Electric Light & Power articles from May 2006

Electric Light & Power archives from May 2006

Events.(Brief article)(Calendar)
May 1, 2006... : JUNE 4-7: Windpower 2006 www.awea.org Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 10-14: American Public Power Association National Conference www.appanet.org Chicago, Illinois 13-15: North American T & D Conference & Expo ...

Pearl Street pilgrimage.(commentary)(Column)
May 1, 2006... I'm not going to write about Enron. I promise. But the whole sorry mess did inspire me to begin reading "The Merchant of Power," by John F. Wasik, a book about Samuel Insull and Thomas Edison. Sam Insull was the premier...

Customer service: utility style: a primer on speech recognition.
May 1, 2006... As we were finalizing our purchase agreement for a new speech-enabled, hosted interactive voice response (IVR) solution, I reflected on the number of new terms, concepts and acronyms associated with this technology. If your utility is...

Taking it into account: Sarbox lessons for cost-effective compliance programs.
May 1, 2006... How can energy companies design cost-effective legal and regulatory compliance programs? Law enforcement and regulatory landscapes were reordered seismically early in the decade. In the emergent new topography, energy companies are policed...

Risk & technology: utilities behind the curve in risk comprehension.(risk management of electric utilities)
May 1, 2006... Risk has always been part of the utility business culture, but it was often ignored, deemed unmanageable or simply transferred to ratepayers as part of the rate calculation process. Now, Sarbanes-Oxley and the Financial Accounting Standards...

Finding a balance on climate change.
May 1, 2006... As the nation debates the best ii approach to take on global climate change, the need to find a balance between reducing carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]) emissions and maintaining economic growth is becoming increasingly clear. In April, the...

Benefit of counsel: removing impediments to wind and other renewable resources.
May 1, 2006... On Feb. 14, 2006, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) voted 3-2 to end its examination of the viability of two in-state wind generation projects that were rejected by Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) in a recently completed RFP for various...

Renewable energy: a green power boom.(TXU Corp. launches a new company)(AES Corp. purchases Enron Wind Systems)(capacity of wind energy)
May 1, 2006... The news wires are humming with renewable energy deals, and, with states representing more than 40 percent of U.S. electricity sales striving to meet some type of renewable portfolio goal, the transmission and distribution wires are beginning...

Wind & hydro: a match made in heaven?(industry report)
May 1, 2006... One of the most enduring criticisms of wind power is the inherent variability of the generation source and its accompanying requirements for ancillary services and backup power. Hydro has long been viewed as the perfect match for wind,...

Wind interconnection: bridging the divide.(industry report)
May 1, 2006... Project developers and grid operators have a history of battling over the benefits and process of integrating alternative energy into the transmission grid. This conflict is driven primarily by the perception that renewable generation,...

AEP: committed to coal and the environment: Mike Morris, chairman, president and CEO of American Electric Power, explains how AEP intends to make it work.(profile)(Interview)
May 1, 2006... Michael G. Morris, chairman, president and CEO of American Electric Power, doesn't waste time getting to the point. He can't. He's got a utility company to run. And he's got the climate to protect. Perhaps that's an overstatement, but the fight...

Knowledge drain will hit utilities hard.(special section)
May 1, 2006... The first wave of the 76 million so-called baby boomers will turn 60 this year, and a renewed sense of urgency over the graying of our workforce is washing over the business world. This is particularly tree in the power industry because,...

The aging workforce challenge.(employment of supervisors)
May 1, 2006... How do we prevent decades of supervisory experience from simply walking out the door? How do we choose our next generation of supervisors from within our workforce? And how do we prepare people to make a rapid and successful transition to the...

Governance practices of nonprofit boards forever changed by Sarbanes-Oxley.(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)
May 1, 2006... As the fourth anniversary of the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 approaches, it is absolutely clear that SOX--a law passed to prevent public company disasters such as those at Enron and WorldCom has dramatically changed the...

Exclusive C Three equity index: volatility impacting energy utility equities; s&p 500 steady.(stock and price indexes)
May 1, 2006... We have a new member of the C Three Indices. Portland General Electric has finally separated itself from Enron and went public in April under the ticker "POR." Duke Energy's merger with Cinergy was completed and "CIN" is no longer traded. ...

Understanding fleet optimization.(economic aspects of power generation plants)
May 1, 2006... The economics of power generation have changed. Utilities are being challenged to reevaluate their unit operations and dispatching strategies to take advantage of new market scenarios. Optimizing assets across a generating fleet offers...

Spark spreads, marginal costs and long-term reliability.(risk management)
May 1, 2006... It is tempting to conclude, based on the published spark spreads for natural gas-fired generators, that the owners of nuclear and coal-fired generating facilities must be making windfall profits in the power markets and that regulators must now...

Focus on the CIO: cut long-term application costs.(it/cis/crm)(Coordination, Implementation and Operation )
May 1, 2006... You approved the RFP. You sat through the first hour of every day-long demo. You ve read your committee's evaluation reports--twice. Now you're looking at the best and final offers. You've got a clear view of what each bidder will charge...

On-site at CIS Conference 30.(it/cis/crm)
May 1, 2006... IF you have peace of mind, you're a success," said "Iron" Mike Ditka, during his keynote address at CIS Conference 30. "It took me a long time to figure out what's important and not." The CIS Conference has been working at it for 30 years,...

Integrating AMI into CIS.(it/cis/crm)(advanced metering infrastructure )
May 1, 2006... Many utilities are considering or have already begun implementing an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) to automate their metering and billing related business processes. AMI brings a new level of automation possibilities that are above...

Managing vegetation with the public in mind.(transmission & distribution)
May 1, 2006... Few electric utilities can claim they've never run into the buzz saw of public disapproval powered by tree trimming troubles. Politics may enter the decision-making process for siting generation and transmission but when a project is done, it's...

How to control your temper.(management changes)
May 1, 2006... It's a rare manager who, at least once in a while, isn't firmly convinced that his department's performance would perk up dramatically if one employee or another were quietly throttled. More realistically, he settles for occasionally...

Tracking management changes in energy: total management changes for Energy and Utilities, including directors, CEOs, CFOs, EVPs, SVPs, VPs.(management changes)(chief executive officers, chief financial officers, executive vice presidents, senior vice presidents, vice presidents)(Survey)(Brief article)
May 1, 2006... The dip in C-level management turnover first seen in February came to an end in March and April. C-level turnover had followed a record setting and ever-increasing pace from September 2005 through January 2006 before the short-lived February...