Fall 2012
Featured Articles
Texas: Will the Lights Go Out?Administrative add-ons, in concept, can cover a wide range of possible administrative interventions in the market. The Texas model has been characterized as having fewer such add-ons than any other state regulatory model, comparable in this regard only to Alberta and Australia.
Bonneville Wind Power Transmission v. FERC
In 2011, five wind resources generators filed a complaint with the FERC alleging that the Bonneville Power Administration was providing transmission service in an unduly discriminatory and preferential manner that favored its own generation over that of third parties.
California: Thermal Power as Renewal Partner
The outlook is positive that California will meet its 33 percent Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) mandate by 2020, and the two California agencies responsible—the CEC and CPUC—along with the California ISO are actively working to resolve the obstacles to its complete implementation, including thermal power capabilities.
Can MISO Attract Investment?
Environmental regulations, aging generation facilities, and growing electricity demands are fueling a need for additional electric generation in regions, including the Midwest where MISO projects that proposed environmental regulations could cause a shortfall in its reserve requirement of as much as 11.3 percent.
Incentives and Reforms at PJM
In May 2011, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) stated that it “is concerned by the apparent inability of PJM’s RPM [reliability pricing model base residual auction or capacity auction] to successfully encourage new generation.”
Columns
Chair’s Column
Policy Question for the Electric Industry: Where is the balance for the American electric industry among the three competing values of reliability, affordability, and sustainability?
Editor’s Column
This issue is an unusual effort to explore a single important subject from a number of perspectives. Here we have asked commentators in five transmission systems in different parts of the country to describe, among other things, how incentives and regulatory requirements and other factors affecting market designs have provided for adequate and appropriate new generation or left it deficient.
