Fortnightly Magazine - September 1 2002

Changing the Fuel Mix: Time for a Nuclear Rescue?

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

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?

The Empire Strikes Back

Will FERC's market solution wipe out state commissions?

One might say, when it comes to FERC, some state public utilities commissions' lack of faith is disturbing—to paraphrase Lord Vader. It's also necessary, as any journalist would tell you. The FERC NOPR on standard market design (SMD)—which completes the "trilogy" of regulation on wholesale markets, as chairman Pat Wood described it—had some state PUCs blasting the NOPR even before its July 31 release.

Perspective

FERC's call for regional PUCs will force state regulators to declare their allegiance.


 

FERC's call for regional PUCs will force state regulators to declare their allegiance.

How will regulators re-engineer restructuring? That was the theme of the seventh annual convention of the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Commissioners (MARUC). But while the theme may have been the re-engineering of restructuring, other regulators felt more inclined to discuss the "re-regulating of restructuring."

People

John J. Carney has joined Solomon Associates as a power generation consultant. During Carney's 25 years of management experience, he has worked for Florida PowerCorp., Carolina Power and Light Co., and Florida Power and Light.

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