People
New Opportunities: Dynegy Inc. announced that Carolyn M. Campbell has been named group general counsel-corporate finance & securities, and corporate secretary. Campbell joins Dynegy from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.
PJM Interconnection
Backed By Wind
The need for additional generation to compensate for wind variations is disappearing.
Utility-based studies have laid to rest the concern that a wind plant needs to be backed up with an equal amount of dispatchable generation. Even at moderate penetrations, ancillary services to back up new wind power need not be more than is required of a system as a whole.
State Regulators: Driven By Reliability
Can natural gas supply keep up with demand for power?
Reliability and utility infrastructure development remain regulators’ top concerns. This year’s Regulators Forum spans the different regions of the country to highlight the most pressing issues facing the industry.
Demand-Side Management and Metering Tech: The Ideal Fusion
Combining real-time usage data with the newest technology can earn benefits for utilities.
Bringing together real-time pricing usage information and the newest computing and communication technology can generate extraordinary benefits for utilities.
Perspective: MISO, Markets, and Common Sense
Wisconsinites don't fear 'Day 2.' But let's get the grid rights right.
The cost of rushing into poorly designed LMP-based energy markets may far exceed any purported cost increases attributable to any future delayed start-up date for certain portions of the MISO region.
People
New Opportunities:
People
New Opportunities:
Duke Energy made several changes to its executive leadership. Dick Blackburn said he would retire as the company's executive vice president, general counsel, and chief administrative officer. He had been with the company since 1997. Duke also named Bill Easter chairman, president, and CEO of Duke Energy Field Services, replacing Jim Mogg, who moves up to group vice president and chief development officer for Duke Energy.
Commission Watch: Grid Battle Is Joined
FERC's AEP ruling begs the question: Can the feds bypass states that block transmission reform?
A recent ruling puts the question squarely on the table: Can FERC overturn orders issued by the state public utility commissions that otherwise would stand in the way of its vision of regional transmission organizations with a standard market design?
Commission Watch
Irregular seams affect ratemaking policies.
Commission Watch
Irregular seams affect ratemaking policies.
In a case that marks the first time the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission eliminated inter-RTO rate pancaking, the commission in late July issued an order terminating regional through-and-out rates (RTORs) charged by two regional transmission owners (RTOs)-Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) and PJM Interconnection. The decision removes an estimated $250 million in yearly fees collected by those two entities.
The Myth of the Transmission Deficit
The grid does not need a Marshall Plan for new investment.
The grid does not need a Marshall Plan for new investment.
We don't know what caused the Aug. 14 blackout, but somehow we know that our transmission system needs $50 billion to $100 billion in investment and upgrades. And utilities need higher returns to raise that kind of money. Talk about making lemonade out of lemons.
The reality is that we aren't short $50 billion or $100 billion in our transmission system. The study said to support that proposition just doesn't do the job.
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.