utilities
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How current GHG policy distorts capital allocation
As we think about how to price GHG emissions, it’s often (and accurately) cited that having a meaningful conversation about GHG pricing first requires that we remove all the existing subsidies so that we can stop irrationally allocating capital. Clearly, we can’t provide insurance liability waivers to nuclear and ratepayer guarantees to regulated utilities and […]
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Business association lays out recommendations for energy policy
The Institute for 21st Century Energy is a project of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which bills itself as a bipartisan trade association. In fact, it has effectively become part of the Republican machine, dominated by — and lobbying fiercely for the interests of — Big Oil, Big Auto, Big Pharma, and other such Bigs. […]
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Missourians to vote on renewable energy ballot initiative in November
Renewable things are happening in the heartland. Ohio passed a renewable portfolio standard in the spring, and Michigan did the same a few weeks ago. Renewable activists in Missouri recently qualified a renewable energy standard — Proposition C — for the ballot, and this week the Kansas City Star endorsed the effort. The measure calls […]
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Northeast states’ first carbon auction goes smoothly despite financial crisis
Carbon allowances sold for $3.07 per ton in the nation’s first regional cap-and-trade auction, auction officials said Monday. The price was lower than futures markets had predicted but higher than the minimum price some had feared. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative auction held last Thursday sold all of the 12.6 million allowances offered in this […]
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Northeast states’ regional carbon trading system goes live this week
The nation’s first carbon cap-and-trade program starts Thursday, when power plant owners in 10 northeastern states submit sealed bids to buy allowances to emit greenhouse gases. Two other regional programs are to follow, assuring that nearly half of the United States will be covered by carbon trading programs — with or without leadership from Congress […]
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How do we build (energy) infrastructure?
The enthusiasm for unregulated markets in the last 30 years of American public policy has obscured how large pieces of infrastructure get built. Unregulated markets, to work according to their ideal, require economic actors to be able to create competing offers which are judged by consumers or buyers according to the total value they represent. […]
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So how much do renewables cost anyway?
One of the attractions of renewable energy is that for most renewable generators (except biomass power plants) the cost of the fuel is free. However, even more so than with a conventional power plant, much of the expense of a renewable generator is concentrated at the beginning of the power plant’s life. The cost of […]
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Renewables and the ‘Cheap Energy Contract’
Earlier in this series, we established that electric-driven transport can fairly rapidly substitute for petroleum in most ground transport applications and that renewable electric generators will be the most quickly deployable and functional of the available energy alternatives. However, there are challenges and barriers to overcome in order to move quickly toward the clean energy […]
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Wis. utilities want customers to cover all fuel volatility
Wisconsin’s five regulated electric utilities have asked to have fuel increases in gas and coal costs automatically passed along to their customers rather than wait until they can file a formal rate case. Their regulator said no. In a bizarre bit of doublespeak, the utilities argued that passing 100 percent of fuel volatility risk along […]
