Electric Light & Power articles from April 2004

Electric Light & Power archives from April 2004

Profile: NERC.(Interview)
April 1, 2004... [Editor's note: In EL&P's May/June issue, we'll be introducing a few new features along with our new look. This feature, "Profile," will take a close look at an industry player: company, agency, association, or individual. What follows is the...

The persistence of EL&P.(commentary)(electric light and power)(Editorial)
April 1, 2004... Electric Light & Power, the venerable power industry news journal you re currently holding in your hands, is undergoing a couple of changes. The first and most immediately obvious change is that I'm new--or at least new to you. My name is...

The feasibility of municipalization.(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2004... Your discussion, "Public power gains popularity as sector sustains its financial strength," in the March 2004 EL&P prompts these comments: You note that public entities have higher bond ratings than do investor-owned entities. I have...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
April 1, 2004... Correction: The issue number for the March EL&P was incorrect. That issue should have been labeled the second issue for the year, not the third. EL&P apologizes for this erro.

Reliability, regions and RTOs.(news)(real time operating systems)
April 1, 2004... The conclusion of a two-part series. Part I ran in April. Suggestions by some that grid-reliability problems would be solved by reducing the level of transmission interconnection are ludicrous. Interconnection between regions generally...

Achieving lower carbon emissions and better business performance.(news)
April 1, 2004... In 1992, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted in Rio de Janeiro. The Convention entered force in 1994 with ratification by 186 parties, including the U.S. The 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC, which the U.S....

Pollutant transport and mercury proposals impact coal-fired plants.(news)
April 1, 2004... The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed two regulatory programs that could require significant pollution emission reductions from coal-fired power plants. The first proposal would reduce sulfur dioxide (S[O.sub.2]) and...

Marketing buzz: marketing on a shoestring.(news)
April 1, 2004... While attending an industry conference recently, I met a man who works for a rural electric cooperative. He mentioned that the reason he came to the conference was to learn how to do marketing "on the cheap." Having just been given the...

Taxed gas market could remain volatile through 2025.(industry report)
April 1, 2004... From executive to end-user, people think "high prices" when they hear "natural gas crisis," and it's true that high prices--from wellhead to monthly bill--are the most visible aspect of this situation. According to a Merrill Lynch report,...

LNG becomes necessity.(Opinion)(liquified natural gas)
April 1, 2004... The Energy Information Administration's 2004 Annual Energy Outlook and the 2003 National Petroleum Council studies both agree on one thing: the 30 Tcf (trillion cubic feet) of natural gas demand forecast by 2019 cannot be served from the...

Financial, regulatory fixes needed to entice grid investment.(finance)
April 1, 2004... An investment in the nation's transmission network is a gamble many are not willing to make today. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has proposed an innovative incentive package, but it is only one of many issues that need to be...

Exclusive to EL&P: energy utility gains outpace S&P 500 so far in 2004.(finance)
April 1, 2004... All four of the C Three Group's Energy Utility Indices, along with Dow Utilities Index, now lead the S&P 500 Index for 2004. The C Three Composite Index is well ahead of the S&P 500 Index, up 4.0 percent in 2004 versus 0.8 percent for the S&P....

Key reasons for replacing legacy CIS/CRM systems.(information technology customer systems)
April 1, 2004... Service orders pass from desk to desk often getting lost under piles of paperwork. It takes hours of database queries and time-consuming cut and paste to meet the ever-changing regulatory reporting requirements. Customer information remains...

EL&P introduces Projects of the Year 2004: awards in customer service and utility marketing.(information technology customer systems)(Electric Light & Power)
April 1, 2004... Electric Light & Power, the official conference publication of Chartwell's 7th International Energy Marketing and Customer Service Conference and Expo (EMACS), and Chartwell join to announce their Projects of the Year Awards, which recognize...

Guided-wave MsS technology to detect corrosion in fuel oil piping and boiler reheater tubing.(generation)(magnetostrictive sensor)
April 1, 2004... To prevent forced outages, utility maintenance crews routinely inspect boiler tubes and various piping systems during normal scheduled outages. However, the various nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques currently used for these inspections...

Generator testing for planning model and performance verification.(generation)
April 1, 2004... Recent transmission system blackouts have emphasized the importance of accurately representing electric power generator capabilities in system models. As a result, many domestic and international system operators and reliability councils are...

PSEG Resources agrees to terminate investment.(Generation Briefs)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... PSEG Resources agrees to terminate investment: PSEG Resources, an indirect subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) and a direct subsidiary of PSEG Energy Holdings LLC, has announced an agreement with Midwest Generation LLC, an...

Study receives DOE financial assistance.(Generation Briefs)(United States. Department of Energy)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Study receives DOE financial assistance: The Texas Institute for the Advancement of Chemical Technology (TIACT) announced that it will receive financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in the form of a cost-shared...

Avista files rate case.(Legal and regulatory)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Avista files rate case: Avista Corp. has filed a request with Idaho regulators to increase electric prices by 11 percent above current rates and natural gas prices by 9.2 percent. Avista's request is designed to increase electric revenues by...

Texas retailer to settle complaints.(Legal and regulatory)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Texas retailer to settle complaints: The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) ordered Republic Power--doing business as Energy America--to pay a $750,000 penalty. (The company now operates in Texas under the name Direct Energy.) The PUC...

Power Measurement buys software business.(Mergers and acquisitions)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Power Measurement buys software business: Power Measurement, a global provider of enterprise energy management systems, has acquired ABB's retail energy business, formerly Energy Interactive in Oakland, Calif. Under this arrangement, ABB's...

AEP to sell to Golden.(Mergers and acquisitions)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... AEP to sell to Golden: American Electric Power (AEP) subsidiary Texas Central Co. has signed an agreement to sell its 7.8 percent share of Oklaunion Power Station to Golden Spread Electric Cooperative for $42.75 million. Proceeds from the sale...

Xcel to sell Cheyenne.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Xcel to sell Cheyenne: Xcel Energy announced a definitive agreement to sell its Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power electricity and natural gas operations to Black Hills Corp., pending approval from FERC and the Wyoming Public Service Commission. Xcel...

Dynegy to sell Illinois Power.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Dynegy to sell Illinois Power: Dynegy plans to sell Illinois Power to Ameren Corp. The agreement also includes the sale of Dynegy's 20 percent minority interest in the Joppa power generation facility in Joppa, III. (Ameren is currently the...

Black & Veatch completes study.(Projects and contracts)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Black & Veatch completes study: Black & Veatch announced the completion of an economic impact study of renewable energy in Pennsylvania to determine potential benefits that investments could create for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The...

ABB wins contract.(Southern California Public Power Authority)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... ABB wins contract: ABB has received a $4.1 million order from the Southern California Public Power Authority for a 69 kV gas insulated substation design build project. Burbank Water and Power is the host utility for this project, named the...

Calpine to sell power to Cleco.(Projects and contracts)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Calpine to sell power to Cleco: Calpine Corp.'s Calpine Energy Services has reached agreement with Cleco Power to supply the Louisiana utility with up to 500 MW of power. The one-year agreement, beginning next January, includes delivery of 200...

Sempra gets federal contracts.(Projects and contracts)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Sempra gets federal contracts: Sempra Energy Solutions, the retail energy marketing arm of Sempra Energy, has been awarded four independent energy services contracts with federal government facilities: Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare...

When performance doesn't match potential.(management methods)
April 1, 2004... There are two instances when an employee's performance is unsatisfactory: 1. When his demonstrated or potential ability is not enough to do the job. 2. When his actual performance falls below his ability to do the job. There is...

4 common errors in giving instructions.(management methods)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... * Giving too many instructions at one time. * Failing to make sure that instructions are understood. * Putting too many "don'ts" in instructions instead of stating things more positively. * Giving an insufficient number of...

Earning the "winner" label.(management methods)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Breathes there a manager who hasn't asked, at one time or another, "What do they want from me?" It depends, of course. If you do your job effectively, get results, come up with some good ideas now and then and are generally dependable, you...

Roll with the changes.(management methods)
April 1, 2004... A sudden load of unexpected work, a company reorganization, a new competitive product, the departure of a key executive. These are only a few of the events that can put roadblocks in the way of your getting your work done faster. It isn't...

Calendar events.(Calendar)
April 1, 2004... APRIL 21 Energy Auditing Fundamentals Association of Energy Engineers (770/925-9633) www.aeecenter.org/realtime/ EnergyAuditing/ 25-28 GITA's 27th Annual Conf. Geospatial Information & Technology Assn. (303/337-0513) www.gita.org...

When was the last time.(management methods)
April 1, 2004... * You actively sought a new responsibility? * You added to your job skills or knowledge? * You sat down for some serious self-examination, evaluating your own performance, identifying weaknesses, setting achievement goals? * You...

Industrial espionage costs.(management methods)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... As business competitiveness come to depend more and more on R&D and other proprietary information, the value of such information has gone up and up and up. One costly consequence of this fact has been the commensurate rise in industrial...

When not to give that speech.(management methods)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2004... Some people will talk at the of drop an invitation, but it is sometimes the better part of wisdom to pass a speech by. Next time an invitation comes your way, answer these questions before accepting: * "Do I have anything significant to...