FEBRUARY 2001
Reader Feedback
| In last month’s
feature, IEEE Life Fellow Jack Casazza provided us with timely commentary on the current
state of the electric industry. In his article, he called on all IEEE members to get
informed and get involved. Here’s what some of our readers had to say. |
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Jack's comments are definitely on target. I
worked in the power industry for half of my career and came back to it this year after
having been out of it since 1984. Amazingly, the industry has almost frozen in time; very
little has changed. For most of the last decade and a half, the industry has functioned on
what it had built in the 1970s and 1980s, investing only in a few new gas turbines to
carry on.
Then in the last couple of years, the politicians
waved their "magic legislative wands" and declared the industry — which was
already brittle from lack of investment — "deregulated." Still, they
expected the lights to stay on and rates to remain low. And in the rush to
deregulate, every state enacted rules that would offer their own consumers the greatest
benefit without giving any thought to how their regulations might affect the way the grid
behaved. They had no technical understanding of the fact that the energy grids
interconnect North America and therefore cannot be regulated by individual
states. They also didn’t understand the difficulties to be found in establishing
fair settlement practices, or generation control responsibilities, or available
transmission paths. They simply did not realize that an individual state or province
couldn’t expect to be successful in deregulation if their policies and rules were not
coordinated with the grid as a whole. Finally they didn’t have — nor do they now
have — an understanding of the problems visible in the Department of Energy or the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
As a result, in the western United States, a
near-state of political civil war is being waged, and there will be no victors. The
Secretary’s actions in forcing power sales have already had a chilling impact on
investment in the power infrastructure. And the large-scale forced dumping of water
in the Columbia system is only likely to exacerbate the shortages in the coming summer
months, especially since many areas in the west are reporting extraordinarily low snow
packs (40 percent or less of normal) and reservoir levels.
There is no "magic wand" solution to this
problem; it is one that will be with us for several years. New energy sources, commercial
and residential energy management, and new transmission all take years to accomplish. In
all likelihood, this problem will get worse before it gets better. With that in mind,
it most definitely is time for us, as engineers, to speak out. It is also time for
the politicians to ask for our help in understanding the complexity of the issues with
which they are trying to grapple.
Terry L Davis, P.E.
Issaquah, Wash.
IEEE Member
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I do believe the IEEE needs to get involved in the
Power industry from an educational point of view. The public has no idea what to make of
this and needs to be educated.
Kathleen Morelock
San Francisco, Calif.
IEEE Member
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Should U.S. IEEE members be active players in
shaping U.S. electric power policy? Yes. As citizens, we have the right to be part of the
decision-making process. As knowledgeable citizens, we have the responsibility to raise
pertinent issues that might not otherwise be considered. As a volunteer, professional
organization we have less of an ulterior agenda to push than the usual stakeholders.
Ken Doniger
Menlo Park, Calif.
IEEE Member
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