This is the quote about Uno Lamm in the article Handling Sweden’s Electric Reform Threats:
As my hero Uno Lamm proved, when he introduced High Voltage Direct Current technology (see The Sixth Disruptive Technology), facing a strong opposition by the same California IOUs referred to in The BIG California LIE, the Nordid countries don’t need to wait for the experience of the U.S. What they need, I repeat, is a strong leadership.
Nowhere in that quote can be interpreted that he had to be involved in electric markets to be an example of Swedish leadership. His example is about leadership and just leadership.
Going into the internal reference about Uno Lamm in The Sixth Disruptive Technology you can read:
My hero, the Swedish Uno Lamm and the father of HVDC, who won the Pacific Intertie Project for ASEA after facing a strong opposition by [the same] California IOUs [referred below], and later estimated to save customers more than a billion dollars a day, after negotiating a license agreement with General Electric is quoted saying something like this in an interview in 1988: “among Americans, when the heat of the combat ends and a decision has been arrived at, all the trouble disappears and the people work hard to implement the decision in the best way.” I strongly hope this will be the case of EWPC.The summary of the The BIG California LIE is as follows:
The BIG LIE is that retail competition is impossible in electric markets. The implementation of a competitive retail market was the center of the debate in California. Instead of cooperating to implement it, the three big California utilities, that didn't care about the end-custumers, acted very irresponsibly. EWPC is the paradigm shift to show that retail competition is not only possible, but absolutely necessary to turn the electricity industry into a vibrant value added business for all stakeholders.
All of that followed this paragraph (which responded Prof. Banks article):
Writing about that if deregulation could not be achieved in the U.S., … “then it could not be realized any where in the face of earth, at least in the medium to long run” Professor Banks states and adds: “By that I mean after any excess capacity that might be available has been utilized.” Such statement is faulty because, while the generation and transmission capacity may be utilized with respect to current demand, the development of the resources of the demand side can change the situation in the medium run. In addition, the U.S. lobby activities have led to an unacceptable extension of the VIUs paradigm.
So, Uno Lamm as a Swedish leader is a role model to follow for handling the reform needs in the Nordic countries.
On the humorous side, I will let readers decide if Fred needs a shot of Aquavit or I need a rhum and coke.
Best regards,
José Antonio
