California Energy Commission

Sowing the seeds for California Crisis II?

Experts say that many of the new policies by the PUC and the state legislature seem to be putting the Golden State on track for more blackouts.


Experts say that many of the new policies by the PUC and the state legislature seem to be putting the Golden State on track for more blackouts.

Although California's electricity crisis reached its worst point two years ago, utilities, consumers, and other market participants continue to fear a recurrence of the supply shortages and price spikes that added $40 billion to the cost of electricity over a horrific 13-month period.

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.

FERC's California Caps: Just Smoke and Mirrors?

Industry experts debate whether so-called “price mitigation measures” miraculously solved the California crisis.

Wholesale electricity prices are lower in California than they were last May, before FERC implemented price caps. But there is widespread disagreement over whether the caps were the cause of the lower prices, or merely coincidental with other downward pressures.

Perspective

Some want a tighter grip on generators, but FERC should steer clear.


Some want a tighter grip on generators, but FERC should steer clear.

Wind Power, Poised for Take Off?

A survey of projects and economics.

Wind Power: Poised for Take Off?



 

A survey of projects and economics.

The amount of electricity generated from wind in the U.S. is expected to surge this year - owing in large part to hydropower shortages out West, natural gas price volatility across the country, and high capacity factors for wind turbines, which help to offset the intermittent nature of wind energy generation.

News Digest (July 15, 2001)

Compiled June 21, 2001 by Bruce W. Radford, editor-in-chief, from contributions as noted from Carl J. Levesque, associate editor, and Phillip S. Cross and Lori A. Burkhart, contributing legal editors.

Frontlines

How to price energy during a stage 3 alert?

Frontlines

Très Riches Heures

 

How to price energy during a stage 3 alert?

You know the painting. Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. You probably saw it first in Janson's "History of Art", in a college survey course.