In which we sit down with one of FERC’s newest voices, Commissioner Allison Clements, and delve into her perspectives on transmission, public participation, the grid of the future and many other topics, not to mention her love of the band Wilco and live music in general, split allegiances in the age-old Michigan-Ohio rivalry, and advice for how the white-male-dominated energy sector can increase representation and inclusion of everyone.
In which we sit down with one of FERC’s newest voices, Commissioner Allison Clements, and delve into her perspectives on transmission, public participation, the grid of the future and many other topics, not to mention her love of the band Wilco and live music in general, split allegiances in the age-old Michigan-Ohio rivalry, and advice for how the white-male-dominated energy sector can increase representation and inclusion of everyone.
In which we submit New Jersey Board of Public Utilities President Joe Fiordaliso to our line of questioning on resource adequacy, capacity markets, offshore wind, PJM, NIMBYism, state relations with PJM and FERC, New Jersey’s Energy Master Plan and its aggressive goals and the state of thermal generation in the Garden State.
Later, we force the president to engage in a little political Catch-22 and force him to pick favorites among beloved New Jersey icons, after which he doles out some advice to another president whose tenure his own has far exceeded and finally urges everyone to follow his state’s bold lead in addressing climate change.
In which we sit down with Curt Morgan, the president and CEO of Vistra Corp., to discuss his investment philosophy in the power-generation business, the current investment status of generation technologies, how financial markets are disciplining the industry and leading the ESG revolution, the “terminal value” issue with gas-fired generation and why you never want to be the first owner of such a facility, gas pipelines’ dirty little secret, the reality of climate change, putting the power-industry transition into historical perspective, how PJM’s markets have performed, why power markets need to ditch some terminology as they add emissions to their list of must-haves, why carbon pricing and PJM’s MOPR are DOA and ERCOT turning gun-shy.
In which we welcome PJM Independent Market Monitor Joe Bowring into the illustrious GT Power Hour Two-Timers Club to continue discussion of the compelling comments fellow club-member FERC Chairman Glick made on the previous episode, and the Monitor - as he is wont to do - happily (and ably) complies. Brace for a deep dive on the minimum offer-price rule (MOPR) in the capacity market, why FERC wants it pared back, how PJM appears likely to respond, the interaction of capacity and energy markets and what can be done to transfer generators’ reliance on capacity-market payments to actual performance in energy and ancillary-services markets. Let’s just say the Monitor and the Chairman don’t see eye to eye on several things.
It’s a pretty meaty talk that doesn’t stray far from the issues at hand, but there is some ranting and commiseration on the misery of driving the I-76 Schuylkill Expressway. Better buckle up!
In which we take a second crack at recently appointed FERC Chairman Rich Glick as he settles into his new role, and he is very clear in setting his agenda: changes are coming - and some are already here. Less than three months into his leadership, Glick’s FERC has already announced more than a dozen major changes and initiatives, some of which touch on hot-button issues - like system reliability and resource adequacy in relation to climate change - and others that focus on it, such as creating a new senior-level commission position to address environmental justice and opening an Office of Public Participation.
From PJM’s minimum offer-price rule (MOPR) to the standards for evaluating proposals for natural-gas pipelines to how power generators are compensated and whether capacity markets are essential, the chairman goes on to lay out his vision and plans going forward, as well as expected timelines. We also discuss his beloved New York Mets, his abysmal record in picking this year’s March Madness winners and his expectations on energy-related legislation coming out of Congress this session. Shorter than many of our episodes, let’s just call this one “highly concentrated” and well worth the time!
