Bringing Wind Energy Up to 'Code'
Grid reliability is one giant step in mainstreaming the technology.
As wind power expands, increasingly energy company CEOs are facing the question of whether to invest.
New York Independent System Operator
New Nuclear Construction: Still on Hold
A number of factors point to expanded nuclear generation. But when?
Skeptics believe investors will continue to shy away from nuclear in the coming decades, but conditions are changing, with several factors pointing to expanded nuclear generation.
The Myth of the Transmission Deficit
The grid does not need a Marshall Plan for new investment.
Do we really need to invest $50 billion to $100 billion in the U.S. transmission system? The industry says yes, but the evidence says otherwise.
Perspective
Proper authority and market monitoring and mitigation could make the system work.
Perspective
Proper authority and market monitoring and mitigation could make the system work.
In the last few years we have watched appalled as the western U.S. electricity markets collapsed, taking with them the solvency and viability of several very large participants, including the California Power Exchange (PX).
Water Heaters to teh Rescue: Demand Bidding in Electric Reserve Markets
With just a few changes in reliability rules, regulators could call on consumer loads to boost power reserves for outages and contingencies.
With just a few changes in reliability rules, regulators could call on consumer loads to boost power reserves for outages and contingencies.
In proposing a standard market design (SMD), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) makes clear that it wants customers to participate in wholesale power markets, such as by bidding an offer to curtail consumption, increase supply, and reduce upward pressure on prices.
"We believe in the direct approach of letting demand bid in the market," says FERC.
Letter to the Editor
To the Editor:
In your recent article about New York's "demand curve" ("New York Throws a Curve," May 15), opponents dismiss the role of installed capacity in restructured electric markets. Instead, they suggest a complete reliance on revenues from the energy market to recover all fixed costs. Yet, as your article notes, an energy-only approach might require price spikes of up to $30,000/MWh to cover the fixed costs of "peaking" units that seldom run but are needed for reliability.
New York Throws a Curve
ISO's new ICAP scheme seen as subsidy for the gen sector.
For evidence that electric restructuring has lost its way, look no further than ICAP — the dubious idea that to guarantee reliability and low prices, regulators should create a market not just for trading the finished commodity, but also for buying and selling ownership rights in the future ability to produce.
A Blueprint for DG
Presenting a fair and simple distributed generation plan for utilities and policy-makers.
Presenting a fair and simple distributed generation plan for utilities and policy-makers.
Distributed generation (DG) continues to face many institutional barriers erected before the technology emerged as an economic alternative. Chief among these barriers are existing rate and regulatory regimes, which fail to offer appropriate incentives to utilities and customers who might otherwise substitute DG facilities for distribution and generation.
Studying Apples and Oranges
RTO cost/benefit studies are difficult to reconcile.
RTO cost/benefit studies are difficult to reconcile.
The premise behind the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) push for regional transmission organizations (RTOs)-that they will provide positive economic benefits to society- increasingly is being challenged.
The Perils of Greenfield Gas Development
Sempra promised regulators they’d build a new utility, but Nova Scotia is still waiting.
A major gas discovery offshore Nova Scotia-3.5 trillion cf, based on conservative estimates-is generating healthy financial earnings for participating producers and pipelines. But residents and small businesses in Nova Scotia aren't seeing a molecule of gas flowing their way.