With undersea cable linking Canada to Manhattan, Project Neptune could remake the transmission biz.

1 "Staff Report to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Western Markets and the Causes of the Summer 2000 Price Abnormalities," Nov. 1, 2000. Available on FERC website, www.ferc.gov. Hereinafter cited as Ferc Staff Report on California.

2 Source: Energy Security Analysis Inc. power databases using EIA form F900 and F759 data.

Frontlines

Engineers Have Their Day

 

Off Peak

July 15, 2000

Gas Price Pains

By Regina R. Johnson

Didn't Congress fix this problem a decade ago?

Then:

Gas Executives' Forum

 

New technologies cloud the future for the traditional electric utility, but offer hope to the gas industry in boosting residential demand.

Investors apparently were paying attention in January when a Web-based analyst predicted Plug Power's stocks could gain 10,000 percent or more by 2010. Before month's end, the fuel cell manufacturer, which doesn't expect to turn a profit before 2004, saw a ninefold increase from the $16 closing day share price at its October initial public offering. That month Avista Corp.

Weighing the outlook for new plant investment in gas-fired power and related infrastructure.

The jury is still out on the type and size of additional energy infrastructure desirable in the Northeast United States, but enough data is in to make a few guarded observations.

The situation is fluid.

A line-by-line case study of two high-priced portfolios, comparing fixed, variable and capital costs against forecasts of regional market prices.

A multi-billion-dollar wave of utility divestiture and power plant auctions has taken place during the last 18 months. Table 1 details some of these transactions, including the purchase price on a dollar-per-kilowatt basis and as a multiple of net book value. These measures frequently are cited as indications that buyers paid too much.