In the view of Enron CEO Kenneth L. Lay, deregulation andtechnological advances will be a boon to consumers and also naturalgas. As completion creates greater incentives for boostingefficiency, particularly with regard to power regulation, naturalgas stands to benefit. Lay pointed out combined-cycle generation,especially that fired by natural gas, accounts for 60% of total newinstalled generation capacity in the United States since 1991.

A combined cycle gas-fired plant emits 58% less carbon dioxideand 81% less nitrous oxide than an equivalent size coal-firedplant, Lay said. “Combined cycle gas plants are also less costly tobuild than coal – roughly $500 per kilowatt compared to a new,modern technology coal plant (cost) of $1,066 per kilowatt and acombined cycle coal gasifier of $1,780 per kilowatt. Under mostconditions, the gas plants provide cheaper electricity toconsumers.”

Before 2010, gas use is expected to overtake coal and become thesecond most widely used fuel in the world behind oil, Lay said.That growth will be fueled, in part, by the demand of gas’clean-burning attributes. “According to a recent Enron study, 44countries have announced requirements for clean power plants fromgas and renewables totaling 222,500 megawatts of new capacity overthe 1997 to 2015 time frame.” Addressing attendees at the 17thCongress of the World Energy Council in Houston, Lay highlightedtechnological advances that are making an impact on the energyindustry. Automated meter technology, introduced to the market lastyear, is more precise and improves load management ability. “Thesemeters diagnose outages, bill with greater accuracy, protectagainst tampering and make it easier for customers to changesuppliers. The new meters can remotely read hundreds of thousandsof data points per year – as opposed to the old meters that readone data point per month – and last 30 to 40 years.” Lay said Enronintroduced the first two-way automated electric metering systemlast year.

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