even meaningful?
In the Crosshairs
Protecting substations and transformers after the PG&E Metcalf attack.
The latest fallout from the April 2013 Metcalf incident: the unprecedented assault with high-powered rifles on PG&E’s Metcalf substation, in Silicon Valley, which disabled 17 of 20 large transformers.
Power Breakfast
Fortnightly’s Executive Roundtable considers industry options and risks.
Fortnightly recently convened a group of senior operations executives from a variety of companies to discuss current trends in the U.S. power industry. Their comments reflect a mixed outlook on the industry’s transitionary changes.
Partnership, Not Preemption
How state-sponsored planning can fit with FERC’s capacity markets.
FERC-approved capacity markets and state-sponsored resource planning serve different needs. The one shouldn’t pre-empt the other.
Walking the Fuzzy Bright Line
The legality of state ROFR laws under FERC Order 1000.
States have passed laws to bypass FERC Order 1000 and its reforms favoring private grid developers. Could those laws themselves fall under attack?
Rise of the Machines
Who’s afraid of the transactive grid?
Smart grids and nodal markets spark the emergence of a transactional grid. In fact it’s already happened, and we’re just becoming aware.
Rethinking Capacity Markets
A pragmatic new approach to assuring reliability.
The latest dispute over PJM’s bidding rules has raised the level of uncertainty in organized electricity markets. Efforts at reform have created a market structure so jumbled that it can’t produce just and reasonable rates -- or assure adequate supply resources. It’s time for FERC to consider alternative approaches to market design.
Killing the Goose
Second thoughts on transmission’s golden egg.
The electric utility industry offers up a wealth of ideas on how the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission might reform its policy, adopted under FERC Order 679 in 2006, of granting financial incentives for investments in transmission line projects that ensure reliability or mitigate line congestion so as to reduce the cost of delivered power. Fortnightly’s Bruce W. Radford reports.