I am loaded with MIR warrants...and this has GOT to give CPTC the go ahead for more contracts!....
Record U.S. power demand points to supply need
Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:00am ET
Email This Article | Print This Article | Reprints [-] Text [+] By Leonard Anderson
SAN FRANCISCO, July 23 (Reuters) - The nationwide heat wave last week and new peak demand records for air conditioning power mean the U.S. grid should be adding more generating plants and beefing up reserve supplies to handle emergencies, analysts say.
"The price signal from the markets is there is an incentive to add more plants to handle the generating peaks. We need to have some extra reserve plants," said Peter Hartley, professor of economics at Rice University in Houston.
Power companies such as NRG Energy (NRG.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Mirant Inc. (MIR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Exelon Corp. (EXC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) are in position to gain from a push for more generation, analysts said.
Power markets must maintain reserve supplies of electricity beyond forecast peaks in order to prevent blackouts like the ones in California in 2000-2001 when the state did not have the power to keep up with demand.
Electricity grids in California, Texas, the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic, New York and New England set all-time record peaks during the week as consumers cranked up their air conditioners.
California grid managers appealed to consumers to conserve power and directed energy companies to cancel maintenance work at their plants and on power lines to keep megawatts moving to customers.
With temperatures hitting 113 degrees in Palm Springs, 103 in Sacramento and 83 in usually cool San Francisco, the state grid set a new demand record on Friday, its second for the week, and was expected to be even busier on Monday.
Soaring temperatures were behind the new peaks, but "the results are still noteworthy in that last year's peaks benefited from a hot summer, implying that the increase is more reflective of economic growth," Merrill Lynch analyst Elizabeth Parrella said in a research report. |
