Generators

Powered by auxiliary generators and manned by just a fraction of the traders and staff that usually support the world’s largest energy market, natural gas trading at the New York Mercantile Exchange experienced a 30-minute delayed opening Friday due to the massive electricity blackout. But despite the paucity of traders, the outage, and the storm in the Gulf of Mexico (see related story), trading proceeded in a surprising orderly manner in the abbreviated session that concluded at 12:30 p.m. EDT. The September contract finished at $4.848, down 4.3 cents for the session.

New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU) approved a special rate plan for New Jersey Natural Gas Co.’s (NJNG) residential and commercial customers who use natural gas to fuel distributed generation technologies. Under the new rate offering, an average commercial customer could save up to 50% and a residential customer could save up to a 40% on delivery charges for natural gas used to power the small generation units, the utility said.

The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) is developing two new power generation projects for completion by next summer and will announce a third project in December, officials said Thursday. FPL Energy and PSEG Power have been selected to build the two facilities, which would add a combined total of 134.9 MW to enhance Long Island’s ability to introduce competition to its service territory.

A database of actual prices in 18,320 natural gas transactions by five major generators and Coral Energy in California from October 2000 through June 2001 closely tracks the spot gas prices from publications as specified in the original power market mitigation formula by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to a report by an independent analyst.

A database of actual prices in 18,320 natural gas transactions by five major generators and Coral Energy in California from October 2000 through June 2001 closely tracks the spot gas prices from publications as specified in the original power market mitigation formula by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to a report by an independent analyst.

As FERC mulls whether to require generators to certify that outages at their facilities are due to a valid, technical reason, a leading academic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) last Wednesday suggested that operators of power plants adopt a protocol for how they “call” outages, which in turn would be audited internally and ultimately signed off on by top corporate executives with power suppliers.

Second quarter results from 39 major gas and power generators and marketers show earnings down 40% from the first quarter and more than two-thirds from the same period last year, according to Maryland-based consulting firm Energy Performance Review. Earnings before special items totaled $1.3 billion, or 7 cents/Mcf, compared to $2.3 billion in the prior quarter and $3.6 billion, or 23 cents/Mcf, for the second quarter of 2001. Lower prices for natural gas and electricity were partly offset by increased sales. Revenues totaling $80 billion were off 6% from both the prior quarter and the prior-year quarter.

An annual review of 145 natural gas and power generators and marketers in 2001 — before the energy merchant sector collapsed — found that 41 of the largest companies reported a record $14.1 billion in earnings last year, including write-offs. Last year’s numbers, moving higher with increased sales and realization on both natural gas and electricity, were up more than one-third from 2000’s record $10.2 billion, and more than double the $5.5 billion posted in 1999, according to Energy Performance Review (EPR).

FERC Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Curtis Wagner, who is overseeing settlement talks between generators and California officials related to the renegotiation of long-term wholesale electricity deals, last Thursday confirmed to the full Commission that settlements in principle have been reached with four sellers He is “optimistic that many, if not all” of an additional eight power suppliers involved in the talks will be able to reach settlement as well. Several offers and counteroffers between California and the eight sellers are “global in nature” and would resolve all pending claims, including those in a refund case pending at FERC and in the California state courts.