The Morning Feedstock

A committee of the European Parliament is expected to vote today in favor of unbundling the EU’s power markets. The vote will force utilities to break the connection between their transmission networks and their generation sources. This is good news for private utilities in Spain and the UK, like Iberdrola, Centrica, and British Gas, who have long been stifled from breaking into the state-dominated markets in France and Germany. However, state-owned and formerly-state-owned utilities EDF and E.On are fighting back, endorsing a “Third Way” proposal allowing them to retain ownership, but devolve management to a transmission system operator. So-called “ownership unbundling” is aimed at greating more competition between power generators and lowering rates in pan-European power markets. It may lead to critical increases in infrastructure, though this point is likely secondary to the goal of opening markets.

State intervention in the power markets isn’t just a problem for the EU. Iberdrola has been trying for nearly a year to acquire Energy East, a utility in New York State. And for almost a year the New York Public Service Commission has put the Spanish company on hold over concerns they would raise rates on New York consumers. The problem is that New York State needs Iberdrola to help it meet its 24 percent RPS by 2013 - right now it’s not even close. Fed up with the PSC’s bumbling, Sen. Chuck Schumer has stepped in, saying “this is one of the most amazing things that I’ve seen. The PSC is being very stone-headed and not being very practical.” Schumer is, of course, referring to the PSC’s proposal that Iberdrola sell of its wind assets in New York before the acquisition. But the people urging the sale aren’t consumer advocates or even consumers themselves - it’s a group of “over 50 large industrial, commercial and industrial energy consumers with manufacturing and other facilities throughout New York State.” (pdf). Progress gets a high five today.

The Department of Energy plans to make $7.5 million in grants toward ocean power research and development. The commitment’s terms, however, are embarrassing - even by Andy Karsner’s standards. The DoE proposal requires private sector applicants to front 50 percent of the project cost, though they may split this cost with another project partner. Karsner expects to hand 17 awards, or about $440,00 per research team, or just enough for Andy to get his name on another proposal. While it’s good the DoE is putting up money for ocean power, it’s a slight decline from the nearly $70 million per year we were putting into this technology in the late 1970s and early 1980s.