Energy Disconnect
Misguided policies threaten resource adequacy.
Resource planning is grinding to a halt. From EPA regulations to irrational markets, today’s policy missteps threaten tomorrow’s reliability.
Energy Policy & Legislation
Pricing Social Benefits
Calculating and allocating costs for non-traditional utility services.
Alternative ways to calculate utilities’ costs of service allow policy makers to achieve social goals in a way that’s fair and economically efficient.
Valuing Energy Efficiency
The search for a better yardstick.
Policy analysts are right to demand a reform of the total resource cost test. The evidence that it understates the benefits of energy efficiency, the main claim against it, is convincing.
Western Showdown
Renewable portfolio standards bring volatility to Mid-Columbia markets.
Recent price volatility provides a sample of what’s to come, as Western states bring more wind and solar into a hydro-dependent market.
How Do You Get To Green?
And what’s the goal: a share of load or a cut in carbon?
It’s time to rethink RPS laws. Instead of production quotas for renewable energy, why not reward reductions in carbon emissions and fossil-fuel use?
Reverse Robin Hood
Declaring war on non-utility PV.
Recently I’ve been hearing some utility executives use a new catchphrase: “reverse Robin Hood.” The phrase is shorthand for policies on net metering and green incentives that support rooftop photovoltaics (PV) at the expense of low-income customers. We’re “robbing the poor” to pay for rich people’s fancy solar systems.
ISO 50001: Busy Work or Revolution?
Supporting continuous improvement in energy management processes.
By promoting the ISO 50001 energy management standard to industrial customers, utilities can increase loyalty, encourage efficiency, and support industrial growth.
Transmission Policy in Flux
More planning, fewer incentives, and a black swan on the horizon.
The transmission superhighway still needs major investments. Rate incentives were working -- until FERC started backing away from them. FERC should assert its authority more aggressively to promote the vision of a robust interstate grid.
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.
Redefining Normal Temperatures
Resource planning and forecasting in a changing climate.
Utility planners depend on an accurate estimate of normal weather to forecast resource needs and costs. But as the climate changes, so must the definition of ‘normal.’