Voluntary markets for ''green'' power, and mandatory policies such as fuel source disclosure requirements and renewables portfolio standards, each rely on the ability to differentiate electricity by the ''attributes'' of the generation. Throughout North America, electricity markets are devising...

The last two decades have seen a dramatic increase in the market share of independent, non-utility generators (NUGs) relative to traditional, utility-owned generation assets. Accordingly, the ''buy versus build'' decision facing utilities--i.e., whether a utility should sign a power purchase...

Renewable power technologies are inherently capital-intensive, often (but not always) with relatively high construction costs and low operating costs. For this reason, renewable power technologies are typically more sensitive to the availability and cost of financing than are natural gas power...

Development of renewable energy. Such programs have grown in number in recent years. The design features and effectiveness of these programs varies considerably, however, leading a variety of stakeholders to suggest specific marketing and program design features that might improve customer...

Against the backdrop of increasingly volatile natural gas prices, renewable energy resources, which by their nature are immune to natural gas fuel price risk, provide a real economic benefit. Unlike many contracts for natural gas-fired generation, renewable generation is typically sold under...

On December 17, 2008, the reference-case projections from Annual Energy Outlook 2009 (AEO 2009) were posted on the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) web site. We at LBNL have, in the past, compared the EIA's reference-case long-term natural gas price forecasts from the AEO series to...

Advocates of renewable energy have long argued that wind power and other renewable technologies can mitigate fuel price risk within a resource portfolio. Such arguments--made with renewed vigor in the wake of unprecedented natural gas price volatility during the winter of 2000/2001--have mostly...

Increased deployment of renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) is expected to reduce natural gas demand and in turn place downward pressure on gas prices. A number of recent modeling studies include an evaluation of this effect. Based on data compiled from those studies summarized in...

On December 12, 2005, the reference case projections from ''Annual Energy Outlook 2006'' (AEO 2006) were posted on the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) web site. We at LBNL have in the past compared the EIA's reference case long-term natural gas price forecasts from the AEO series to...

In the United States, markets for renewable generation--especially wind power--have grown substantially in recent years. This growth is typically attributed to technology improvements and resulting cost reductions, the availability of federal tax incentives, and aggressive state policy efforts....