Fortnightly’s Executive Roundtable considers industry options and risks.
Michael T. Burr is Fortnightly’s editor-in-chief. Email him at burr@pur.com
Rapid changes in electric power markets are posing real-time challenges for operators of generating facilities across the country. Green energy mandates are driving expansion of variable generation. Shale gas reserves have pushed fuel and electricity prices to historic lows, just as new environmental rules are putting pressure on fossil-fired plants. Baseload facilities, designed to operate virtually 24/7, now are cycling to accommodate market fluctuations. And distributed generation, storage, and demand-side management are changing the way electricity is sold and distributed.
Last fall, with the support of exclusive sponsor Invensys, we launched a new online publication to focus on this range of issues, specifically as they pertain to the generation side of the business. In Fortnightly’s Power Profit we present the perspectives of leaders in the field about trends in asset optimization, resource planning, and risk management. Last October in Washington, D.C., we convened a roundtable meeting – comprised of senior operations executives at a range of power companies – to address these topics as a group. Additionally, Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Tony Clark dropped in to deliver the keynote address (see sidebar “Jurisdiction Junction: FERC’s Tony Clark”).