Technology Corridor
Cyber and Physical Security:
Technology Corridor
Cyber and Physical Security:
Although NERC and other agencies are helping out, utilities still face internal obstacles.
Security
Outsourcing, Reliability, and IT: When will the Three Meet?
How to make sure your outsourcing partner works as an extension of your IT organization.
It is imperative that the CIS manager treats the outsourcing partner team as an extension of his own staff. Good working relationships between the client and the on-site partner team go a long way to ensure processes that provide reliability and security are adequately followed.
Outsourcing & IT as a Strategic Option
Special ECM Section
In this quarterly ECM section, a series of articles in Fortnightly reviews the different outsourcing and IT options that are available and what utilities should consider before adopting outsourcing and IT technologies.
Transmission Investment: All Talk and Little Action
Except for local reinforcements and new generation interconnections, few transmission construction proposals are moving forward.
Just how much money should be spent on transmission infrastructure in the coming years? The answer depends on which study you read, but despite discrepancies, several threads among the current studies can be ascertained.
People
People for June 2004.
Positions filled at Southern Co., Mirant, MISO, and others.
People
People for May 2004.
Positions filled at Southern Co., World Association of Nuclear Operators, Allegheny Energy, and others.
The Case Against Gas Dependence
Greater reliance on gas-fired power implies serious economic, technological, and national security risks.
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.
LNG Rising
Despite development challenges, LNG capacity is destined to play a bigger role in the U.S. energy mix.
Liquefied natural gas tankers and terminals are being developed and built at a dizzying pace to head off natural gas shortages in the U.S. market. How big a role will it play in years to come?
Business & Money
The consequences of exuberance are all around us.
Business & Money
The consequences of exuberance are all around us.
Much of the 160 GW of new generation capacity added to the U.S. inventory since 1998 is now under water, economically speaking. At a per-megawatt cost of $300, this represents $50 billion of investment-much of which is concentrated in Texas (23 GW), Illinois (14 GW), and Georgia (11 GW). The key question for both merchant and other plant owners is how long it will take for plant values to recover.
Generation Reserves: The Grid Security Question
A cost-benefit study shows the value of adding synchronized generating reserves to prevent blackouts on the scale of Aug.14.
A cost-benefit study shows the value of adding synchronized generating reserves to prevent blackouts on the scale of Aug.14.
If nothing else, the blackout of Aug. 14 showed just how physically vulnerable the electric transmission network has become to problems that begin at a very localized level. That vulnerability stems in part of the greater volume of long-distance transactions imposed on the grid by today's power industry.