On Oct 18, 2005, at 2:12 PM, Michael Hohmann wrote:
A franchised monopoly doesn't seem consistent with
a continually evolving, dispersed technology. Will award of a
monopolistic
advantage to one provider limit otherwise competitive/newer
alternatives due
to the reduced market available to competitors?
Exactly.
Alternatively, the city could open the market to more competition by
building a publicly owned fiber backbone throughout the city (which
it wants anyway to connect its own buildings), then leasing capacity
on that fiber backbone to competing companies, and competing
technologies.
And on a slightly related topic, a majority of the board appointed to
oversee the Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power has voted to move
the target date for 20 percent renewable energy from 2017 to 2010.
From the article:
Assistant General Manager Henry Martinez told the board during a
workshop on the issue Tuesday that any accelerated move to green
power must take into account the reliability of the new source and
its cost.
An accelerated plan would require a major investment in new power
systems, at a time when the agency's existing plants can handle
existing demand.
Cardenas said many of the geothermal and wind resources are
concentrated elsewhere in the state, and it would cost hundreds of
millions of dollars to build transmission systems to bring that power
to Los Angeles.
The nuclear and coal power that make up 63% of the DWP's electricity
generation cost a fraction of solar, fuel cell and geothermal power,
Martinez told the board.
"How much financial burden do you put on the customer?" he asked.
The manager's comment drew a quick challenge from board member Nick
Patsaouras, who said the agency must pave the way for other
utilities, bringing down the cost for everyone.
"I don't want to hear that renewables are going to cost more. We have
to say to the world, here is the path," Patsaouras said.
Board member Mary Nichols said the state is already looking at
accelerating the move to renewables by private utilities, so others
may beat the DWP to the mayor's goal.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-green19oct19,1,4951964.story?
coll=la-headlines-california
Becca Vargo Daggett
Seward
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