Power Failures and Rising Energy Costs
by Caroline Vernon
IEA Warns of Coming Power Failures
United Press International
The Paris-based International Energy Agency has said Europe and North America could face power blackouts this summer.
The
agency said utility groups have failed to invest enough in electricity
generation and transmission capacity, the Financial Times reported [May
7]. Energy companies are also underinvesting in new oil and gas
production capacity by up to 20 percent, the IEA said.
London,
New York and several cities across southern Europe have experienced
large-scale power failures during the past three summers because
growing numbers of air-conditioners have driven demand to peak levels.
Fatih Birol, IEA chief economist, said electricity generation capacity
in the European Union's 25 member states increased by only 1 percent
last year – less than half the 2.3 percent increase in electricity
demand.
Birol said the trend in the European power sector was mirrored by trends in North America and much of the developing world.
To read the entire article, click here.
FERC Sees Higher Summer Power Prices
WASHINGTON – The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said [May4] that most of
the United States will have adequate electricity supplies this summer,
but that parts of Connecticut continue to struggle with tight supplies.
The commission, in its annual summer assessment, warned that the
outlook for hydroelectric supplies in the western states was “not good”
due to lingering drought in the Northwest, and that rising fossil fuel
prices would likely drive up the cost of electricity bills nationwide.
To read the entire article, click here.
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