Increasingly

An offshoot of the original developer of the 310 MW of solar installations currently operating in the Mojave Desert in Southern California is the latest entrant in an increasingly competitive push to develop utility-scale solar power generation installations in the desert north and east of the Los Angeles Basin. All three major utilities have contracts for a proposed project, any one of which would dwarf any other solar installation now in existence in the United States.

If coal-fired generation is going to be increasingly pushed out and intermittent renewable-based electricity pushed into the mix, more natural gas, including imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), will be needed after 2010 in California and more widely in other western states, according to the U.S. president of Australian-based Woodside Natural Gas, whose parent is a major LNG developer/operator on Australia’s Northwest Shelf.

Independent producers are playing an increasingly more important role in Texas and its energy future after drilling 96% of the oil and gas wells in 2006, according to a study conducted by the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers (TAEP).

Independent producers are playing an increasingly more important role in Texas and its energy future after drilling 96% of the oil and gas wells in 2006, according to a study conducted by the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers (TAEP).

Kenneth D. Schisler, who as chairman of the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) has been increasingly at odds with the General Assembly and new governor, resigned last week. Schisler’s resignation followed the resignation of Patricia A. Smith, Maryland’s top advocate for utility customers, who left her post in mid-January.

Increasingly concerned about declining oil and natural gas reserves and volatile prices, many energy executives expect to “significantly” boost upstream capital spending in the year ahead, according to the results of a survey conducted by KPMG LLP.

Cash prices resumed their descent at all points Thursday following Wednesday’s moderate rally. Recent screen weakness, an increasingly bearish storage situation and the fact that the return of colder weather is still leaving temperatures above normal in many areas weighed down the spot market.

As natural gas prices continue to maintain their lofty levels, industries that use the commodity as a feedstock are finding it increasingly more difficult to conduct business as usual. As one of the largest energy users in Ohio, steel producers in the state said Thursday that they have grave concerns over natural gas prices, which have increased 400% in five years. In the most recent price run-up, the steel companies say that natural gas costs per ton of steel produced have tripled.

In light of the potential effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on fuel supplies and tightening supplies of natural gas in the Northeast generally, ISO New England (ISO-NE) “is becoming increasingly concerned about the operational reliability of the New England system during the upcoming winter,” the grid operator disclosed in a recent filing submitted to federal energy regulators [ER03-563-053].