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Fortnightly Magazine - July 15 2003

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

In your recent article about New York's "demand curve" ("New York Throws a Curve," May 15), opponents dismiss the role of installed capacity in restructured electric markets. Instead, they suggest a complete reliance on revenues from the energy market to recover all fixed costs. Yet, as your article notes, an energy-only approach might require price spikes of up to $30,000/MWh to cover the fixed costs of "peaking" units that seldom run but are needed for reliability.

Byline: 
Dr. Thomas Paynter New York State Department of Public Service
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Benchmarks

The federal production tax credit and renewable portfolio standards interact in interesting ways.

Byline: 
Jack Ihle
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Technology Corridor

Vegetation that helps break down toxins debuts at manufactured gas plant site.


Vegetation that helps break down toxins debuts at manufactured gas plant site.

Planting swaths of rye grass and mulberry trees and sowing the soil with bacteria are hardly standard operating procedure when it comes to cleaning up manufactured gas plant sites. But if Bill Bogan has his way, it just might be.

Byline: 
Jennifer Alvey
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Gas Pipelines Do the Safety Dance

The industry responds to FERC's new safety regulations.

The industry responds to FERC's new safety regulations.

Utility companies are scrambling to understand and comply with the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002, which became law in December 2002. According to Daphne Magnuson, director of public relations at the American Gas Association (AGA), the act will require member companies to make significant changes during the next 10 years in how they operate.

Byline: 
Lori A. Burkhart
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Taking the Weather Option

Weather-contingent options are cheaper than other weather risk products and can be crafted to suit emissions allowance markets.


Weather-contingent options are cheaper than other weather risk products and can be crafted to suit emissions allowance markets.

Weather is a pivotal demand factor in energy consumption, but one that is difficult to predict and impossible to control. With weather-hedging tools available in the over-the-counter (OTC) markets for several years, the market has grown to $4.2 billion, with approximately 4,000 contracts traded in 2001, according to Pricewaterhouse-Coopers.

Byline: 
Nicholas Ernst
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