PJM
Studying Apples and Oranges
RTO cost/benefit studies are difficult to reconcile.
The premise behind the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) push for regional transmission organizations (RTOs)-that they will provide positive economic benefits to society- increasingly is being challenged.
Advanced Metering: Policymakers Have the Ball
Perspective
FERC's call for regional PUCs will force state regulators to declare their allegiance.
How will regulators re-engineer restructuring? That was the theme of the seventh annual convention of the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Commissioners (MARUC). But while the theme may have been the re-engineering of restructuring, other regulators felt more inclined to discuss the "re-regulating of restructuring."
News Analysis
Pennsylvania loses faith in FERC, looks for help from the Justice department.
"A well functioning market on an average day works better than we regulators can do on our best day." Perhaps this quote, attributed to Pat Wood, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), best captures the prevailing view among transmission officials in the Northeast. But the feeling out West is decidedly different. So is the mood among state utility regulators.
Transmission Expansion: Risk and Reward in an RTO World
Some thoughts on who should take the lead and how to set up financial incentives.
One of the most interesting questions that arises from federal restructuring of the electric grid, with regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and a standard market design (SMD), concerns the risk of building transmission in an RTO environment.
Loss Modeling in T&D Systems: Is $25 Billion Worth Losing?
A Vision for Trasmission: How the RTOs Stand
And where the trouble spots lie in FERC's grid plan.
The mood appeared calm on June 26 in Washington, D.C., at the regular bi-weekly meeting of the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Key officials from various regional transmission organizations (RTOs) had gathered before chairman Pat Wood and the other commissioners to brief them on progress over the past year in reforming wholesale electric markets, and on what the FERC might expect in the summer at hand.
Gas Turbinemania: The Merchant Power Plant Shake Out
Why it happened? Who lost in the bust? Who will survive to build another turbine?
The Perils of Ignoring Mother Nature
Experts say utilities' inconsistent approach to weather risk is costing them dearly.