Nuclear

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

<font color="red">New Opportunities:</font>

People

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The Need for Nuclear Now

States will play a significant role in the resurgence of nuclear power plants in America.

At times, various conditions align and set the stage for achieving goals that may have appeared to be unreachable. Last summer, the Boston Red Sox were all but eliminated from contention, but then won an amazing stretch of baseball games that resulted in a World Series championship.

A similar scenario can be applied to the U.S. nuclear industry-producer of a steady, low-cost, environmentally important electricity source poised to thrive with the possibility of new plant construction in the not-so-distant future.

Byline: 

Joe F. Colvin

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Europe: Picture of a Stalled Competitive Model

Several hurdles remain to further liberalization and full competition in the electricity sector.

Two major trends can be observed in Europe’s electricity sector. First, the increasing importance of private-sector participation in a sector that was traditionally viewed as belonging to the state. The second major trend in Europe is that of the massive amount of merger and acquisition activity across the continent. At the same time, several hurdles remain to further liberalization and full competition in the European electricity sector.
Byline: 

Bridgett Neely & A.J. Goulding

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The Exelon-PSEG Super Merger: A Nuclear Liability?

Experts debate the risks of a proposed acquisition that would increase the largest nuclear fleet in the country.

Even as many energy and financial experts are touting the so-called “synergies” of the proposed merger between Exelon and PSEG, some are growing concerned over one of the deal’s chief selling points: the high concentration of nuclear power.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Roundtable: The Future Of Generation

Meeting tomorrow’s power needs will pose tough choices.

A group of executives and analysts tell Fortnightly that the outlook for generation is positive, because it has to be. But making generation work well—affordably, cleanly, and reliably—won’t be easy.
Byline: 

Michael T. Burr

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A Better Measure for Profitability

A new way to measure what matters most: how close a unit comes to meeting its total potential profit.

Approximately 65 percent of capacity additions in the last few years have been gas-fired, combined-cycle units. Recent market conditions have been hard on these new resources, which have suffered from significantly low capacity factors. A better metric would measure a unit's ability to capture peak prices while minimizing shoulder period and off-peak losses. Furthermore, it would measure the extent to which a unit dispatches according to favorable market conditions.
Byline: 

Tom Ottem and Michael McNair

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People (December 2004)

Lawrence E. De Simone joined Northeast Utilities as president of subsidiary Northeast Utilities Enterprises Inc. Kent McCargar, vice president and CFO at DTE Energy Services, was named president of the company. Gary Stephenson has joined DPL Inc. as vice president, commercial operations. And others...
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Technology Corridor

Cyber and Physical Security:

Technology Corridor

Cyber and Physical Security:

Although NERC and other agencies are helping out, utilities still face internal obstacles.

Byline: 
Christian Hamaker
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New Opportunities:

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The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) named Steve Larson executive director. Larson most recently was executive director of the California Energy Commission and chief deputy director of the department of finance.

PG&E Corp. elected Leslie H. Everett senior vice president and assistant to the chairman. PG&E Corp. also elected Russell M. Jackson senior vice president, human resources.

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