Business

Industrial control systems (ICSs) manage global industrial infrastructures, including electric power systems, by measuring, controlling, and providing a view of control processes that once were visible to the operator but now are not. Frequently, ICSs are not viewed as computers that must operate in a secure environment, nor are they often considered susceptible to cybersecurity threats. However, recent cybersecurity failures have proven these assumptions wrong.

Dr. Daniel Yergin, chairman of IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, is a Pulitzer Prize–winning author; leading authority on energy, international politics, and economics; and a recipient of the United States Energy Award for “lifelong achievements in energy and the promotion of international understanding.” He recently spoke with POWER about his latest book—and more.

Scaling back and outright expiration of government subsidies will make financing renewable energy projects more difficult in the future, according to experts at the law firm of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo. But there will still be a greater appetite for renewables than there is supply, so it should still be possible to find the funds to build the projects.

Consider state clean energy funds as potential replacement funding sources for future clean energy projects.

The end of the long-running flap over access to markets for rare earth minerals may be in sight, driven by a combination of political and diplomatic pressure at high levels and the normal workings of the marketplace.


The power industry has not done a good job grooming and mentoring the next generation of leaders and, as a result, is facing a leadership gap as the current generation approaches retirement, two executive search professionals told MANAGING POWER. While prospects for entry-level recruitment have improved, it will be five to 20 years before this cohort is ready to lead. In the near term, a renewed focus on grooming future leaders is critical.

Lack of customer participation—or outright customer resistance—is likely to kill at least one of your utility’s strategic initiatives. Perhaps it already has. But utilities can take a variety of easy steps to prevent the wounding or premature death of strategic initiatives such as smart meters, new rate and efficiency programs, or capital construction projects.

Washington’s greenhouse gang has learned that global warming is a losing issue. They’re back with a new strategy.


Despite a quiet 2011, this year promises to be one of the biggest for power industry mergers in quite some time—if FERC lets it happen.

Three South Korean Firms Opt for MHI’s J-Series Turbines. Japanese firms Marubeni Corp. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) on March 22 said they had been jointly awarded orders for three large-scale combined cycle electric power projects in Korea totaling 3,800 MW. The plants are the 950-MW 2nd Pyeongtaek Combined Cycle Power Plant, the 1,900-MW Dongducheon […]