Table of ContentsOpinionNew rules of thumb for today's CEOsThis industry is experiencing a very high turnover rate, and you may be surprised to learn just how high the level goes with all those spinning leather chairs.
FeaturesView from the top: Aquila's Green expounds on DOE's new Electricity Advisory BoardAccording to the Department of Energy (DOE), Secretary Abraham established the Electricity Advisory Board (EAB) in November 2001 to provide Abraham and the DOE with essential independent advice and recommendations on electricity policy issues.
Benefit of counsel: It's time to tally NOPR's effectsOn July 31, 2002 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) continued its restructuring epic with the issuance of a third proposed rule, this one seeking to standardize wholesale power markets across the nation.
DepartmentsNewsMicrobes harvest electricity from waste organic matterEvery day plants store vast quantities of energy by fixing carbon dioxide into organic matter. Recent studies in our laboratory have demonstrated a strategy for converting this energy into electricity.
ASCE T&D conference presents engineer's point-of-viewThe American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) 2002 Electrical Transmission Conference: Electrical Transmission in a New Age, held in Omaha, Neb., in September, brought engineers from all over the U.S. and Canada to share research, development and information on their T&D work.
Distributed knowledge management can enhance utility securityInformation Systems (IS) are vital components of the control and management of power from generation to end-use. Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, which allow a control center to collect electrical system data from nodes placed throughout the power system, would not be possible without modern IS infrastructure.
News BriefsDTE Energy announces hydrogen power park partnership: DTE Energy has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy as its partner in a hydrogen power park project. Over the next three years, DTE Energy will develop, build and operate an integrated hydrogen energy system capable of delivering 15,000 kWh of environmentally friendly electricity per year.
FinanceNatural gas infrastructure development on holdThe gas industry's ability to develop new resources and head off an imminent supply crisis is greatly hampered by reduced cashflow and lack of access to new capital. Market participants are afraid (or unable in a cash-constrained environment) to respond to above $3.00/MMBtu longer-term gas prices on NYMEX with aggressive exploration and production programs as they did beginning in spring 2000.
Power industry attracts private equityArcLight Capital Partners LLC, a Boston-based private equity firm, announced the final closing of its $950 million debut fund, ArcLight Energy Partners Fund I, L.P. ArcLight established the fund to capitalize on attractive investment opportunities in the rapidly evolving power, utility, and energy industry.
S&P chronicles post 9-11 energy sector damageThe Enron Corp. bankruptcy, the weakening of the power markets in the U.S., and the recent investigations into electricity trading have sharply focused the news media, Congress, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Securities Exchange Commission on the U.S. energy industry.
Finance BriefsMirant announced the sale of its 49 percent economic interest in and shared management control of, Western Power Distribution Holdings Limited and WPD Investment Holdings (both identified jointly as WPD) to PPL Corp. for $235 million.
Industry ReportMarkets, capital, regulations top OEM execs' concernsWe're all waiting for a turnaround in the economy for personal reasons, and for most of us, for business reasons as well.
Electric & Gas TradingWeather risk comes of ageEnergy and other weather-sensitive sectors will soon have a new umbrella to shield them from exposure to the wily whims of Mother Nature. Set to launch in mid-October is a new weather deal "rainmaker," if you will, the Chicago-based Weather Board of Trade.
Tight gas market is vulnerableThe arraignment of the gas industry before the investment community, regulators and the public continues to be headline news. ESAI, in its latest North American Natural Gas Stockwatch 2-Year Outlook, suggests that the media spotlight has severely constrained the industry's ability to develop new resources and head off an imminent supply crisis.
ScottishPower acquires Aquila's Texas gas storageScottishPower (SPW) recently announced that its competitive U.S. energy business, PacifiCorp Power Marketing Inc. (PPM) has agreed to acquire, in a purchase of assets, Aquila Corp.'s Katy gas storage facility in Texas and four other gas storage development projects for a cash consideration of $180 million.
Aquila scales down exec staff; CEO Bob Green resignsAquila Inc. announced on October 1 that it reached an agreement with president and CEO Robert K. Green under which he has resigned from all executive officer positions with the company and from Aquila's board of directors.
Transmission & DistributionTelecom, power co-location can be mutually beneficialAt the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2002 Electrical Transmission Conference in Omaha last month, speaker Edgar Turcotte of Tadros Associates LLC, a structural engineering and consulting firm located in Omaha, stated that "assuming logistical hurdles can be overcome, co-location of telecom equipment with transmission is nothing to be feared."
Spotlight on hardware: Life extension program for power lines can defer capital expendituresA new "Transmission Line Life Extension" service offered by EPRIsolutions is designed to help utilities cope with increasing pressures to minimize operating costs, reduce capital spending, and maximize the use of existing facilities.
T&D BriefsHubbell Power Systems announced the signing of a definitive agreement to complete an asset purchase of the pole line hardware business currently owned by Cooper Power Systems. Such purchase is scheduled to be completed at the end of a sixty-day period commencing with the date of this announcement (Sept. 19).
AEP smoothes ROW maintenance with herbicide contract mixingWith an array of environmental concerns facing America and the public highly scrutinizing large corporations, utilities can dispel some community anxiety by making environmentally sound decisions along public rights-of-way (ROW).
Most participants claim to have substation automation programs underwayThe Newton-Evans Research Company has released preliminary findings from its summer long research study of North American utility substation officials. To date, tabulations of surveys from more than 115 utilities, representing about one third of North American transmission and distribution substations and related assets, suggest that the market for substation automation and integration products, software, systems and services is approaching $200 million for the current year.
LADWP contracts with SchlumbergerSema for upgrade projectIn 1999, LADWP initiated a comprehensive assessment of all department control systems. The assessment uncovered a number of systems that could be improved by replacing the existing supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system with substation and distribution automation.
Management MethodsMake sure those complaints are legitimateNot all employee complaints are justified by the facts. Next time you find yourself facing a grumbling employee, consider these possibilities. They could save you from a lot of needless sound and fury.
Info. TechnologyAdvancements in CIS: New customer demands means increased functionalityAccording to some utility industry analysts, the current atmosphere in the utility industry has created a number of increased demands on utilities. In the case of the investor-owned utility, there is the strong need to increase shareholder value.
Workforce management in action: ONGOnce upon a time, a spreadsheet and the weekend were the only way to create a schedule at Oklahoma Natural Gas. The time involved in creating it weighed heavily in the decision to use one schedule for an entire quarter with fixed shifts, breaks and lunches.
TechnologyProgress Energy implements on-line distribution fault locationLocating faults on distribution lines has historically involved information from a variety of sources including customers, 911 emergency calls, and outage predictions from the OMS. Sometimes this information leads directly to the faulted line location.
ComEd, Ill. Wind Energy partner for farmComEd, Illinois Wind Energy and Tomen Power Corp. announced plans for creating the "first commercial wind farm in Illinois," according to the companies. The Crescent Ridge wind energy project will become one of the largest wind farms east of the Mississippi River and will generate enough renewable energy to power approximately 20,000 Illinois homes.
Tech BriefsWaukesha Electric Systems plans to consolidate power transformer production into plants in Wisconsin and North Carolina, closing its facility in Milpitas, Calif., and transferring large power production to its Waukesha, Wis., operations.
Power PointersPrimer on enterprise asset managementEnterprise asset management (EAM) solutions are at the core of a utility's operating environment, in conjunction with geographic information systems (GIS), customer information systems (CIS), outage management, and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems.
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