Lower Prices for Electric Power
Lower fuel prices may be driving electric power prices down, but are prices falling faster in restructured or traditionally regulated states?
Electricity
My Three Favorite Things About the Super Bowl
Lynne Kiesling 1. [this one is obvious] The right team won, YAY Steelers! Although there was more drama in getting to the end than was strictly necessary … 2. The Polamalu update of the old Joe Greene Coca-Cola ad. Warms the cockles of my old-school Pittsburgher heart! 3. GE’s Scarecrow/”If I only had a brain” …
Texas Regulators Choose Companies to Build Transmission to Reach Wind Power
On Thursday, Texas utility regulators selected nine companies to build portions of the nearly $5 billion-worth of transmission intended to better integrate renewable power into the ERCOT grid.
Updated: Negative Power Prices in the West Region of Ercot in 2008
Updated charts and information with respect to a post presented in November 2008 on the frequent negative power prices in the ERCOT West region.
Zayed Future Energy Prize Awarded to Dipal Chandra Barua
No doubt most poor Bangladeshi now benefitting from the efforts of Grameen Shakti would much prefer to be in a world where their biggest problems were deciding between dishwashers and cars, rather than between kerosene and cow dung.
Any Good Analyses Comparing Renewable and Nuclear Costs?
Lynne Kiesling Today several items have floated across my radar screen contending that renewables are cheaper than nuclear power. Here, for example, is a snippet of a talk from Eric Schmidt of Google on the topic. I can see the possibility, given the innovations in renewables, incorporating the savings in foregone wires construction (although that …
Any Good Analyses Comparing Renewable and Nuclear Costs? Read More »
What Provisions Might a Federal Power Act of 2009 Contain?
What provisions might a Federal Power Act of 2009 contain? Paul Joskow offers recommendations.
Even in Texas Competition Between Electric Wires Companies is Prohibited, Except in Lubbock
Michael Giberson Power to The Woodlands, Texas, a little north of Houston, is delivered by two different companies. Depending on which neighborhood you live in, either your power comes via CenterPoint Energy or it comes via Entergy Texas. After power outages caused by Hurricane Ike, it took up to a week longer for power to …
A Roundup of Some Smart Grid Links
Lynne Kiesling The Department of Energy has published a new, very user-friendly introduction to smart grid technologies, benefits, and policies (pdf). I have some quibbles with some of the details, but if you are a newcomer to smart grid (say, for example, if you have heard that this is a primary objective of the incoming …
What Fixed Vs. Flexible Retail Power Rates in Texas Tell Us About Wind Power in the Ercot Market
In parts of north Texas, electric retailers in effect are willing to pay consumers a little bit in exchange for the retailer taking on price risk. Crazy, right? No, it isn’t crazy, it is wind power.