U.S. demand for natural gas is projected to increase by more than 50% by 2020. Companies are building—and the public is opposing—receiving terminals on three coasts that would increase imports…
Legal & Regulatory
FERC, energy markets, reliability, natural gas delivery
What's in a name? Plenty, if the word is "renewable." Intuitively, most people outside the energy industry consider hydroelectric power "renewable." The dictionary defines the word as follows: "capable…
Most sponsors of bid solicitations seek to attract the maximum number of high-quality bids. Basic economic principles tell us that the greater the number of respondents to a solicitation, the…
The length of term allowed for power sales contracts is a critical determinant of the ability of states to meet their increasingly ambitious renewable power targets. Many utilities advocate limiting…
More than 20 states now require their investor-owned utilities to serve a certain percentage of their load with renewable energy by a date certain. Other states are considering following…
Steven F. Greenwald and Christopher A. Hilen Utility regulators in California and other states have begun subjecting power plants to extensive oversight of their O&M activities. These oversight programs…
The U.S. needs new generating capacity in coming decades to meet growing electricity demand. The increasing scarcity of land within utility load centers, combined with environmental opposition to the siting…
Competition in power generation fosters technical innovation, cleaner power plants, and downward pressure on prices. Before the 1980s, such competition was almost nonexistent: vertically integrated utilities built and operated the…
The Combined Cycle Users' Group (CCUG) was formed to address issues of importance to users, particularly the interactions among the major systems of combined-cycle power plants: the steam turbine, combustion…
The U.S. needs to add 600 to 800 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas storage capacity ASAP. Independent storage providers (ISPs) are the entities best equipped to build…