Nuclear At a Crossroads
Wind, nuclear, and gas resources must work together – not at cross-purposes.
Why the U.S. must maintain current levels of nuclear energy production to achieve carbon reduction goals.
GAS
Cybersecurity and the PUC
Regulators and utilities should collaborate more to address cyber threats.
Public utility commissions face a growing need to understand cybersecurity issues, so they can address utility investments and processes. A collaborative approach will allow an effective response.
Innovation Mandate
Meeting the just-and-reasonable standard in a time of change.
Who can say for sure if markets are working? The landscape keeps shifting.
Five Years Later
Wall Street is back in business. What’s next for utility finance?
When Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in September 2008, it marked the beginning of a financial crisis. By most accounts, the utility industry has been a picture of stability through tumultuous times. The view from Wall Street remains bullish – despite some reasons for concern.
Energiewende
Nuclear fear and Germany’s headlong plunge into renewable energy.
On a recent trip to Germany to study the country’s energy policy, the phrase “energy transition,” or “energiewende” as the Germans say, was on everyone’s mind.
NRG Energy Acquires Corpus Christi, Texas Cogeneration Plant
Submitted by aburr on Wed, 2013-08-28 13:08NRG Energy closed on the acquisition of the Gregory cogeneration plant in Corpus Christi, Texas. NRG paid approximately $244 million in cash for the plant, exclusive of adjustments relating to working capital. The Gregory cogeneration plant provides steam, processed water and a small percentage of its electrical generation to the Corpus Christi Sherwin Alumina plant. The majority of the base-load generation is available for sale in ERCOT. The current operator, DPS Gregory, will continue to operate the plant until a transition to NRG operations is completed.
No Fuel, No Power
Lessons from New England on electric-gas market coordination.
Despite the hype about cheap gas, pipeline constraints are creating new risks. New England’s wholesale power prices ran three times as high this past February compared to the same month in 2012.
The Old Drawing Board
Portfolio planning in the age of gas.
PUCs are concerned that a rapid shutdown of coal-fired plants will start a full-tilt dash to gas—similar to the one that caused bankruptcies among independent power producers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But this time around, ratepayers and not IPP investors will be stuck with the risk, if utilities rush to add all that new gas-fired capacity to rate base.
RTOs and the Public Interest
Defining the mission when the consumer plays second-fiddle to the needs of the market.
Six months back, when ISO New England was mulling over various reforms that FERC had mandated last fall in Order 719 for the nation’s six regional transmission organizations and independent system operators (RTOs and ISOs are interchangeable terms in this column), the ISO refused point blank to include in its mission statement a proposal by stakeholders that it should operate the bulk power system at the “lowest reasonable cost.”
A National Gasification Strategy
Presenting a program to stimulate robust coal-gasification technology deployment at low federal cost.
Federal loan guarantees and other incentives can clear the hurdles to near-term deployment of gasification technologies.