The technology works, but public policy will dictate its future.
While NAESB and NERC struggle over the issue, North America steadily drifts toward unreliability.
Russia resurrects the Kyoto Protocol and the prospect of either mandatory CO2 emissions cuts for U.S. utilities, or the start of a global trade war.
How will the EPA's rulemaking affect U.S. energy markets?
From reporting to trading, utilities try to meet new expectations.
Financial players bring credit depth to energy markets, but will they play by the rules?
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.
Generators struggle to plan for the future as they cope with an unstable present.
When the acting administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Marianne Horinko, signed the EPA's "routine replacement" rule on Aug. 27, 2003, she proclaimed that the new approach to Clean Air Act regulation would "provide … power plants with the regulatory certainty they need."
Seemingly eco-friendly definitions can prevent adoption of renewable portfolio standards.
Seemingly eco-friendly definitions can prevent adoption of renewable portfolio standards.