Natural Gas and California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard

A successful initiative should reduce state dependence on volatile supplies.

California will save approximately $1 billion in annual natural gas expenditures by 2015 as a result of the RPS. Our modeling efforts indicate that market clearing power prices in California are likely to remain relatively unchanged when comparing the "No RPS" to the "Full RPS" case.

People

People for January 2004.

Positions filled at Southern Co., Southwest Power Pool, Avista Corp., and others.

FERC Throws Down The Gauntlet

The legal battle of the century is ready to begin.

A FERC order late last year — that AEP must join the PJM grid to meet conditions of its 2000 merger with Central and Southwest Corp. — was tantamount to a declaration of war with state regulators. At the center of the issue is whether FERC has authority to pre-empt the states on development of regional transmission organizations.

Technology Corridor

Experts say utilities are pushing transmission systems to unsafe limits.

Technology Corridor

Experts say utilities are pushing transmission systems to unsafe limits.

When transmission-line rating assumptions do not match the physical realities of transmission networks, the consequences can be disastrous.

Business & Money

FERC's ruling on cash management programs will introduce new transparency into how utilities manage their cash.

Business & Money

FERC's ruling on cash management programs will introduce new transparency into how utilities manage their cash.

On Oct. 22, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ruled that FERC-regulated entities must file their cash management agreements with the commission and notify the commission within 45 days after the end of each calendar quarter when their proprietary capital ratio drops below 30 percent, and when it subsequently returns to or exceeds 30 percent.

Commission Watch

ISO New England dares to dream, again.

Commission Watch

ISO New England dares to dream, again.

ISO New England (ISO-NE) wants to become a regional transmission organization (RTO). But just the idea-prior to any official filing at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)-has come under attack. ISO-NE is going to find rough waters ahead, despite a three-year effort aimed at a smooth transition to becoming an RTO. And now with the Oct. 31 filing of the 2,000-plus-page RTO proposal at FERC, the stage is set for these battles to be fought, again.

Benchmarks

Will the changes help or harm generators?

Benchmarks

Will the changes help or harm generators?

New rules revising the New Source Review (NSR) provision of the Clean Air Act recently were published. The action formalized a process begun several years earlier with the objective of bringing greater clarity to the rule. The new rule is aimed at allowing operators to upgrade equipment at existing power plants without triggering NSR.

People

New Oportunities:

People

New Oportunities:

Philip Carroll Jr. returned to ScottishPower as a non-executive director. According to the Comtex News Network, Carroll left ScottishPower earlier in 2003 to assist with the rebuilding of infrastructure in post-war Iraq.

Chesapeake Utilities hired Joe Steinmetz as its director of Internal Audit. Steinmetz served in the same position with Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment Inc. and Dover Motorsports Inc. from 2001 to 2003 before being promoted to assisted controller.