Electricity Policy

Israel, while becoming a big gas player, is challenging Middle East geopolitics

Israel is the latest member of the natural gas club, promising energy security for a country once dependent on expensive imports of oil from the world market, the Washington Post reports. According to the account, gas from vast offshore reserves has begun flowing to Israel and raising the prospect that the country could become a significant gas exporter to energy-short neighbors, some of whom have disputed the existence of the Jewish nation, and who might refuse to buy gas from Israel. The newspaper notes that “that some Arab countries might refuse gas — at any price — from Israel. For years, many oil-rich Arab nations have declined to directly supply Israel with oil.”

See if Eastern Med gas fields will change regional politics here.

First intl. conference on ‘transactive’ smart grid set for Portland next week

By Robert Marritz

May 14, 2013 – The world’s first International Conference and Workshop on Transactive Energy – a vision of a smarter, self-actuating smart grid – will be held in Portland, Ore., next week,  May 23-24. As they say, be there or be square.

The conference, which will attract top thinkers and analysts working on smart grid development, is sponsored by the GridWise® Architecture Council, with support from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Bonneville Power Administration, Smart Grid Oregon and Portland General Electric. 

Appeals court gives Southern Calif. Edison partial win in transmission case

By Kennedy Maize

May 14, 2013 -- Southern California Edison won a round in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit over the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last Friday, but it may not be the end of the matter. The court opinion was largely procedural and the commission will get another crack at the substance.

J.P. Morgan Chase quits Calif. market

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is quitting the California electricity market as regulators have cracked down on its energy-trading operations and a slew of other business practices. On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission approved a sale of electricity rights Morgan had owned at three Southern California power plants. The price wasn't disclosed. The deal means J.P. Morgan will not be able to sell power generated by the plants after October. The agreement comes amid heightened scrutiny of J.P. Morgan's energy operations by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The bank is wrestling with legal and regulatory headaches on credit card and other fronts as well.

Read about J.P. Morgan Chase’s sea of self-inflicted troubles.