Exec

As the price and availability of electricity looms ever larger as a topic of national debate, public power is getting a closer look from industrial and commercial power users and that growing interest in public power is occurring not just in places where you would expect it, like California, but across all regions of the country. So says Carmine Grastataro, senior vice president at RKS Research & Consulting, who sat down with NGI for a brief interview after appearing before a panel at NGI’s GasMart/Power 2001 conference in Tampa, FL, last Thursday.

As the price and availability of electricity looms ever larger as a topic of national debate, public power is getting a closer look from industrial and commercial power users and that growing interest in public power is occurring not just in places where you would expect it, like California, but across all regions of the country. So says Carmine Grastataro, senior vice president at RKS Research & Consulting, who sat down with NGI for a brief interview after appearing before a panel at NGI’s GasMart/Power 2001 conference in Tampa, FL, yesterday.

The amount of electric power generated from existing nuclear plants is likely to increase in the coming years as a result of higher capacity factors and plant uprates, according to Corbin McNeill Jr., co-CEO of Exelon Corp. But the executive also believes that there are a whole host of antiquated legislative and regulatory requirements currently facing the nuclear power industry that need to be overhauled, given the likelihood that future nuclear plants will be operating in a deregulated environment.

BP North America Gas & Power President Tony Fountain said last week that the role of liquefied natural gas was “fundamental to our North American markets,” and indicated that the company is reviewing “several opportunities for LNG terminals” along the West Coast and East Coast. BP joins El Paso, Chevron and other companies that have announced similar LNG plans in response to high domestic gas prices.

BP North America Gas & Power President Tony Fountain said this week that the role of liquefied natural gas was “fundamental to our North American markets,” and indicated that the company is reviewing “several opportunities for LNG terminals” along the West Coast and East Coast. BP joins El Paso, Chevron and othercompanies that have announced similar LNG plans in response to high domestic gas prices.

The coming decade promises to reveal a different utilityindustry than the one today, which already is bursting around theedges from the speed-of-light changes, according to Victor A. Burk,a managing partner in Arthur Andersen’s energy and utilitiesindustry sector. Burk offered what he termed his “megatrends” athis company’s energy symposium last week in Houston.

The coming decade promises to reveal a different utilityindustry than the one today, which already is bursting around theedges from the speed-of-light changes, according to Victor A. Burk,a managing partner in Arthur Andersen’s energy and utilitiesindustry sector. Burk offered what he termed his “megatrends” athis company’s energy symposium this week in Houston.

Although a proposed rulemaking process to beef up safety inspections of natural gas pipelines isn’t expected to get under way until early 2001, a Duke Energy executive says the Department of Transportation’s Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) already has taken it upon itself to step up its oversight of interstate gas lines.

Florida is on its way toward a competitive power market, andTampa-based TECO Energy has some suggestions for a successfultransition.