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Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator

The Old Drawing Board

Byline: 

Michael T. Burr, Editor-in-Chief

Magazine Volume: 
Fortnightly Magazine - November 2012

PUCs are concerned that a rapid shutdown of coal-fired plants will start a full-tilt dash to gas—similar to the one that caused bankruptcies among independent power producers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But this time around, ratepayers and not IPP investors will be stuck with the risk, if utilities rush to add all that new gas-fired capacity to rate base.

Category: 
Frontlines
Author Bio: 

Michael T. Burr is Fortnightly’s editor-in-chief. Email him at burr@pur.com

Category (Actual): 
Rate Cases
Natural Gas
Strategy & Planning

Portfolio planning in the age of gas.

Vendor Neutral

Magazine Volume: 
Fortnightly Magazine - November 2012

Calpine signs PPA with Public Service Company of Oklahoma; TransCanada and Ontario PowerAuthority agree to develop 900-MW gas-fired power plant; Panda selects Siemens to build combined-cycle plant; Progress Energy retires coal plants dating from 1923; Southern Company and Turner acquire 30-MW PV project; PSO begins smart meter pilot rollout; Southern California Edison contracts with Corix to install smart meters; Iberdrola USA hires Burns and McDonnell to review grid infrastructure. Plus contracts and announcements from Itron, eMeter, Echelon, Quanta Services, DNV, Metadigm, Landis+Gyr, and others.

Image: 
Homer Electric Association contracted NAES Power Contractors to install a GE LM6000 gas turbine at its Soldotna plant in Alaska.
TransCanada plans to build a 900-MW gas-fired power plant on the site of Ontario Power’s Lennox generating station near Bath in eastern Ontario.
Ocean Renewable Power began delivering electricity to Bangor Hydro from the Cobscook Bay tidal project. ORP says it’s the first grid-connected ocean energy project in the United States.
Progress Energy officially retired two coal-fired power plants, including the utility’s first coal-fired facility, the Cape Fear plant, built in 1923.
Category: 
Vendor Neutral
Category (Actual): 
Generation & Markets
T&D Grid
Finance

Cleanup Time

Byline: 

David Hoppock and Sarah Adair

Magazine Volume: 
Fortnightly Magazine - November 2012

Ongoing litigation over EPA rules raises compliance risks and costs. North Carolina utilities, however, benefited from the state’s forward thinking.

Category: 
Op Ed
Author Bio: 

David Hoppock (david.hoppock@duke.edu) is a research analyst and Sarah Adair (sarah.adair@duke.edu) is an associate in research at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions in Durham, N.C.

Category (Actual): 
Environmental
Coal

Retrofitting early protected North Carolina ratepayers.