Needs

Results of the latest fracing in a relatively shallow (2,000-foot-deep) exploration well near Delano in California’s southern central valley indicate a horizontal drilling program is going to be needed to prove the potential of what Tri-Valley Oil and Gas Corp. is calling the far West’s largest natural gas field ever.

UtiliCorp United began its quest to shore-up enough power supplycontracts to provide for the long-term needs of its 425,000customers in Missouri, Kansas and Colorado. The company is seekingto secure 1,250 MW of annual capacity for up to 15 years to helpmeet the demand from its customers.

Energy management contracts continue to pop up in the strangestplaces, as Enron Energy Services (EES) found in taking over theenergy needs of the Quaker Oats Co. The deal announced last weekcovers 17 of the company’s packaged food and beverage facilities.Enron said the multi-million dollar deal is good for 10 years.

Energy management contracts continue to pop up in the strangestplaces, as Enron Energy Services (EES) found in taking over theenergy needs of the Quaker Oats Co. The deal announced yesterdaycovers 17 of the company’s packaged food and beverage facilities.Enron said the multi-million dollar deal is good for 10 years.

Regional Reliability Councils and their members are about 90%compliant, but work still needs to be done to bring standards upand encourage non-members to join, according to the latest reportfrom the North American Electricity Reliability Council. NERC haspublished its findings for the second of four phases of its Year2000 Compliance Program, created to ensure adherence to NERC andregional standards.

California seemed as unprepared as ever last week to meet itsenergy needs in the face of a blast of cold weather. The power gridwent through an intense struggle to meet heavy winter demandbecause a huge amount of generation was off-line due to eitherdesperately needed maintenance or low water levels behindhydroelectric dams. But the big surprise was record gas demand forSan Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), which was forced tocurtail some interruptible customers.

California seems as unprepared as ever this week to meet itsenergy needs in the face of a blast of cold weather. The pricestell much of the story. While power prices continued to make gainsyesterday, reaching near $240/MWh during peak hours according tothe California Power Exchange, spot gas prices held ground atrecord levels above $8/MMBtu. Meanwhile, gas and electric utilitiesthroughout the state and the state’s electric grid operator issueda variety of emergency alerts.

The transmission market has become one of the most politicized issues of the day, and while the United States needs more generation, there remains no clear vision of how to make the entire system work more efficiently, according to experts speaking at PowerMart 2000 in Houston last week.

The transmission market has become one of the most politicizedissues of the day, and while the United States needs moregeneration, there remains no clear vision of how to make the entiresystem work more efficiently, according to panelists who spoke atPowerMart 2000 in Houston yesterday.