Financing Clean Coal
No single type of financial incentive closes the cost gap between clean coal and modern conventional coal technologies.
How can the cost gap between IGCC plants and pulverized coal plants be closed?
Law & Lawyers
EPA's Big Bet on Green Trading
Environmental Emissions: The cost to power markets of the Clean Air Interstate Rule depends on the ability to trade mercury.
The decision to limit mercury provides cover for utilities reluctant to spend on controlling NOx and SO2, while boosting other companies
The Ultimate CEOs: Constellation Energy’s Mayo A. Shattuck III
The CEO Power Forum: Not all utility CEOs are created equal...
"Goldman Sachs built the platform. They came from a world of conventional procedures and compliance, and an understanding of rule sets. Almost every other wholesale platform built in Houston and run by cowboys got out of control."
From Jet Set to Green Set
Corporate Environmental Programs: How can utility employees participate in greenhouse-gas reduction? Start with sustainable travel programs.
How can utility employees participate in greenhouse-gas reduction?
The Ultimate CEOs: Anthony F. Earley Jr., DTE Energy
The CEO Power Forum: Not all utility CEOs are created equal...
"To enhance that natural utility growth of around 2 percent per year, we want to surround the utilities with a portfolio of non-utility businesses that have higher growth prospects."
RTOs: Facts, Not Fiction
The benefits and future challenges of regional transmission organizations.
Ten years after the initial Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that set in motion the establishment of RTOs, it is hard to dispute that the mature organized markets with independent management of the grid have achieved tangible benefits for all customers. It is important to remind ourselves of the accomplishments and challenges ahead.
Upstate Uproar
Retail Choice: New York utilities cry “bait and switch,” but it’s not that simple.
If you take electric service from Orange & Rockland Utilities, the Catskills affiliate of Manhattan’s Con Ed, you can switch to a competitive retail supplier and score a 7 percent discount. But the discount lasts for two months. After that, if you haven’t signed a contract or taken some other action to lock in your discount, your ESCO can boost the commodity rate back to the old level—or even higher.
PUHCA Debate - Again
The SEC denies approval of the AEP/CSW merger. What will that mean for industry consolidation?
What's wrong the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA)? The 1935 act clearly did not contemplate a competitive marketplace for electricity. Legislation should be updated to reflect the prevailing energy economic climate.
Power-Plant Cooling: How Many Fish Per kWh?
EPA flounders on the Clean Water rule, while producers tackle the real enemy—shortage.
The U.S. EPA says that a typical sport fisherman working the Great Lakes would pay $4.58 for the privilege of catching a single walleye/pike, but would gladly fork over $7.99 to land a trout, or as much as $11.19 for a salmon. Sound fishy? Yet the EPA would rely heavily on these data, and other figures quite similar, to justify its proposed “Phase III” rule to regulate cooling water intake structures at small power plants and other similarly sized facilities, to preserve aquatic and marine life in the nation’s lakes, rivers, streams, bays, and estuaries.
Transcos Reborn
Recent attrition raises the question: Consolidation or death spiral?
Despite some setbacks, the transco business might be ready to turn the corner toward a new phase of growth. Will the remaining barriers roll away and allow the industry to grow beyond three companies?