Fortnightly Magazine - September 2006

The Geopolitics of the Grid

Is it really so important to preserve regional differences?




The Ontario Coal Conundrum

Tough plant-retirement decisions being made in Canada to reduce its carbon footprint contrasts with America’s embrace of coal-based generation.

There is a certain irony in Ontario’s decision to phase out its coal-fired generation at a time when the demand for new coal-fired plants is growing in the rest of North America. Global Energy’s analysis of demand for coal for power generation suggests that growth in demand for coal is likely to continue and even challenge coal producers to step up their productive capacity and deliverability to meet that demand.

Life Along the Potomac

What federal regulators should do to ensure security, reliability, and cleaner air in our nation’s capital.

The District of Columbia Public Service Commission successfully has used two little known provisions in the Federal Power Act (FPA) to prevent an aging generating plant crucial to the national capital region’s reliability from being abruptly shut down by Virginia’s environmental regulators. In the end, the immediate threat to the region’s reliability was obviated while the environmental concerns associated with the plant were not ignored. The action resulted in a model for how federal energy regulators and environmental regulators can address similar problems in the future.

Back to the Future: The New Corporate Raiders

A rise in shareholder activism poses questions for companies with lagging share performance.

The rise in shareholder activism could spur some companies with lagging share performance to initiate or accelerate strategic initiatives, including separation of functionally disparate businesses, MLP formation, selling non-core operations, or selling the whole kit and caboodle. That said, there is value creation, and then there is looting.

Waking Up To Compliance Risk

Do you know what your legal exposure is?

Enron has provided lessons for both corporations generally as well as the energy industry specifically. How can energy market participants effectively manage the risks inherent in complying with those regulatory reforms?

Mitigating Volatility Or Inviting Market Power?

FERC lowers the bar for obtaining market- based rates for natural-gas storage.

The first regulatory changes following the passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT) are starting to pick up steam—and encountering multi-faceted criticism—as the gas industry reacts.

Fortnightly 40 Best Energy Companies



High Performance? Your Strategy Matters

Leadership requires alignment between performance measurement and strategic priorities.


Merchant Transmission Redux

