PJM ITC Tariff Splits With Midwest

The last 30 years in America have seen great improvements in the energy efficiency of electric motors, appliances, and other end-use equipment. Think of compact fluorescents, ground-source heat pumps, and thermal window glazing. Add variable speed drives, chilled water AC, and high-pressure sodium street lighting. You name it, we've got it.

New Hires:

The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) promoted Dave Nevius to senior vice president; David Cook to vice president and general counsel; and Don Benjamin to vice president. Nevius has been a vice president at NERC since 1986; Cook has been NERC's general counsel since 1999; and Benjamin has been director of operations since 1985.

Ameren Corp. named Martin J. Lyons vice president. Lyons has been the company's controller since joining Ameren in October 2001.

Beware of a national energy crisis that eclipses California's.

It seems rather elementary in an economic downturn to say that generating capacity will easily match demand over the next few years, especially with all the new plants that have been built lately. But what happens to the supply picture when you factor in a possible economic upswing, with continued high natural gas prices, an illiquid wholesale market, and an aging transmission infrastructure?

 

Rising gas prices spark a rush to wind farms, straining grid capacity and raising larger issues about market design.

When the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) was drafting rules to encourage the use of renewable energy, it took pains to guard against the chance that power producers would fail to reach the state's target of 400 megawatts (MW) in installed new renewable generation capacity by Jan. 1, 2002. The commission needn't have worried.

The Bagel Politic

Can cream cheese bring together California lawmakers, or will the state's power crisis spread?

At Fortnightly, we care about what you care about. And we know you care about solving the problems that bedevil the California power market. So we sent a crack investigative team to discover what the stumbling blocks to creating a vibrant, liquid, manipulation-free California market really are.

The next big trend is to make network resources more interchangeable and less expensive.

Information technology (IT) infrastructure should be more like the infrastructure that generates electricity, IT consultants say, and at least one Texas utility is listening.

Forrester Research labels its vision for IT infrastructure "Organic IT" and promises that this new kind of infrastructure will save companies big bucks in the long run, without requiring a rip and replace of existing hardware and software.