Schaeffer, Steve 2010-11-10
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General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: Steve Schaeffer
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: November 10, 2010
Location: Cleo, Texas
Interviewer: Andy Wilkinson
Length: 02:07:20
Abstract
History of utility industry, Post-buster era to mid-sixties, Rise of big grids, Switch to conserving energy, Transmission grids, Texas Interconnected Systems and reliability, Switch from reliability to market, Legislature restructuring and vertically integrated companies, Distributive Generation, Fuel cells, Problems with storage and efficiency, Wind energy, Costs of generating electricity, Wind energy, Monetary costs you can measure, Impacts on environment, people, place, Failure of the industry, Nuclear Power, How scared the public could be, Problems with waste disposal, No one builds plants, no one does research, Restructure of utility industry, ’99, Resistance from utility companies, Used and useful principal, Events leading up: FERC and marginal cost pricing, Introduction of retail into the utility industry, Parallels to telecommunication industry, Wind Energy, Takes away from distributive generation, Unreliability, Tie in to Texas Power Grid, Bid to run, Exacerbates load-factor, Asynchronous machine, Restructure of utility industry, ’99, Gradual support of utility companies, Steven Wolens and David Sibley, Texas as unique in the electric utility industry, Restructuring of vertically integrated system, Varied regulation, Integration of retail sector, CREZ lines, Environmentalists and the passing of the legislation, Five billion dollar tax, Load centers verses rural populations, Support from environmentalists, CREZ as wind subsidy, Other transmission lines going west to Los Angeles, Contrast with Florida Power & Light line, Unavailability of market, Brown field sites, Definition, FERC changing transmission pricing, Modeling after CREZ lines, ITC as driving force, CREZ as environmental argument, Misleading, Difficulty screaming environmental in Austin, Clearview Alliance, Arguing for most sustainable route, Contrast with LCRA wanting the cheapest, straightest routes, Schaeffer’s involvement with CVA and subsequent departure, Cost of interventions and impacts on interveners, Tie in to ERCOT, DC transmission, Cost in contrast to CREZ lines, Advantages over AC line, No determination of need, No innovative system design, Fuel Cells, Negative experience with, Grid as bank and short wall marginal price curve, Difficulty with wind and storage, Costs and fundamental flaws, Diffusion grid, Unfeasibility of commercial production, Loss of generation planning, Cost of nuclear plants, Capacity of wind energy, Limited to a third of energy needs, Redundant transmission, CREZ as first transmission line not having proof of need, Lack of capacity value, Tax credit as incentive
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