Perspective
Advanced grid technologies are needed to realize FERC's standard market vision.
It's the Grid, Stupid!
IT
M&A for T&D
Grid system operators now hold the cards. That means a bidding war for talent and a new wave of mergers.
Grid system operators now hold the cards. That means a bidding war for talent and a new wave of mergers.
TBy issuing new rules for a Standard Market Design (SMD) for wholesale power, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in all likelihood will usher in a new wave of utility mergers. But the pattern will differ from what we have seen in recent years.
The deals will center on the transmission sector, and take a horizontal shape, rather than vertical.
Perspective
The appropriate role for ITCs is rather different-and maybe not as exciting-as the role ITC proponents seem to have in mind.
Transmission Expansion: Risk and Reward in an RTO World
Some thoughts on who should take the lead and how to set up financial incentives.
Some thoughts on who should take the lead and how to set up financial incentives.
One of the most interesting questions that arises from federal restructuring of the electric grid, with regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and a standard market design (SMD), concerns the risk of building transmission in an RTO environment.
Loss Modeling in T&D Systems: Is $25 Billion Worth Losing?
Energy players can lose a lot more than their shirt if they fail to model transmission losses properly.
A Vision for Trasmission: How the RTOs Stand
And where the trouble spots lie in FERC's grid plan.
And where the trouble spots lie in FERC's grid plan.
The mood appeared calm on June 26 in Washington, D.C., at the regular bi-weekly meeting of the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Key officials from various regional transmission organizations (RTOs) had gathered before chairman Pat Wood and the other commissioners to brief them on progress over the past year in reforming wholesale electric markets, and on what the FERC might expect in the summer at hand.
Perspective
Independent transmission companies have a role in creating public benefit in wholesale competitive electricity markets.
The Barriers to Real-Time Pricing: Separating Fact From Fiction
Real-time pricing has been hindered by the misperception that a shift to RTP will create new types of risks, without creating benefits for utilities or customers.
A Dynamic Mission: Protecting Utility Assets
State public service commissions are insisting that utilities adopt risk management programs, and are allowing less pass-through for those that don't.
Many electric utilities have been on high alert since Sept. 11 to protect the assets within their systems from cyber and physical attack. For instance, 21 U.S. nuclear reactors are located within five miles of an airport, but 96 percent of all U.S. reactors were designed without regard for the potential for impact from even a small aircraft.
Bursting The Bubble
Merchants' trading volumes and revenue are still too inflated.
In the post-Enron world, many continue to question the legitimacy of the practice of inflating revenues through the trading business to bolster the company's financial picture.