RTOs: The Billion Dollar Advantage
ICF study shows the national benefits of RTOs are too large to be ignored.
Sixty billion dollars in benefits. Less than $6 billion in costs. In any business, those numbers mean just one thing: you've got a winner.
People (May 1, 2002)
Carol A. Isles is vice president and controller for CMS Energy Corp.'s natural gas pipeline unit, CMS Gas Transmission Co. The California ISO has named a new market surveillance committee. Dennis L. Haider, president of WBI Energy Services Inc., has been named executive vice president of business development and strategic planning for Utility Services Inc. and Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. And others ...
Indecent Disclosure?
Most pan FERC NOPR, but gas association eyes FERC role.
Citing overlap with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the power industry has largely panned FERC’s proposals to require greater disclosure on financial instruments and derivatives.
20/20 Hindsight: The Gas Forecasting Dilemma
The recent experience of MichCon illustrates what happens when forecasters at gas distribution companies guess wrong.
The Michigan Consolidated Gas Company’s (MichCon) bad experience with gas forecasting illustrates an important public policy question: What is the optimal supply acquisition strategy for a regulated gas utility?
Utility Risk Programs: Success or Failure?
State public service commissions are insisting that utilities adopt risk management programs, and are allowing less pass-through for those that don't.
A well-known economist analyzes how well U.S. utilities performed in their risk management programs during 2001/2002.
The Great Canadian Gas Race
Northern gas rush proves timely for power generators.
America’s insatiable demand for clean burning power generated in newly minted natural gas-fired power plants has caused a massive Canada-wide hunt for new gas resources, and a search for how to get it across the border.
Catch A Wave!
The solution to California's crisis may have been lapping at the beach.
The California Energy Commission recently awarded a $120,000 grant to study the feasibility of using ocean swells as a potential source of renewable energy.
Moving Gas to Generate Power: An Encore for Hrehor/Sytsma
While responsive to the operational requirements of the particular systems, several new pipeline services enable generators to react more promptly to spiking electric demand.
Putting flesh on the gas-power vision, pipeline efforts to formulate services for generators, and FERC orders governing those efforts now assume a discernible shape. This is a reasonable time to take stock.
Bush’s Clear Skies Initiative: What Does it Mean for Coal?
The Clear Skies Initiative proposes to cut emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and mercury by about 70 percent from current levels by 2018. What does the proposal mean for the coal industry? RDI Consulting believes it is a mixed bag.
A Winning Proposition?
A response to Bruce Radford’s “100-to-1 Odds, Why merchant transmission still looks iffy,” in the March 1, 2002 issue.
Competitive transmission is already a proven and sound business model. With the right regulatory rules, competitive transmission can make major efficiency improvements to the existing transmission system.