http://www.platts.com/index.html Global Energy Business May/June 2000 Special Report The 15th Annual Global Power Markets Conference >> But even if that huge sum can be borrowed, isn't there a danger that Nimby syndrome, which has made it nearly impossible to build new transmission lines, will have a similar impact on prospective pipeline projects? Yes and no, Dean feels. "It's interesting to note," he said, "that oil and gas drilling and construction of pipelines and transmission lines--and even the recent siting of gas turbine plants closer to load/population centers--engendered less opposition from the public and environmental activists during the 1990s than was the case in the 1970s. But on the other hand, I'm beginning to wonder if the recent anger at the WTO, IMF, and World Bank could be redirected at our industry." Regardless of how public sentiment turns on that issue, Dean said he's certain of one thing: "As the gas industry builds out, there will be demand/supply mismatches, and these mismatches could be really significant to electricity generators. Why? Because in different markets, the correlation between gas and electricity prices will vary widely; in other words, as gas prices go up in a region, you may not necessarily see a corresponding rise in electricity prices there." The final panelist to discuss trends that may not yet be on the industry's radar screen was F. Reed Wills, vice president for project development at United American Energy Corp., Woodcliff, N.J. Wills said that traditional ways of looking at the intersection of business and technology issues could be rendered obsolete by a development whose impact could be felt on the demand side. "If information technology solutions end up being applied to the problems of storage, that would allow consumers to react to pricing dynamically," he said. That would be a big change, he explained, because "in most cases, investors in energy suppliers continue to anticipate that consumer behavior will remain static. But if IT brings more precision, flexibility, and options to the use of energy storage systems, that would have a very big impact on the way that suppliers are investing and the way they realize their returns." *
