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Fortnightly Magazine - June 15 2002

Gas Turbinemania: The Merchant Power Plant Shake Out

Why it happened? Who lost in the bust? Who will survive to build another turbine?

Some merchant generation developers never saw the generation glut coming. Presenting the winners and losers of the latest cycle of boom, bubble, and collapse in the merchant generation industry.
Byline: 

Robert L. Sansom and A. Michael Schaal

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Managing the Telecom Value Curve

There are opportunities for utilities despite the telecom market correction of 2001 and 2002.

The risks for utilities entering telecommuni­cations are real and ever present, especially with the recent 2001 and 2002 telecommunications market correction. But some utilities have found success in the telecom space by taking an incremental approach to manage risks and climb the telecom value curve.
Byline: 

Robert H. Picchi

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Barbarians at the Gates

FERC... SEC... CFTC...Congress ... Ratings Agencies... Stockholders... Bondholders... Private Equity Investors?

No one has yet quantified or qualified the devastation to industry reputation, electric competition, or energy companies' future earnings power caused by the current round of energy trading scandals that is shaking the industry to its core.

Byline: 

Richard Stavros

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Bragawatts: Nothing to Brag About

So-called 'round-trip trades' and what FERC should do about it.

Power trading companies that make the cut on the top-10 ranking list essentially have won the right to brag ... or have they?
Byline: 

Mark T. Williams

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People (June 15, 2002)

Larry Schmid has been named CFO for Great River Energy. Hydro Energy of Norsk Hydro has appointed Hilde Myrberg as sector president. Ronald McMahan has joined the board of directors of Index Pricing Group. And others ...
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Benchmarks: Coal Prices

Steady again, as new paradigm takes hold.

New coal price levels are down, but above the prices realized in the 1990s. Perhaps it can be demonstrated that the supply of coal is much more in line with its demand, and that coal mines are producing at levels much closer to aggregate mine capacity.
Byline: 

Andy Roberts

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Vote Yes on Yucca Mountain

Congress needs to uphold the president's designation for a nuclear waste disposal site.

In the interest of security, economics, and common sense, it is important that Congress votes to uphold Yucca Mountain as the nation's central nuclear waste disposal facility.
Byline: 

William T. McCormick, Jr.

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A Dynamic Mission: Protecting Utility Assets

State public service commissions are insisting that utilities adopt risk management programs, and are allowing less pass-through for those that don't.

Many electric utilities have been on high alert since Sept. 11 to protect the assets within their systems from cyber and physical attack. For instance, 21 U.S. nuclear reactors are located within five miles of an airport, but 96 percent of all U.S. reactors were designed without regard for the potential for impact from even a small aircraft.
Byline: 

Charles W. Thurston

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