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To: deepenergyfella who wrote (3)	1/12/2001 10:35:34 PM
From: General Crude	Respond to of 555

From DBS: California has added very little generating capacity in the past decade. At the same time, demand in California surged as the state's economy recovered from a recession and technology growth in Silicon Valley spurred power demands. California now imports 25 percent of its power and when electricity shortages develop, as they did this week, the potential for blackouts becomes severe. See Power Emergency story. On the contrary, in Texas the 1995 wholesale deregulation bill has served to stimulate power plant construction, according to Tom Baker, president of TXU Electric and Gas, Texas' largest utility, and a subsidiary of TXU Corp (TXU: news, msgs). "It's been difficult to site and locate plants in California, so there hasn't been any significant capacity added in the last 10 years," Baker said. Between 1990 and 1997, about 1,000 megawatts of new power came online in California, said Suzanne Garfield, a spokesperson for the California Energy Commission. That's enough to serve about a million residential customers. In Texas, the state has added more than five times as much generating capacity as California just since 1995. And construction of nearly 14,000 megawatts of capacity has begun, according to the state Public Utility Commission. That's twice as much as California is considering adding. "The lack of supply in California goes back to before deregulation was even discussed," said Baker who added that the California energy crisis is the result of a lack of supply combined with atypical cold winters and hot summers, which have sent demand for power soaring. "Unfortunately, you can't build a power plant in a few days, and there hasn't been any incentive to build them," he said. When all is said and done, Texas will have reserves of about 25 percent. Baker, who's been in the energy business since TXU was called Dallas Power & Light, characterized the figure as more than sufficient. In the old days, he said, 15 percent reserves would have been deemed adequate. Industry players and observers say that one reason that Texas is a friendlier place in which to do business is that it takes two-and-a-half to three years to bring a plant online versus California, which takes an average of seven years. "Texas has done a good job of developing a streamlined system for permitting," said Chuck Griffin, a spokesman for Atlanta-based Southern Energy (SOE: news, msgs), which has or is completing projects in Texas. Griffin noted that Southern Energy owns plants in California and plans to expand two. "There are hurdles in Texas, but everything new that's being built there are gas-based combustion turbine systems, which is a very clean system. Texas has a good understanding of that, so there aren't a lot of environmental issues."

To: deepenergyfella who wrote (3)	1/13/2001 3:43:22 PM
From: Sepster	Respond to of 555

def Sorry, my question was too general; but you raised good points in your response. Other tech companies that might be effected by rising energy costs, will be hardware mfgs. and Internet portals with large server farms. Seems like there should not be much impact on software companies (especially if they turn off computers and monitors when not being used). I wonder whether telecommunications will be effected much? Will energy costs cause consumers to use phones or Internet less? Do you think that control systems software, such as Echelon (ELON) will make it possible to lessen demands on energy use? Seems like much of the current problem revolves around increased use of natural gas, especially in power generation. I live in an area of Colorado which produces natural gas. There has been a battle between producers who want to double the number of wells, and the landowners (most of whom don't have royalty rights) who complain about the wells, i.e. noise, polluting ground water sources, reclamation issues, etc. Seems like it is a good idea to get off of the dependence of OPEC but I'm not so sure it is such a good idea to concentrate on natural gas so much. Do you think the increased use of natural gas is sustainable? Can alternative energy have much impact? I would like to see solar being incorporated in more structures (either solar water for heating or photovoltaic). A few solar panels on each building would significantly reduce demand from the grid. Unfortunately it still seem too expensive for most people. During the energy crisis which happened at the time of the Carter administration, there were tax incentives for people to install solar but that policy is long gone. I have been watching developments with fuel cells (e.g. with Ballard, BLDP, etc.), and while there has been a lot of progress, I still don't see them coming into wide use in the near future. I think that as far as transportation is concerned, the hybrid cars will become more popular. Unfortunately, that means more demand on the grid. Do you seen other technological innovations out there that are likely to become significant? Sepster