In This Issue
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WindUnique challenges face wind power developers, buyers
Utility resource planners are used to viewing new generation in terms of firm, dispatchable capacity. Dispatching a renewable resource such as wind requires a different perspective. Wind capacity can serve as a hedge against fossil fuel price risks and perhaps future emissions restrictions, but it requires a much more structured planning horizon. Integrating wind farms into their portfolios may be the most difficult challenge utilities face today.
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GasWind farmers: Heed the lessons of the merchant gas-power business
The wind energy business is beginning to look as frenetic as the merchant gas-fired power business in the late 1990s—with some critical differences. If the 10 issues listed here are addressed soon, wind power may avoid a crash and burn similar to the one that beset the gas turbine business.
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HydroOsmotic power from the ocean
In chemistry, osmosis refers to the movement of water molecules through a selective membrane from an area of low solute concentration to an area of high solute concentration, creating a pressure gradient. Researchers have recently demonstrated that exploiting this natural phenomenon could produce useful amounts of electrical power.
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BusinessThe five deadly sins of project management
IT project engineering skills aren’t taught in college; they’re developed through on-the-job training with seasoned mentors. Begin honing your project management skills by firmly grasping the fundamentals presented in this article.
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WindWind power: Disruptive or not?
Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen coined the term “disruptive technology” in his best-selling 1997 book, The Innovator’s Dilemma. According to Christensen, a disruptive technology unseats a dominant technology by creating products that are so much cheaper or better in one or more ways that they quickly become the new mainstream standard, transforming an entire […]
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GasGlobal Monitor (Nov/Dec 2006)
Renewables require rethinking just about everything/Torque-splitting drive train improves wind turbine reliability/Waste gas–burning engines reach milestone/Hybrid power plant targets pipeline losses/Power from paint/Gulf Coast Power Association conference report/Pat Wood talks about the challenges facing ERCOT
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CommentaryA new vision for energy efficiency
The U.S. electric utility industry has long encouraged its customers to get more value from their electricity dollar. Today, the industry—facing volatile costs and mounting concerns about the environment—is coming together to create a new role for energy efficiency—one that enables technology to deliver more value to customers and electric utilities alike. For example, “smart” […]
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Readers talk back and Correction (Nov/Dec 2006)
Fireproofing switchyards From an insurance carrier’s perspective, we fully condone the use of on-line condition monitoring for large, critical transformers (“Monitoring key gases in insulating oil keeps transformers healthy,” POWER, October 2006). However, another issue that the transformer failure and subsequent fire at Arizona Public Service’s West Wing Substation in 2004 highlights is the need […]
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Legal & RegulatoryRenewable power: Environmental or political product?
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 of being replaced by natural ecological cycles.” Accordingly, rainwater should indisputably qualify as renewable. Yet since the early days of renewable portfolio objectives, most hydro […]