Renew On Line (UK) 31

Extracts from the May-June 2001 edition of Renew
These extracts only represent about 25% of it

Deregulation crisis in California

As we noted in Renew 130, California’s electricity market deregulation experiment has led to some wild swings in prices, and blackouts and brown outs. During his ‘State of the State’ Address back in Jan, Democrat Govenor Gray Davis said that the Republican initiated deregulation has been a "colossal and dangerous failure. It has neither lowered consumer prices nor strengthened utilities. In fact, it has resulted in unconscionable price gouging and an unreliable supply of electricity".

Gov. Davis wants the state to return to the days of government control. He has called for the creation of a public agency to build power plants and for the overhaul of the bidding system used to set prices in the state’s energy auction. His plan also calls for expanding the governor’s emergency powers "in the event of imminent power outages".

Meantime, one result of the crisis seems to have been that most of the green power retail companies have had to give up due to the market crash. See www.electricnet.com/read/nl20010420/420852

Clearly there is a need for some drastic reorganisation. But there are also technological choices ahead. However, help may be at hand from a major new 300MW wind project planned by PacifiCorp. If all goes to plan, by the end of 2001 the complex will incorporate 450-turbines located on local farms on the Washington-Oregon border southwest of Walla Walla Wash. According to PacifiCorp will be the world’s largest single wind energy development.