By Lori A. Burkhart

Gas-fired power is king today, but fuel diversity needs and new technologies may open the door for nuclear and coal.

The nation's demand for electricity is expected to grow by over 40 percent in the next 20 years, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Meeting that need will require a great number of new generating plants. The burning question is, what will fuel these new plants?

Off Peak

November 1, 2001

Nightmare Scenario

 

Professor chokes on green group emissions.

 

An analysis of the business opportunities behind coal and nuclear plant expansion.

Electric power industry trade publications and the popular media have noted a growing interest in the rebirth of both nuclear power and coal-fired generation. These technologies would be a supplement to, or an alternative to, the natural gas fired generation that appears to be the predominant fuel and technology for new power generation facilities in the coming decade.

Natural Gas Hedging: A Primer for Utilities and Regulators

 

What commissions need to learn.
What LDCs should already know.

The facts are now in. If utilities had hedged their natural gas purchases during the 1990s, they could have earned windfalls for those they serve, given the wild price gyrations of the past decade (). Yet few if any households or businesses saw any windfall, because few utilities were engaged in futures and other derivatives markets.

Wind Power: Poised for Take Off?

 

A survey of projects and economics.

The amount of electricity generated from wind in the U.S. is expected to surge this year - owing in large part to hydropower shortages out West, natural gas price volatility across the country, and high capacity factors for wind turbines, which help to offset the intermittent nature of wind energy generation.

1 "Annual Energy Outlook 2001 With Projections to 2020," Energy Information Administration, Document No. DOE/EIA-0383(2001), December 2000.

2 Oil Resources Panel and Commentary by W.L. Fisher et al, "An Assessment of the Oil Resource Base of the United States," U.S. Department of Energy, Bartlesville Project Office, Document No. DOE/BC-93/1/SF (October 1992).

3 Henry R. Linden, "Let's Focus on Sustainability, Not Kyoto," The Electricity Journal, Vol. 12, No. 2, March 1999, pp. 56-67.

 

High profit potential will attract new power plants, forcing prices down and stranding the state's long-term electricity purchases.

Let's consider three questions crucial to California's energy crisis and its plans for solution.