New Media
Can ERCOT be held accountable for its errors?
If ERCOT is to be covered by sovereign immunity, it should be reconstituted as a government agency with the board appointed by the governor and subject to open meeting and public record laws, said Robert McCullough, a Portland, Ore., energy
analyst who follows deregulation issues. That would make the governor ultimately responsible.
“We know where the governor lives,” said McCullough.
A May price spike shows vulnerability of power market to manipulation — and cost to consumers
When regulators agree to these kind of deals, they are effectively saying they don’t have the resources to determine whether price spikes are legitimate, said Robert McCullough, an Oregon energy analyst who follows deregulation issues.
How robots could help keep the lights on as climate change worsens
But some people doubt that transmission line robots will become widely used. Robert McCullough is one of them. He’s a consultant who has spent 25 years working with public utilities and private energy firms in Canada and the U.S. McCullough said the cutting-edge robots will soon be obsolete.
New Articles
Oregon natural gas facility could be fuelled by Canadian sources
The Lawyer’s Daily, Robert McCullough
Jordan Cove is planned for Coos Bay. In order to procure natural gas, a pipeline is planned to connect to supplies at Malin, Ore. Malin connects to Kingsgate, Alta., and Opal, Wyo. Overall, Coos Bay is over 909 miles from sources of supply in the east and 841 miles from Alberta.
The end of big hydro
The Lawyer’s Daily, Robert McCullough
From the Tennessee to the Columbia rivers, hydroelectric dams have played a decisive role in making cheap electricity widely distributed throughout the North American economy. From declining fish populations to flooded land, some Canadians and Americans have had to pay a higher price to make hydro power possible.
That social trade-off is making less sense today as the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) from wind and solar generation has now dropped below the LCOE of hydro and most all thermal energy resources. The portion of a U.S. state’s power generation by hydro no longer predicts its electricity prices.
Taking the path less followed
Vancouver Sun, Robert McCullough
A month ago, I had the honour of sitting down with the NDP cabinet and Premier John Horgan. I gave a detailed presentation why proceeding with Site C would be costly and risky. Curiously, after the cabinet meeting the only followup involved questions from specific MLAs — not inquiries from the cabinet or their staff.
New Reports
Is Existing Coal Actually Cost Effective in the Presence of Falling Renewable Prices?
The conclusions arrived at by IER – conventional coal is cheaper than renewables – is both incorrect and ill-conceived.
The End of Big Iron: How Wind and Solar Became Cheaper than Hydro, Coal, and Nuclear
That traditional environmental trade-off no longer make sense as the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) from wind and solar generation has now dropped below the LCOE of hydro and most thermal energy resources.
Why Have PJM Capacity Markets Decoupled from Actual Capacity Bids?
Recent attempts to privatize BPA’s transmission assets make us curious. What would a total privatization of BPA likely look like?