The treacherous journey toward a more efficient and transparent Northwest power market may be nearing its conclusion.

Steve Wright stands at the helm of an agency with a seemingly impossible task. As CEO and administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Wright must serve a broad spectrum of interests, from aluminum smelters to sockeye salmon. And no matter what he or anyone does, it's impossible to make them all happy at the same time.

Interviews

For Public Utilities Fortnightly's 75th Anniversary CEO issue, the magazine looked to the horizon and asked these new captains about the planned course for their companies, and for an entire industry.

Business & Money

A spate of proposed U.S. tax rule changes soon may open a window of opportunity for certain utilities.

In the mid-1990s, before the rise of the Internet and the fall of Enron changed the calculus of business investing and the regulatory landscape, the historically staid U.S. utility industry began to be viewed as a "growth play." This triggered a global buying spree that led U.S. companies to invest tens of billions of dollars in electricity generation and distribution businesses all over the world.

Three ways to value nuclear power plants for buyers and sellers.

Appraisers don't make the market-they reflect it. But when the market speaks, appraisers listen. The appraiser must use judgment, experience, and common sense to correlate the final conclusion of value for a subject plant, basing the conclusion on market indicators.

An analysis of the timing, location, and mix of new capacity additions that may be needed in the future.

It is universally accepted that there is excess generating capacity in most, if not all, regions in the country. Looking forward, several obvious, and interesting, questions arise: (1) When will new capacity be needed? (2) Where will it be needed? and (3) What types of plants will be needed? As any good economist would say, it all depends.

Greater reliance on gas-fired power implies serious economic, technological, and national security risks.

Over the past two decades, the United States has, by default, come to rely on an "In Gas We Trust" energy policy. Natural gas increasingly has been seen as the preferred fuel for all applications, nowhere more than in the electric generation sector. However, the greatly increased use of natural gas forecast for the electricity sector may not be economically or technically feasible, and it does not represent optimal or desired energy policy.

Technology Corridor

A digital grid to the home, secured via a local fiber-optic network, could position utilities to fix power and telecom together.

Before billions are spent building new transmission lines to ensure reliable electric service, North American electric utilities should evaluate whether the alternatives-controlling demand and fostering distributed generation-might be more cost-effective and broadly beneficial.

Perspective

Wisconsinites don't fear 'Day 2.' But let's get the grid rights right.

While working for the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC), I have grown accustomed to the friendly advice frequently offered by regulatory colleagues and utility executives in higher-cost areas to the East.

Frontlines

Do-nothing regulators scare off investment, raising prospects for yet another large-scale power failure.

Last summer's blackout is slowly fading from the radar screen. The silver lining that might have moved some to action has now tarnished.