People (May 2011)
Entergy Corp. names vice president of federal governmental affairs; Black Hills fills two executive positions; plus senior staff changes at Alliant Energy, First Wind, UniSource Energy, Consumers Energy, Midwest ISO, and others.
A Buyer's Market
Getting the most from demand response—despite a flawed FERC rule.
FERC’s new rule on compensation for demand resources tips the market balance toward negawatts. Arguably the commission’s economic analysis is flawed, and the rule represents a covert policy decision that stretches federal authority. Nevertheless, economic benefits will result if DR programs are well implemented to avoid gaming the system and distorting the market.
A Beautiful Mess
Only the fittest solutions survive in America’s policy wilderness.
All things being equal, momentous events like the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Arab spring would bring fundamental changes in U.S. energy policy. But things aren’t equal, and they never will be under America’s democratic and capitalistic process. Frustrating? Maybe, but it’s the only way to ensure our decisions are based on sound economic and environmental principles.
Green Power Supercharge
Submitted by meacott on Fri, 2011-04-29 18:03Over the past decade, utility green power programs (also known as green pricing programs) have helped utilities across the nation meet growing customer demand for electricity generated using renewable resources, as well as support both large- and small-scale local renewable energy projects. Additionally they’ve helped utilities improve relations with utility commissions, local environmental groups, and other key stakeholders.
Call Center Quality Assurance
Submitted by meacott on Tue, 2011-04-26 18:03Employees will account for up to 80 percent of contact center budgets in the increasingly demanding world of customer interaction. Such a substantial investment cannot be left to chance, yet, it is often overlooked and rarely reviewed by managers.
"Beyond lowering operating costs, workforce optimization solutions allow for quick decision making, which helps resolve customer issues.”
Like many other industries in which employee performance is crucial to the customer experience, the utility industry provides an essential commodity to the public. As they are often under intense scrutiny, utility companies must also take steps to minimize their exposure to liability issues.
States' Rights, Gamed Markets
Submitted by meacott on Tue, 2011-04-19 18:03FERC OK's PJM's capacity price floor, but questions remain about 'legitimate interests.'
FERC seems to say that states remain free to interfere with RTO markets.
Citing what it called “mounting evidence of risk” that PJM’s RPM capacity market could indeed “be gamed,” the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week OK’d most of the tariff amendments PJM had proposed to correct flaws in its Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR), which allows the grid operator to mitigate or predatory, below-cost bids by suppliers who would sell generating capacity into the region.
Making Solar Grid-Friendly
Submitted by meacott on Tue, 2011-04-05 18:03If made fully “grid-friendly,” utility-scale solar ought to be able to act like a traditional power plant — aiding voltage stability and supporting grid integrity during transmission system disturbances.
The world’s power generation systems continue to transition to cleaner, more renewable and sustainable sources. That effort will be greatly aided by integrated and comprehensive grid interconnection solutions. Utility-scale, grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV), as well as wind, has become increasingly attractive as a generation resource, both in terms of economics and operational fl exibility. The technology needed to interconnect these renewable power sources is now well proven in the field.
Transactions (April 2011)
FirstEnergy closes $4.7 billion stock acquisition of Allegheny Energy; BHP Billiton agreed to by shale gas interests from Chesapeake Energy; Capital Power to acquire gas-fired cycle power plants from Brick Power Holdings and others.
Vendor Neutral
(April 2011) GE Hitachi and Lockheed Martin team up on nuclear reactor controls; Elster wins metering contract in New Hampshire; Xcel hires Bechtel for nuclear services in Minnesota; Mitsubishi builds transformer HQ in Memphis; Northeast Utilities taps Siemens for transmission projects; Iberdrola sells wind output to FirstEnergy; Consumers and DTE invest $400 million to upgrade pumped storage facility; plus contracts and announcements from Alstom, URS, Areva, groSolar, Pattern Energy, S&C Electric and others.
Grid Futures
Evolutionary directions for electric system architecture.
How will the technology and policy changes now sweeping through the industry affect the architecture of the utility grid? Will America build an increasingly robust transmission infrastructure, or will we rely more on distribution intelligence and microgrids? Scholars at California’s Institute for Energy and Environment analyze various scenarios to predict the possible futures.