This thesis reviews restructuring efforts of the electricity market in Latin America. The work first examines the drivers that have encouraged Latin American countries to restructure their power markets, going from government-held monopolies to fully privatized systems. Then a general conceptual...

Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) require electricity providers to supply a minimum fixed percentage or total quantity of customer load from designated renewable energy resources by a given date. These policies have become increasingly prevalent in the past decade as state governments seek to...

With many states recently enacting either renewable energy mandates or goals,the small hydropower industry has a unique opportunity to supply a growing portion ofU.S. electricity supply. But the procedure to obtain a license for project development is unwieldy, increasingly wrought with...

The electric power sector is facing significant new economic and regulatory pressures that are changing the electric generation mix. In this chapter in the forthcoming book Global Climate Change and U.S. Law, we examine the regulation of fuels used for electric power generation, focusing on...

The political economy of energy policy in the United States is dominated by partisanship and industry lobbying. Both are reflected in the widespread belief that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is engaged in a misguided “war on coal” - despite decades of regulatory delays, the coal...

For decades, energy policy has struggled to reconcile two distinct visions for the future: the first seeks ever-more-competitive, efficient, and dynamic electricity markets; while the second seeks an ever-greener mix of electricity generation sources. Caught within this push-and-pull dynamic is...

Scholars and policymakers continue to debate the shape of a post-carbon world, and how fast the United States can “decarbonize” its energy sector. Recent trends -- including the reduced costs of renewables, regulatory and market pressure on coal-fired power, and successful integration of...