New Media
Steam-powered energy systems, like the one used by West Haven VA hospital, have long history
“The pressure associated with creating steam ‘is harder on a system’s piping as it gets older,’ McCullough said. Replacing the piping and boilers district systems requires is not cost-effective and, as a result, the systems are being replaced with new technologies over time, according to McCullough.”
Top B.C. government officials knew Site C dam was in serious trouble over a year ago: FOI docs
“‘Literally, if we look at some of the academic articles that have been written about this, we could be talking about a dam that’s going to crack or slide in the case of an earthquake,’ said McCullough, a former officer for a large hydroelectric facility in Portland, Oregon, who has studied the Site C project extensively.”
Promise or Peril? Importing Hydropower to Fuel the Clean Energy Transition
“New research by energy analyst Robert McCullough, who runs a Portland, Oregon-based consulting Firm, found that if the project continues it’s likely to have surplus energy that will need to be sold outside the province at a loss to ratepayers.”
New Articles
FERC’s MOPR Dissected
Public Utilities Fortnightly, Robert McCullough
The two leading renewable technologies are non-dispatchable intermittent resources. The unsubstantiated assumption that they will lower the value of capacity needs to be examined closely.
Why have PJM capacity markets decoupled from actual capacity bids?
The Electricity Journal, Robert McCullough
We analyze PJM’s Reliability Pricing Model auction in the context of ongoing reform proposals that seek to address the perception that state subsidies for carbon free generation are depressing capacity prices.
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.
New Reports
Blaming the Innocent; Praising the Uninvolved
It is difficult to read the October 6, 2020 report “Preliminary Root Cause Analysis: Mid-August 2020 Heat Storm” from the California ISO, CPUC, and CEC without a sense of humor. The report blames the innocent (global warming) and rewards the uninvolved (Governor Newsom). However, it does shed light on why the best funded balancing authority on the West Coast was the only organization that required rolling blackouts during hot weather on August 14th and 15th.
Reassessment of Site C Financial Viability
After ten months of study, British Columbia Hydro has not addressed a number of seismic and design concerns first reported to management in December, 2019… A careful review indicates that correction of the current problems will delay the in-service date by one year and raise costs by an additional C$2.1 billion dollars.
Exactly How Inefficient Is the PJM Capacity Market?
We find that many LDAs do not operate competitively and have a pivotal supplier with market power, able to set prices unilaterally. In addition, we find that although reserve margins are inordinately high in the PJM market, they are rising along with prices, an outcome that is only seen in monopolistic markets.