Featured Energy Podcasts

January 2011 Hours before Southern Companies' Jan. 26 earnings conference call, Chairman, President and CEO Tom Fanning discussed with SNL Energy the company's generation strategy, how environmental regulations are being addressed and its strategic growth plans in the wake of the Duke Energy-Progress Energy merger announcement.

January 2011 Biomass Power Association President and CEO Bob Cleaves said Jan. 25 in a brief SNL Energy podcast that it is uncertain whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can come up with a maximum achievable control technology rule for biomass boilers that protects the environment without needlessly shutting down operating and proposed boilers.

January 2011 As long as the top executives and many layers of management take care of the "soft stuff," there is no reason why the proposed merger between the two North Carolina-headquartered companies cannot be "wildly successful," according to Mark Gabriel, senior vice president for power in North America at Halcrow.

September 2010 H. Dennis Holbrook, executive vice president with Norse Energy Corp., has been busy trying to communicate to New York policymakers and residents the safe track record hydraulic fracturing has and the implications of passing a drilling moratorium until May 15, 2011. Holbrook shares his outlook on the State Assembly vote and the broader implications if the bill is passed.

August 2010 Tisha Conoly Schuller is on a mission to address the misconceptions regarding hydraulic fracturing. As president of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, she is trying to help the industry better communicate to the public that the natural gas sector and hydraulic fracturing is highly regulated.

August 2010 Nadav Enbar, senior project manager, distributed renewables, power delivery and utilization with the Electric Power Research Institute, spoke with SNL Energy on Aug. 10 to discuss his latest report, "Addressing Solar Photovoltaic Operations and Maintenance Challenges: A Survey of Current Knowledge and Practices."

July 2010 Now that SO2 allowance prices so low, some people are "potentially buying them somewhat as a Lotto ticket that perhaps there could be a legislative fix or some change that will allow these allowances to have value," said Peter Zaborowsky, a managing director with Evolution Markets Inc.

July 2010 Suzanne Sitherwood, senior vice president, southern operations, and president of Atlanta Gas Light, Chattanooga Gas and Florida City Gas at AGL Resources, discussed her outlook on natural gas and her experience rising through the ranks at the company over the past 25 years.

June 2010 SNL Energy's Glen Boshart discusses a proposed FERC rule that would require transmission cost allocation and planning requirements to be developed on a regional level, his outlook on the NOPR and how regulated and nonregulated utilities may view the proposed rule.

May 2010 Regulatory Research Associates President Rob Schain highlights Iowa and North Carolina as states that have processes in place that mitigate risk associated with rate recovery for power plant projects. He cautions, however, that although some states are better than others of reducing project risk, none of them eliminate it.

May 2010 Utilities want to know when the EPA will finalize its regulations on coal combustion byproducts and which rules will be put in place. Doug Henderson, partner with Troutman Sanders, says regardless of when or what proposal EPA finalizes, one thing is certain: Stricter standards for CCB at the state and federal levels are coming.

May 2010 The disparity between the rate increases Ameren companies requested and the decisions the Illinois Commerce Commission announced April 29 has raised concerns about how the commission will act on upcoming rate case decisions. Regulatory Research Associates Senior Analyst Russell Ernst noted most of the commissioners are not leaving their appointed positions for at least the next two years.

April 2010 If the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulates greenhouse gas emissions, the permitting process could be brought to a standstill. John Lain, an attorney with McGuire Woods, explains why EPA is not the way to go, why neither a carbon tax nor a proposed cap-and-dividend scheme will happen and what kinds of sweeteners do need to be added to the mix to avoid losing U.S. jobs.

April 2010 Congress is considering altering the cash grant program so that the amount is treated as a tax refund. Phil Spector, tax partner with Troutman Sanders in New York, discusses the advantages and disadvantages to such a change.

April 2010 John McManus, vice president, environmental services with American Electric Power. He spoke with me today about the impact the Carper-Alexander bill may have on the Clean Air Interstate Rule and the utility sector’s concerns about the proposed timelines for utilities to reduce mercury emissions from coal plants.

April 2010 Susan Cooke, a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, discusses how New York and Pennsylvania are revisiting their hydraulic fracturing regulations, the proposed legislation at the federal level and her outlook on fracking policies.

March 2010 Dan Shreve, director with MAKE Consulting discusses sales and technology trends in the wind turbine manufacturing sector. The strategic advisory firm just released a new report, “Wind Turbine OEMS Global Market Share Report for 2009.”

March 2010 Ken Westrick, founder and CEO of 3TIER, discusses the impact El Nino is having on U.S. wind farms, what factors determine whether a wind farm is a success or failure and what needs to be done during the assessment phase of a potential wind farm site. “Those projects that don’t produce are going to be around for a long time and be a black eye on the industry and we don’t want to see that,” he said. “The U.S. has a great wind resource. Let’s build these projects where they make sense.”

February 2010 Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) discusses his book, “Apollo’s Fire: Igniting America’s Clean Energy Economy,” the energy policies Congress needs to pass and why he’d like to give climate change critics a “freshie.”

February 2010 SNL Energy Senior Editor Glen Boshart provides an overview of the latest clean air related policy moves by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, from proposing tougher ozone air quality standards to regulating greenhouse gas emissions, as well as prospects for a Congressional energy bill. Boshart also explains what actions and policies utility representatives are advocating and why coal plants will continue to operate for years to come.

January 2010 Approximately 850 utilities offer voluntary green power programs and that number is expected to grow. Adam Capage, vice president, utility partnerships at 3Degrees, discusses how these programs work, the ways in which they enable utilities to reach and strengthen relationships with customers and the costs associated with them. San Francisco-headquartered 3Degrees works with utilities to provide ongoing marketing support for voluntary renewable energy programs.