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Law & Lawyers

RTOs: The Creditworthiness Conundrum

IOUs, RTOs duke it out over standardization.

Have regional transmission operators (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs) asked for excessive levels of credit from customers? The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) must face that difficult question as it investigates whether to institute a rulemaking on credit-related issues for service provided by ISOs, RTOs, and transmission providers.
Byline: 

Lori A. Burkhart

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A Year After the Blackout: On a Collision Course With History?

Grid reliability is still at risk unless the industry quickly takes action.

The blackout highlighted the growing threat of dynamic voltage problems. Technical solutions to this problem are readily available, but creative regulatory approaches are needed. Here is a case where the timeworn precept, “follow the money,” offers a winning solution for the entire array of power system stakeholders.
Byline: 

John B. Howe

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Coal: Paying a King's Ransom

What's causing price volatility, and will it last?

The long period of sub-full-cost pricing in the 1990s caused great rationalization in the coal industry, leaving a much healthier and sensible market. One consequence of this is that the floor price for coal in most regions has risen about 25 percent in the last few years. With natural gas prices expected to remain high for some time, those coal markets where ready capacity is at current demand levels will see steadily high prices.
Byline: 

Andy Roberts and Gary L. Hunt

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People

People for September 2004

Filled positions at the California PUC, PG&E Corp., FERC, and others.
Byline: 

PUf

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Gas Supply: Too little, Too late?

Pipeline and LNG terminal developments may arrive too late to prevent a natural gas disaster.

Alaska’s North Slope gas remains in the pipeline, so to speak, despite the efforts of industry heavyweights to bring the stranded resource to the lower-48 states. Meanwhile, LNG development is beset by questions of safety, siting, and permitting, leaving North America with high gas prices and little clarity about future supply.
Byline: 

Michael T. Burr

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A Gas Crisis, or Not?

The conclusions made by the NPC gas study raise more questions than they answer.

The National Petroleum Council’s study on future U.S. gas supplies raises more questions than it answers. Before the industry acts on the study’s recommendations, it should re-examine the study’s many shortcomings.
Byline: 

Ken Costello

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Outsourcing & IT as a Strategic Option

Special ECM Section

In this quarterly ECM section, a series of articles in Fortnightly reviews the different outsourcing and IT options that are available and what utilities should consider before adopting outsourcing and IT technologies.
Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Outsourcing, Reliability, and IT: When will the Three Meet?

How to make sure your outsourcing partner works as an extension of your IT organization.

It is imperative that the CIS manager treats the outsourcing partner team as an extension of his own staff. Good working relationships between the client and the on-site partner team go a long way to ensure processes that provide reliability and security are adequately followed.
Byline: 

Rajiv Bahl

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