viernes, febrero 29, 2008

DL: Repite Promesa Solución Electricidad

Promesa de solución al sector eléctrico vuelve a reeditarse

Publicada en Diario Libre

Energía. Fernández anunció, en su toma de posesión en 2004, que uno de los retos del gobierno era la solución al problema de los apagones

SD. Aunque la política económica fue dada de alta, como dijo en su discurso de este miércoles, algunas promesas del presidente Leonel Fernández cuando asumió el cargo se volvieron a repetir ante la Asamblea Nacional.

Cuando asumió el mando en el 2004, el mandatario dijo que uno de los principales retos que tenía era el problema energético, y aunque en esa ocasión no puso fecha para solucionarlo, en su alocución de este 27 de febrero volvió a repetir lo mismo sobre el tema, y hasta anunció el año para el fin de los apagones: el 2012.

Algunas de las promesas que habían sido anunciadas con anterioridad se cumplieron, pero también presentó cifras que como el caso del turismo, que tuvo un crecimiento casi nulo el año pasado, no se corresponden con la realidad.

El caso de la construcción de la autopista eléctrica viene desde el 2003, y luego el 2006, y aún no termina, y las plantas a carbón en Manzanillo no arrancan.

Una de las prioridades de su gobierno en el 2004 era la energía renovable. La ley fue promulgada el 8 de mayo del 2007, pero varios proyectos, con cifras millonarias, no despegan debido a que el Presidente no promulga el reglamento.
Fernández promovió la aprobación de la Ley 57-07 que otorga incentivos a la ejecución de proyectos que impliquen la explotación de energía renovable. En la actualidad hay más de 700 megas concesionados en energía eólica.

El país ha recibido 20 propuestas para desarrollo de proyectos alternativos, la mayoría en el área eólica. Los parques que han recibido el visto bueno estarán en Baní, Montecristi y Puerto Plata, y se negocia un proyecto de 300 megas de Hiberdrola de España para instalarlo en Pedernales.
Elogios

Pese a que la promesa sobre electricidad se repite, con relación a indicadores económicos el Gobierno cumplió su misión, tal como reconoce el propio Fondo. La economía creció, la banca se fortaleció, la tasa de interés es más baja y la de cambio se mantiene estable, tal como dijo Fernández en su discurso.

De José Javier

jueves, febrero 28, 2008

The World Shouldn’t be Running Out of Electricity

According to Alan Caruba, America is running out of electricity, but in fact the whole world is running out of electricity by keeping in place several flawed or obselete market architecture and design paradigms. The American Public Power Association proposed that “all industry participants need to work together to design a regulatory system for electricity markets that truly benefits consumers, businesses and the environment.” Such a regulatory system has already emerged and is the EWPC market architecture and design paradigm.

The World Shouldn’t be Running Out of Electricity


By José Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio, Ph.D.

Systemic Consultant: Electricity

Copyright © 2008 José Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, without written permission from José Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio. This article is an unedited, an uncorrected, draft material of The EWPC Textbook. Please write to javs@ieee.org to contact the author for any kind of engagement.

Bob,

Thank you for your comment, as it gives the opportunity to prove that Len’s opinion (not Len!) about 2GRs is wrong once again. As you see below the incentives to 2GRs are not well widely understood yet in business strategy practice, but nonetheless have been in used for quite some time by many organizations implementing third industrial revolution technologies. But first, I agree with him regarding the anticompetitive ploy. In fact, under Rafael’s article I suggested “that as a global issue, this might be a trade matter closer to WTO tariff agreements on CO2 [change that GHG] "exports" to the global commons by a given user.”

Your “definition [that] consumer energy efficiency and conservation enable consumers to use LESS energy . . . will never be a profitable activity for an energy retailer” applies to the perverse incentives that today’s utilities have and maybe first generation retailers to “encourage investment in themselves and in generation and distribution but only to maximize their own efficiencies, with the result being minimized lower energy prices for consumers.” 2GRs will be centered on a total customer solutions strategy, instead of the traditional best product strategies of low costs and differentiation mindset.

2GRs do not have those perverse incentives as they offer customers no just low costs, but even more so, high value propositions to stay in business by developing information intensive business model innovations. The whole point is that customers will be able to invest in long term projects in coordination with the long term development of the power system, while 2GRs integrate demand to power system planning, operations and control, as well as compete among themselves and generators in the wholesale market by aggregating their retail portfolios.

I repeat that “"Tam is right that ‘energy efficiency is far cheaper than any power technology and there is vast potential to increase efficiency in the US. . .” and elsewhere. But a cost efficient implementation cannot be done by regulatory mandates’… ” since client’s energy businesses costs and value requirement and opportunities vary widely. This last explanatory phrase stresses the need for Shrinking the Regulator’s Jobs as soon as possible. This is how 2GRs will help a world that might be running out of electricity.

In a recent white paper, the American Public Power Association finds this “a time of increasing peril for electricity consumers – both in present costs and future reliable service…” and “wants … to contribute to a constructive dialogue to develop sorely needed reforms … [of] electricity markets …” and suggests that “all industry participants need to work together to design a regulatory system for electricity markets that truly benefits consumers, businesses and the environment.” Such a regulatory system has already emerged and is the above mentioned EWPC market architecture and design.


Reference and context:

America is Running Out of Electricity, by Alan Caruba, CEO, The Caruba Organization.

Consumers in Peril: Why RTO-Run Electricity Markets Fail to Produce Just and Reasonable Electricity Rates, by American Public Power Association, February 2008.



A Debate: 24 Horas de Verdad

En su discurso de rendición de cuentas del 27 de Febrero, ante los Honorables Miembros de la Asamblea Nacional, el Presidente Leonel Fernández:



Manifestó que “Hay dos grandes desafíos que se ciernen sobre el horizonte de la República, los cuales son objeto de legítima preocupación por parte de la población. Me refiero a los problemas del sector eléctrico y la seguridad ciudadana;”

Reiteró que “el Gobierno ejecuta el ‘Plan Integral de Recuperación del Sector Eléctrico’ a los fines de que a más tardar en el año 2012, haya sido resuelto uno de los más grandes males que ha venido afrontando la sociedad dominicana desde hace más de 30 años;” y

Al respecto declaró que “En definitiva, los avances mostrados en la recuperación del sector eléctrico nos permiten asegurar que a más tardar en el año 2012 se habrán erradicado definitivamente los apagones, se habrá terminado de electrificar todo el país y se habrán reducido significativamente los precios de la energía a los consumidores. . . Sólo entonces podremos realmente decir que la República Dominicana entró al Siglo XXI.

Para erradicar los apagones, el Gobierno Dominicano ha adoptado la iniciativa de EdeEste de ir designando circuitos como de 24 Horas en función del Índice de Recuperación de Efectivo (CRI por sus siglas en inglés). El próximo paso, para que dicha erradicación sea de verdad, debería ser compensar a los clientes cuando la distribuidora incumple dándole apagones a esos circuitos, de forma que no se trate solamente de buenas intenciones, sino de una calidad de servicio garantizada.

Dando ese paso se sabrá de inmediato que los clientes no solo estarán dispuestos a recibir una calidad acorde a sus necesidades y a su capacidad de pago, sino que resultará evidente las deficiencias del sistema para llevarlo a cabo, ya que a nivel del cliente no se trata simplemente de reducir los precios sino de reducir sus costos totales en el uso de la electricidad en que los costos de los apagones los afectan de manera desigual. Es entonces cuando se sabrá que el llamado “Plan Integral de Recuperación del Sector Eléctrico” necesita ser redefinido para insertarnos de verdad en el Siglo XXI.

Así es que el GMH acoge como suya la nota Debate Civilizado, en que concuerda totalmente con el Dr. Rafael Molina Morillo en que hace falta “un debate decentemente montado y respetuosamente conducido…” para entonces “… realmente decir que la República Dominicana entró al Siglo XXI” habiendo tomado en cuenta de manera civilizada la “legítima preocupación por parte de la población” para resolver definitivamente la crisis del sector eléctrico.

En la nota Electricidad Competitiva: Si Queremos, Podemos, el GMH dejó bien claro, entre otras cosas, que:



Con esta campaña electoral se debería garantizar que el partido ganador inicie la solución definitiva de la crisis de electricidad, respondiendo a una visión compartida que permita colocarnos como los líderes de los sectores eléctricos del mundo.

La reducción del poder del gobierno no vendrá por iniciativa de los políticos. Vendrá de una visión compartida por las fuerzas vivas y productivas de la nación, en apoyo a la competitividad sistémica para responder a la globalización.

Aunque no estamos acostumbrados a pensar que en ocasiones la forma más rentable es la de cerrar paulatinamente un negocio, este es precisamente el caso de las distribuidoras que no son competitivas. Si se insiste en privatizar las distribuidoras que desaparecen como tales en la visión, estaremos en efecto retrocediendo y dificultando cada vez más el desarrollo del país en la medida que pasa el tiempo. El nuevo proyecto de CDEEE con el Banco Mundial no debe seguir esa reversa.

Es importante destacar, que aparentemente ni el Banco Mundial, ni el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, está en capacidad de impulsar la reducción del poder del gobierno; los bancos necesitan la ayuda de la opinión pública. Es solo a través de un debate público y contradictorio en que se examine a profundidad las interioridades del llamado “Plan Integral” que la sociedad dominicana tendrá la seguridad de que la crisis eléctrica quede resuelta de forma definitiva.

Actualización 28 de febrero 4:15 p.m. Si verdaderamente "el ‘Plan Integral de Recuperación del Sector Eléctrico’ a los fines de que a más tardar en el año 2012, haya sido resuelto uno de los más grandes males que ha venido afrontando la sociedad dominicana desde hace más de 30 años” fuese una panacea, ¿porqué Representante BID Propone Pacto Eléctrico?



martes, febrero 26, 2008

Debate Civilizado

Tomado de la columna "Mis Buenos Días," del Dr. Rafael Molina Morillo, en el periódico El Día del 28 de febrero, 2008.

--------------------

Estaba mirando y escuchando, a través de la televisión, un debate entre Barak Obama y Hillary Clinton, ambos aspirantes a ser el candidato o candidata del Partido Demócrata de los Estados Unidos, para la Presidencia de esa nación.

Ambos estaban serenos, bien portados, respetuosos, hasta se sonreían el uno a la otra, o la una al otro, como usted quiera. Exponían sus argumentos sin interrumpirse y sin poner mala cara ni expresiones burlonas. A veces hasta admitían estar de acuerdo con el adversario. Y estaban sentados tan cerca, que a veces me parecía ver que sus brazos se rozaban inadvertidamente.

En otras palabras, parecían gente civilizada. Digo “parecían” porque nadie sabe lo que estaban sintiendo por dentro ni qué malos pensamientos se anidaban talvez en sus cabezas. Pero lo importante, para mí, era el ejemplar comportamiento de ambos por igual.

Los políticos dominicanos deberían aprender de ese modelo, pero ¡qué lejos estamos de ese nivel educativo! Empezando porque no se ponen de acuerdo para aceptar un debate decentemente montado y respetuosamente conducido. Siempre hay uno o varios que se creen superiores a los demás y “no pueden rebajarse al nivel de sus insignificantes adversarios”. Otros tienen miedo, o saben que van a hacer el ridículo. Y también están aquellos a quienes no les interesa para nada un debate porque solamente están en busca de “lo mío”.

Lo peor del caso es que, si se logra el milagro de organizar un debate entre líderes políticos o aspirantes a la Presidencia, se corre el riesgo de que el mismo termine “a rabazos limpios” o se convierta en un vulgar intercambio de insultos y acusaciones temerarias.

Mas aún conociendo ese riesgo, soy partidario de que en cada proceso electoral haya debates públicos, frente a todo el país, a través de la televisión. Cuando lo logremos, habremos dado un gran paso.

(r.molina@codetel.net.do)




domingo, febrero 24, 2008

Global Citizens' Call to Arms

In the article "It may be lights out," Warren Causey suggests agreement with Marty Rosenberg’s article Energy and Presidential Debates by writing that “There are massive problems to be solved in the electric industry, costing massive amounts of money, and with very little time to do it.” Mr. Causey adds that “NERC Chair and CEO said essentially the same thing.”

In a comment to Mr. Causey’s article, Mark Kaminski doesn’t “see any alternative call to arms.” The alternative has been available in Electricity Without Price Controls (EWPC).

EWPC is not just “A faith-in-the-market alternative,” as it has two interacting and balancing markets: a controlled transportation (a compact of the integrated transmission and distribution - the new utility - with a responsibility to transport electricity) market and an open retail and wholesale market. The first is still under price control regulation of tolls, while the second is under prudential regulations.

To get introduced into the alternative anyone should look at the EWPC article Shrinking the Regulator’s Jobs, written under a systemic perspective. To get people to “step up” as Mr. Rosemberg suggest, in my response to Bob Amorosi’s comment to this article, I wrote the following call to arms:

I believe that the media we are sharing [on the energy Central Network] is giving us an emergent unconventional alternative that we need to approach on how to make it happen by telling elective officials what to do, just as other grassroots movement did it in the past in different circumstances. This is also an era of transformation, where leadership is of the utmost importance to resolve the anomaly of the obsolete business model of utilities winning rate cases to regulators, when customers can do it better for themselves if given choice under market competition.

The alternative is a network of engaged global citizens. Eamonn Kelly in his book "Powerful Times: rising to the challenges of our uncertain world," suggests that "Participating together, passionate people will continue to discover and fulfill their potential and exercise their individual and collective power in pursuit of a shared moral purpose."

Kelly adds "we can and must become a 'bigger we.' We have globalized the economy and culture, but we have not yet globalized our sense of ourselves; that lies in our better future... This will not be driven by national governments; it is not how they perceive their role. Neither will it be a priority of businesses small or large, even as they embrace the concept of moral wisdom; it is not their business. In fact, there is only one actor we can expect to promote the growing consciousness of a global self, and that is us: individuals, people, citizens. We have voice, we have passion, we have information, we have unprecedented power, and we have an incredible common stake - only the future of our emergent yet fragile civilization... In the elegant words of the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan, ‘If not us, who? If not now, when?’"



miércoles, febrero 20, 2008

Shrinking the Regulator’s Jobs

There is a need for a shared vision to restructure the power industry, shrinking regulators jobs to price controls of the remaining transportation electric utilities and letting end-customers make their own investments and purchasing decisions of electricity. The shared vision needs to go to the public opinion so that high level political decisions are enabled to restructure the electricity industry and shrinking regulators jobs.

Shrinking the Regulator’s Jobs

By José Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio, Ph.D.
Systemic Consultant: Electricity

Copyright © 2008 José Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, without written permission from José Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio. This article is an unedited, an uncorrected, draft material of The EWPC Textbook. Please write to javs@ieee.org to contact the author for any kind of engagement.

In a timely article, Tam Hunt asks What does $100 per barrel oil mean for us? As the market hit the $100.01 figure yesterday, I suggest that it means that it is about time to start to shrink utilities regulators jobs. I hope that after reading this, Tam is not longer "torn between [a] desire for fair rules to apply to all utilities, and [a] desire for local autonomy."

Just before the great depression of the 1930's, someone like Bob Amorosi (see some of the references under Tam’s article) probably had written "there is no other emerging industry in America to absorb the legions of lay off workers that would create." With his comment, I think Bob just might have signaled the high likelihood of another great depression scenario. At that time, the problem was a banking systemic risk and the solution a paradigm shift to go in favor of the second industrial revolution creative destruction. Presidential leadership was great at the time.

I contend that the problem now is an energy systemic risk and the solution in the electric sector is the EWPC paradigm shift, to go along with the third industrial revolution communication paradigm shift. Hierarchical top down restructuring leadership is missing yet, but we can help push it by letting evolve a networked bottom up shared vision.

The WSJ article referred by Jeff Presley, written by Paul Ingrassia, starts with "Our cities have been straining at their seams, ‘declares a full-page newspaper automotive advertisement.’ Traffic is jam-packed. Parking space is at a premium. And our suburbs have spread like wildfire. People are living farther from their work, driving more miles on crowded streets," reflects a systemic problem (well known at MIT) that is solved by mass transportation, as the personal car itself makes a vicious circle that increases energy waste more and more for societies.

In fact, there is at least another industry that is absorbing Detroit’s jobs – the electricity industry. Gerald B. Sheblé, writing on the Jan/Feb 2008 IEEE Power & Energy magazine, “noticed significant mass transportation developments in Portland Oregon; Nice, France; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Saint Louis, Missouri…” Detroit jobs are already moving to electric power mass transportation jobs, meaning that we need to solve the electricity problem itself and the regulators are in the way.

Ingrassia’s Lesson Two: “Market forces, not government regulation, provide the most effective impetus…” is welcomed to shrink regulators’ job. As regulators are not longer able to represent the end-customers better than themselves in the third industrial revolution, demand integration to power system operation and control will enable efficient long run investments by all parties under EWPC.

Explaining the shift towards shrinking regulator’s jobs, MIT Professor Lester Thurow wrote in 2000 “In the process of globalization governments are losing many of their powers to regulate their economies. If firms don’t like one nation’s system of regulations, they just move their activities to different countries… Systems of government regulation are not taken as given but viewed as a selection of restaurants where one has to choose where one wants to eat based upon the menu offered.” It seems that the CPUC as many other regulators just don’t imagine to restructured themselves out their jobs. A shared vision needs to emerge for restructuring to take place aligned with globalization.

So, I am now convinced that FERC, the CPUC and the three largest California utilities actions were integral part of the natural systemic response that led to the vicious circle of the mistaken efforts that has had a large impact on the delay of restructuring worldwide. As you all know, I disagree with FERC chief that "Deregulation is here to stay,” unless they introduce the EWPC market architecture and design paradigm shift that leaves regulators with just price control over the electric transportation utility. As can be seen in the article Demand Integration is NOT the Province of Politics, state and federal governments have already come to a dead end with the many incremental extensions of the old vertically integrated utility paradigm.

In Don Giegler’s quote of Jordan, the "... disastrous restructuring of California's electricity industry and that artificially created market structures have many unintended consequences..." were all the time under FERC, CPUC and the three large California utilities, as can be seen in the EWPC article Slicing the Last of the Regulated Monopolies (the update to the article by Lester P. Silverman, a director of McKinsey & Company, on The New York Times of July 21st, 1996, is highly recommended reading for everyone):

“The California Public Utilities Commission issued a decision in December 1995 that made it official: the investor-owned electric utility industry in California will be restructured to allow for wholesale and retail competition beginning in 1998,” as it is reported in Barbara R. Barkovich & Dianne V. Hawk, "Charting a new course in California," IEEE Spectrum, July 1996, pp. 28-29.

Barkovich and Hawk, reported something Mr. Silverman didn’t know: "The debate in California has changed remarkably over the past year or two. Discussion now focuses not on whether retail competition or direct access is possible, but on how to make it happen. The three California investor-owned utilities affected by the commission's decision convened an industry working group, called the Western Power Exchange (Wepex) to address the issues related to implementing the new competitive retail market. Its responsibility has included making three filings to FERC by the end of April 1996, seeking [I am copying only the filing to break transmission and distribution, to keep native load and avoid competition]:

• A determination of the dividing line between transmission, over which the FERC has jurisdiction, and distribution, whose regulation is expected to be left to the states."

So, by not allowing retail competition was one of the key issues that delayed proper worldwide restructuring with the The BIG California LIE, whose summary 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.”

Now I update my mechanistic thinking with a systemic one, not to say that in the BIG California LIE, the CPUC and FERC also acted very irresponsibly. In fact, I take back that “the three big California utilities, that didn't care about the end-customers, acted very irresponsibly,” as it adds unnecessary confrontation. In fact, the Fifth Discipline explains that “We all tend to blame someone else… for our problems. System thinking shows us that there is no separate ‘other’; that” the CPUC, the California utilities, FERC, and the customers “… are part of a single system. The cure lies in your relationship with your ‘enemy.’”

Finally, lets’ look at Paul Ingrassia’s remaining lessons under EWPC:

Lesson One: “Incremental progress shouldn't be dismissed.” Agreed once a very clear shared vision, like that of EWPC paradigm shift is understood allowing high level leadership to take place.

Lesson Three: “New technology will require new infrastructure, presenting a chicken-or-egg problem,” that is solved by restructuring under EWPC and applying Lesson One.

It seems that the missing element is still some a top down action like the one by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt or even GM’s President Mr. Cole that “had the guts and the clout” to resolve a car infrastructure issue. Now that oil is very costly, and global warming seems to be a great threat, the alternative I am proposing is to generate a worldwide network public opinion leadership or grassroots movement to try to tell elected officials what to do.

While remaining open to debate and dialogue to come up with the emergent shared vision, I suggest readers to browse the first 90 EWPC articles and select those of interest in the links First 45 EWPC Blog Articles and Second 45 EWPC Blog Articles.



martes, febrero 19, 2008

BID 2008: Competitividad Sistémica y Electricidad

En la entrevista El BID profundizará más combate pobreza extrema a Moisés Pineda, representante del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) en el país, publicada en el Listín Diario, Cándida Acosta le preguntó: Qué otro proyecto importante podemos aprovechar como país?

Pineda contestó: Este es un año donde nosotros queremos profundizar el conocimiento del país. En este año esperamos que se pueda contratar una operación de rápido desembolso para fortalecer todo lo que es el Plan Nacional de Competitividad Sistémica. Y también hemos recibido una invitación para participar en una operación con el Banco Mundial que apoye a la distribución en el sector eléctrico. Vamos a elaborar la estrategia de país después de tener la discusión de las notas de políticas. Nos interesa mucho conocer la economía política en el sector eléctrico y el desempeño de muchas de las instituciones dirigidas hacia la competitividad.


lunes, febrero 18, 2008

Electricid​ad Competitiv​a: Si Queremos, Podemos

Con esta campaña electoral se debería garantizar que el partido ganador inicie la solución definitiva de la crisis de electricidad, respondiendo a una visión compartida que permita colocarnos como los líderes de los sectores eléctricos del mundo. Ese liderazgo está basado en una idea muy sencilla, similar a la de la tierra redonda en aquel momento en que todos creían que la tierra era plana: la electricidad es competitiva al por mayor y al detalle.

La idea impulsa una estrategia que genera rentabilidad proveniente de la tercera revolución industrial y que requiere disminuir el poder del gobierno para regular la electricidad con base a nuevas reglas de juego estables y transparentes. Esas reglas atraerán al segmento de inversionistas innovadores con capital productivo fresco y asequible, en vez de inversionistas con capital financiero a elevadas tasas.

La reducción del poder del gobierno no vendrá por iniciativa de los políticos. Vendrá de una visión compartida por las fuerzas vivas y productivas de la nación, en apoyo a la competitividad sistémica para responder a la globalización.

Aunque no estamos acostumbrados a pensar que en ocasiones la forma más rentable es la de cerrar paulatinamente un negocio, este es precisamente el caso de las distribuidoras que no son competitivas. Si se insiste en privatizar las distribuidoras que desaparecen como tales en la visión, estaremos en efecto retrocediendo y dificultando cada vez más el desarrollo del país en la medida que pasa el tiempo. El nuevo proyecto de CDEEE con el Banco Mundial no debe seguir esa reversa.

En diciembre del año 2000, Lester Thurow escribió “en los procesos de globalización los gobiernos están perdiendo el poder de regular sus economías. Si a las firmas no les agrada el sistema de regulación de una nación, simplemente se mueven a países diferentes. . . Los sistemas de regulación de los gobiernos no son tomados tal cual son sino vistos como una selección de restaurantes donde uno puede elegir donde comer basado en el menú ofrecido.”

La República Dominicana ha realizado acuerdos de libre comercio con los dos mercados más importantes del mundo. Sin embargo, los dos gobiernos han aumentado su poder de regular el sector eléctrico haciendo que los precios no sean competitivos. En menos de 10 años gran mayoría de las empresas dominicanas estarán expuestas a todo el rigor de la globalización proveniente de la tercera revolución industrial.





sábado, febrero 16, 2008

First 90 EWPC Blog Articles

This collection of the links, date/time stamp, and introductory words of the first 90 EWPC Blog articles is available as an alternative source to the EWPC Blog. I believe that every article can be though of as a holographic image from a different perspective of the whole EWPC market architecture and design paradigm shift.

90 Uncertain Generation is Here to Stay
Posted At : February 11, 2008 3:28 PM

The discussion with Edward Bair in the EWPC article Two More Lessons from Denmark’s Wind Story ended with the statement “The third lesson is, thanks God, that uncertain generation (wind, solar, etc.) is here to stay!”

89 The Smart Grid Transportation Utility
Posted At : February 4, 2008 9:04 AM

Dramatic and radical change is coming to the electric utility industry as the utility itself evolves to the smart transportation grid, under a complete rethinking of the electric industry. Front and...

88 Two More Lessons from Denmark’s Wind Story
Posted At : February 3, 2008 3:53 PM

The Denmark Challenge - Lessons From an Emerging Wind Power - The people of Denmark have a story to tell in their own Nordic unassuming way. You hear it from quietly proud Per Volund, an engineer, as...

87 Value Creation for the Customers
Posted At : January 30, 2008 12:55 PM

To end value destruction at the interface between the utility grid and the utility enterprise and at the interface between transmission and distribution, a shift from financial to production capital...

86 Innovation and Risk Taking in the Power Industry
Posted At : January 25, 2008 9:58 AM

Open Transmission Access was a great mistake made at the outset of restructuring to preserve utilities rights. To introduce innovation, risk taking and create value for the customers, transmission m...

85 The End of Electric Monopoly Retail
Posted At : January 24, 2008 3:15 PM

By José Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio, Ph.D. Systemic Consultant: Electricity Copyright © 2008 José Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio. All rights reserved. No part of this article m...

84 PCT One of Many Business Model Innovations
Posted At : January 20, 2008 1:23 PM

California panel removes proposed mandate for utility-controlled thermostats - Bowing to public pressure, the California Energy Commission has removed its proposed mandate for utility-controlled therm...

83 Creative Destruction of the Old Electric Paradigm
Posted At : January 13, 2008 12:16 PM

The economic theory of creative destruction is the key force to the destruction of the vertically integrated industry and the emergence of a new paradigm of global or universal electric service. Com...

82 Vertical Integration/Deregulation Debate vs. EWPC Generative Dialogue
Posted At : January 12, 2008 11:52 AM

Thanks Bob, I know that I will not be able to convince anyone that has its own agenda. That is not my intention. I will only respond to clarify what I meant. Adding only that EWPC is about one...

81 Global Electric Service Shared Vision
Posted At : January 9, 2008 12:17 PM

By extending the suggestion of Martin Rosenberg, Editor-in-Chief, EnergyBiz Magazine, a global electric service shared vision is needed. Such shared vision is open to gain a foothold for company vs....

80 A Global Standard Market Architecture and Design
Posted At : January 6, 2008 11:46 AM

One of the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India or China) is poised to be the enabler of a global Standard Market Architecture and Design, if U.S. companies decide to stay behind by keeping in plac...

79 Power System Operation Stocks and Flows
Posted At : January 4, 2008 9:07 AM

An important discovery about the non-trivial aspects of power system planning, operation and control is in the making, under a generative dialogue. Resources are needed to develop an update of Jason...

78 Nanosolar Breakthrough and the Old Paradigm
Posted At : December 19, 2007 12:52 PM

Nanosolar has made great progress as it has faced and apparently surpassed many barriers so far. However, they are still facing the most important barrier, which is the old electric power paradigm...

77 Making Electricity a Commodity
Posted At : December 17, 2007 2:01 PM

To make electricity a commodity, a proper market architecture and design has emerged in the last two years, as the electricity without price controls (EWPC) paradigm. The structural flaws in the cur...

76 Market Research Doesn’t Work Yet for Demand Integration
Posted At : December 15, 2007 7:42 AM

Demand integration is a discontinuous innovation and the reason why the responses of customers are way off with respect to the non-trivial concept of demand response. Politics should NOT continue to...

75 To BE or NOT to BE Smart Metering
Posted At : December 13, 2007 9:04 AM

The lack of a consistent market architecture and design paradigm shift creates a Babel Tower in Ontario. There is a need to consider the whole power industry and not isolated incremental shifts maki...

74 Demand Integration is NOT the Province of Politics.
Posted At : December 6, 2007 1:43 PM

Demand integration and system reliability are not the provinces of politics, but of engineering systems and competition. FERC’s demand response staff assessment begs the question of a properly...

73 Ohio Should Focus on EWPC
Posted At : November 29, 2007 7:44 PM

First Energy Corp. entered into a contradiction by handing a letter signed by prominent economists to show they believe in competitive markets. The contradiction is that the economists...

72 Does EWPC have a “Bystander Problem”?
Posted At : November 22, 2007 2:47 PM

Believe it or not, EWPC is about teaching leadership. As “human beings are a lot more sensitive to their environment than they may seem,” I would like to learn from the bystanders whethe...

71 EEI-ting Your Own Lunch
Posted At : November 22, 2007 1:12 PM

Edison Electric Institute members have empowered the government to take control of the power industry. They should stop dreaming, work hard to ban regulation and to let the market decide by followin...

70 Increased Sense of Urgency of EWPC
Posted At : November 20, 2007 12:38 PM

EWPC sense of urgency is reinforced. As the market architecture and design breakthrough paradigm, EWPC will enable the possibility to a superior development path for the power industry. However, put...

69 EEI California Dreamin’
Posted At : November 19, 2007 3:05 PM

The U.S. power industry is dreaming that it is safe, when in fact the leaves are brown and the sky is gray as the industry is in the NO PROFIT ZONE. To get it safe and warm into the PROFIT ZONE, EEI...

68 EWPC is NOT the Ontario Model Either
Posted At : November 18, 2007 7:36 PM

Just as EWPC is not the UK Model, it is not the Ontario market model either. However, probably with a hidden purpose, Mr. G keeps confusing the de-regulation market model of Ontario with the EWPC ma...

67 To EEI: “Let's Ban Regulation,” Starting in Ohio
Posted At : November 17, 2007 12:24 PM

Should we ban regulation? YES! Go for a paradigm shift to “moving energy” with the EWPC winning market architecture and design breakthrough. The next opportunity then is in Ohio. Now we...

66 We Need Demand Elasticity
Posted At : November 16, 2007 7:05 PM

Say fuel oil increase from $90 to $100 per Barril. 11% increase. What could one expect. The problem with deregulation is that fuel prices are amplified into electricity prices. Expect more than 11% i...

65 EWPC is NOT the UK Model
Posted At : November 15, 2007 8:38 PM

In EWPC there are 8 possible End-State (UK was developed on 4), only one of which is the generic market model paradigm: retail competition with active demand (UK had no active demand) and ultraquali...

64 A New Response to Adrian Lloyd
Posted At : November 15, 2007 3:01 PM

Adrian Lloyd’s is happy to listen. His opinions, which he may change, as he is a well versed and important person, are responded below. This is how EWPC completes the answers Adrian Lloyd c...

63 Financing and Developing Uncertain Generation
Posted At : November 15, 2007 2:33 PM

Another partial response to respond to Adrian Lloyd in this upgrade to Nov. 15, 2007, most viewed article. EWPC is the answer to the difficult question on how to finance and develop uncertain genera...

62 Integrating Uncertain Generation to the Grid
Posted At : November 15, 2007 1:09 PM

As a partial response to Adrain Lloyd, the article Wind Integration: An Emerging Paradigm, can be paraphrased almost entirely by interchanging “wind” with “UG (uncertain generation...

61 Storage is Ready to Cross the Chasm
Posted At : November 14, 2007 11:56 AM

As experienced in the Dominican Republic, the disruptive technology of distributed storage has been ready for prime time for quite some time, lacking a shift to the EWPC paradigm. The reason it has...

60 K2007 Retailers’ Enterprise Solutions
Posted At : November 13, 2007 7:01 PM

An affordable model for retailers’ enterprise solutions business model innovations, based on Free Open Source Solutions, is reported by Bill Opalka at Knowledge 2007. The model suggests how th...

59 Let the Innovations Locate the Smarts
Posted At : November 13, 2007 9:36 AM

An effective smart metering system should develop under competition of business models for several market segments of the power industry. Innovations should be the jury. Let the Innovations Locat...

58 Disintegrating the Grid and Retail Worlds
Posted At : November 12, 2007 3:51 PM

Instead of trying to integrate the grid and the retail sides of the utilities, CIOs should take the results of an essential system analysis that supports the EWPC market architecture and design brea...

57 The EWPC Textbook
Posted At : November 12, 2007 9:04 AM

A textbook on electricity without price controls (EWPC) has been in the making for quite some time. The textbook will answer the paradox, “How much system reliability can you afford?” by...
56 Friendly Comments on Deregulation Update
Posted At : November 10, 2007 10:16 AM

This is an update of Some Friendly Comments on True Electric Deregulation Part 4, posted on Tuesday, December 27, 2005, on the BMH blog. The update is in square "[" "]" brackets,...

55 “Let the Market Decide” in Ohio
Posted At : November 9, 2007 6:29 PM

By endorsing the EWPC market architecture and design breakthrough paradigm shift, the EEI will tell Ohio’s policymakers that energy efficiency is the cheapest, quickest, and cleanest resource...

54 The BOTH/AND Assumption of EWPC
Posted At : November 9, 2007 8:42 AM
By using both the smart grid and distributed resources, EWPC will produce reliable electricity at affordable costs, just like Toyota does with cars. The BOTH/AND Assumption of EWPC By Jos&eacu...

53 The Lecture on EWPC Re-Regulation
Posted At : November 8, 2007 8:33 AM

The new lecture on the power industry is about EWPC re-regulation. With the same old lecture, Professor Banks is correct that E1R2 deregulation is a failure. Dear Prof. Banks, Mr. Somsel and ot...

52 Let EWPC Come to Fruition
Posted At : November 7, 2007 2:08 PM

As ‘the heat of combat is over, and a decision’ about EWPC can now be reached, ‘all the bitterness disappears, and people work hard to bring’ EWPC ‘to fruition in the b...

51 EWPC As The New Internet
Posted At : November 6, 2007 10:54 AM

EWPC is sufficiently flexible to enable a transformation ot the electric power industry into the new internet. EWPC As The New Internet By José Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio, Ph.D. Sy...

50 The "Continuity" Scenario is Gone
Posted At : November 5, 2007 2:57 PM

The future of the power industry is now restricted to the "Tough Times" and "Rising Expectations" scenarios of Deloitte Research, as the "Continuity" scenario is no longe...

49 Positive Returns under EWPC
Posted At : November 3, 2007 10:18 AM

Positive returns in the power industry that existed under vertical integration are now gone. New positive returns will come from business model innovations of retailers’ enterprise solutions t...
48 A New Mistaken Experiment
Posted At : November 2, 2007 1:57 PM

As there are Only Two Stable Paradigms, the electricity-regulation bill approved by Ohio’s Senate is just a new mistaken experiment under economic first, reliability second, tinkering. Mr....

47 Can We Concentrate on Results?
Posted At : November 2, 2007 10:26 AM

Can we concentrate on results? I would say YES, as the knowledge required to decide that the decade old debate between great scams and the apparently lesser and more familiar customer wallet cleanin...

46 Customer Wallet Cleaning Problem and Solution
Posted At : November 1, 2007 9:55 AM
The vertically integrated utilities paradigm has been in a NO PROFIT ZONE for quite some time, letting utilities make a profit under regulation only by the “consumer having his wallet cleaned...

45 Switching Retailers is NOT as Important
Posted At : October 31, 2007 3:02 PM
Dear Fred (Banks), Len, Mike, Fred (Plett), Jim, Steve, and Peter…I am glad that the dialogue is getting more balanced and rich, with the participation of all of you important and intelligent people, on three fronts.

44 Uno Lamm is a Leader Role Model
Posted At : October 29, 2007 2:50 PM

Dear Prof. Banks and readers, 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...

43 Response to Professor Banks
Posted At : October 28, 2007 8:01 PM

Dear Professor Banks and Mr. Gould, As promised, I just published the following articles in energyblogs.com in response to the article and the comments. The Natural Monopoly Transportation Sys...

42 A Little Silicon is Necessary but NOT Sufficient
Posted At : October 28, 2007 7:18 PM

There is more to markets than meter electronics. It is important to understand the need for retailers as the bridge between the retail and wholesale markets. A Little Silicon is Necessary but NOT...

41 A Futures Market under EWPC
Posted At : October 28, 2007 7:03 PM

The elements of a futures market under R1E2 EWPC to lead to an stable and competitive electric markets environment are explained. A Futures Market under EWPC By José Antonio Vanderhorst...

40 Handling Sweden’s Electric Reform Threats
Posted At : October 28, 2007 6:54 PM

Strong leadership is needed to complete the reform process in the Nordid countries to benefit end customers, by introducing a paradigm shift to EWPC, and making them active participants in the elect...

39 The Natural Monopoly Transportation System
Posted At : October 28, 2007 6:05 PM

EWPC provides a new configuration in which the natural monopoly is reduced to the transportation system of the electric market, where the old configuration produces much higher and more volatile pri...

38 The Old Response to Jack Casazza
Posted At : October 27, 2007 2:23 PM

It seems to me that the above comments help understand what has happen to the electricity business. I will use Jack Casazza’s comments and EPRI’s Framework to try to add elements to the di...

37 An Old Letter from Jack Casazza
Posted At : October 27, 2007 2:17 PM

On 12/29/05, Jack Casazza wrote: Dear Jose Antonio, I have been reading the discussions between you, Prof. Banks and others and did not comment previously because I did not have anything to add. I t...

36 The Magic Deregulation Formula
Posted At : October 24, 2007 6:57 AM

Dear Professor Banks, Thank you very much for your challenge (which I found by browsing your article): "I am thinking in particular of the consultant Jose Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio. He admits...

35 Disruptive Technologies Convergence
Posted At : October 20, 2007 3:43 PM

Now that EWPC has emerged, it is to too little, too late, to try to extend the VIUs paradigm beyond its capabilities to integrate the grid and the enterprise. The availability of at least six disrup...

34 No Need for Regulated Price Caps - II
Posted At : October 20, 2007 1:37 PM

Customers’ price caps are the key to the infrequent rational rationing of service. During a transition to EWPC that ends with every customer defining its own price cap, it is important to unde...

33 No Need for Regulated Price Caps - I
Posted At : October 20, 2007 12:23 PM

Missing in the discussion under the article "Meeting Our Need for Electric Power," up to the 19th of October, 2007, are the huge coordination problems of short run unit commitment and long...

32 Full Retail Choice Emerges
Posted At : October 19, 2007 10:46 AM

As customer value migrates a paradigm shift of full retail choice emerges under EWPC from R&D discoveries that allows retail and wholesale competition without incumbent retailers. Full Retail...

31 The Sense of Urgency for EWPC Restructuring
Posted At : October 15, 2007 9:26 AM

There is a strong sence of urgency for the implementation of EWPC. Professor Alberto Ramírez Orquín writes "Soaring prices together with the perception of a deteriorating service/...

30 Give Engineers What Belongs to Engineers
Posted At : October 13, 2007 5:18 PM

Engineers no longer have any possibility to take back the whole industry for themselves. EWPC is a market architecture and design breakthrough discovery that gives engineers what belongs to engineer...

29 Rethinking Electricity Restructuring as EWPC
Posted At : October 12, 2007 3:11 PM

Strong EWPC market architecture and design recommendations to restructure worldwide electricity markets, superseed those proposed in 2004 by Peter Van Doren and Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute by...

28 How TXU Can Take the Lead
Posted At : October 11, 2007 2:30 PM

The Texan’s Market is one of the most likely candidates to start the paradigm shift to EWPC, ending demand forever as an externality. It has been shown that the days of the obsolete VIUs parad...

27 Only Two Stable Paradigms
Posted At : October 11, 2007 12:37 PM

There are two stable paradigms: vertically integrated utilities (VIUs) and electricity without price controls (EWPC). Both have a Reliability First, Economic Second (R1E2), as their non-trivial essent...

26 Financing and Developing Wind Projects
Posted At : October 5, 2007 10:38 AM

EWPC is the answer to the difficult question on how to finance and develop wind projects for all stakeholders to win. The underlying problem is found on the successive extensions of the inefficient...

25 Strategy is NOT Enough to Reach the End-State
Posted At : October 3, 2007 8:22 PM

As he is not his opinion, Dr. Stephen Lee can easily separate the objective, or strategic side of leadership, from the subjective, or culture side of leadership, as to what affect human behavior in...
24 Slicing the Last of the Regulated Monopolies
Posted At : October 1, 2007 5:02 PM

The sense of urgency has arrived to introduce competition in the power industry, with a paradigm shift to EWPC. The shift will sliced the last of the regulated monopolies. Enough insights are now avai...

23 Demand Integration Under EWPC
Posted At : September 30, 2007 3:37 PM

Fred C. Schweppe said that “The demand forecast is always wrong!” To mitigate forecasts errors and introduce stability in the power industry, EWPC integrates demand to power...

22 The Sixth Disruptive Technology
Posted At : September 30, 2007 3:06 PM

A set of 6 disruptive technologies can be identified “To do a better job of managing our dwindling energy resources…” AMI and the Smart Grid are the fourth and fifth disruptive te...

21 Synthesis Proposal Agreement of EWPC
Posted At : September 28, 2007 2:41 PM

There are "8 possible End-State, only one of which is the generic market model paradigm: retail competition with active demand and ultraquality transportation. That is the essence." This i...

20 Conspiracy Theory Against Mr. X
Posted At : September 27, 2007 9:14 AM

A conspiracy theory against Mr. X being a Nobel Prize candidate is written to provide an ordered framework to understand the chaotic events that happened or will happen in the Energy Central Network...

19 2nd Disruptive Technology Crossed Chasm
Posted At : September 26, 2007 8:52 PM

Distributed generation joins demand response as disruptive technologies keeps penetrating the power industry. It is shown the need to change from an incremental change to a breakthrough pace, and fr...

18 Engineers Needed for Lower Prices
Posted At : September 25, 2007 8:03 PM

The paradigm shift from the vertically integrated utilities to the electricity without price control paradigm will lead to lower costs, lower profits and lower prices after a reasonable delay. To ac...

17 Take EWPC Lead & Reap Large Benefits
Posted At : September 25, 2007 9:32 AM

The US Congress, the European Commission, the state of Ohio, and the Dominican Republic, are some the most likely candidates to start the paradigm shift to EWPC, ending demand forever as an external...

16 Utility Trends and Real Paradigm Shift
Posted At : September 24, 2007 2:03 PM

A paradigm shift to EWPC is urgently needed to change the status quo and start integrating distributed resources and good ideas into power sectors all over the world. To all writers and readers,...

15 Free Market and Central Planning, Under R1E2
Posted At : September 24, 2007 8:34 AM

This is my synthesis of the EWPC paradigm shift that maximizes social welfare. Although it is a non-trivial subject, it seems that many intelligent and important readers of earlier posts may just un...

14 IMEUC: Unreliable Service and Price Spikes
Posted At : September 23, 2007 5:45 PM

In response to the suggestion by Mr. Jeff Presley about simulations, it is shown that there is not a need to look further, as a simulator already exists, and its information’s confirm the EWPC...

13 So Far Just ONE Objection to EWPC as Winner
Posted At : September 22, 2007 10:07 AM

As tomorrow's deadline approaches, only Mr. Len Gould has provided a dissent to EWPC as the winning market for the first phase of competition. The second phase is the company vs. company competition...

12 Wind Integration: An Emerging Paradigm
Posted At : September 21, 2007 7:59 PM

Republished from Aug. 20th, 2007. There is a need for a change in mental models to integrate wind to power systems operation. Several generative dialogue suggestions are given to apply the f...

11 Extra, Extra… Goliath is Defeated Once Again!
Posted At : September 21, 2007 7:40 PM

Reprinted from Sept. 17th, 2007 for completeness. David has won! The Electricity Without Price Controls (EWPC) Breakthrough paradigm has finally beaten the Vertically Integrated Utilities (VIU) Para...

10 EWPC - Winner 1st Competition Phase
Posted At : September 20, 2007 1:30 PM

After nearly two years of downloads, debates, reflexive dialogues and generative dialogues, EWPC declared itself as the winner of the first phase of competition in EnergyPulse.net. Dear writers and...

09 Solving Smart Grid Cost Recovery
Posted At : September 20, 2007 8:49 AM

To solve the Smart Grid cost recovery dilemma requires a restructuring of the electric industry in such a way that the regulator gets the right signals. A shift from The Anti-System Utility to EWPC so...

08 A Warning to the US Congress and the European Commission
Posted At : September 20, 2007 6:36 AM

US Congress and the European Commission need to digest EWPC very fast. The political distortions in the power industry at the state level in the USA and at the country level in Europe can be strongl...

07 The Anti-System Utility
Posted At : September 19, 2007 4:35 PM

Vertically integrated utilities don't operate as a system because of a monopoly mindset of incumbents investor owned utilities and political interference. To operate as a system a paradigm shift to...

06 Divine Dispensation of Electric Markets is Gone
Posted At : September 19, 2007 9:32 AM

As a result of David killing Goliath, US Congress has the great opportunity to introduce EWPC to the USA. In addition, the state of Ohio has the first opportunity to reap the benefits of retail comp...

05 The BIG California LIE
Posted At : September 18, 2007 1:56 PM

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 t...

04 Great Opportunities Under New Energy Bills
Posted At : September 17, 2007 1:54 PM

In the copyright protected link Extra, Extra… Goliath is Defeated Once Again!, you may find out how vertically integrated utilities will very soon start to be erased from the face of the e...

03 Breakthough
Posted At : September 16, 2007 8:03 PM

EWPC is a breakthrough that is poised to transform the electricity industry. As the state of Ohio is in the process to re-regulate the industry, they should make the transition to the EWPC market...

02 David and Goliath
Posted At : September 15, 2007 6:49 PM

David is EWPC re-regulation and Goliath is the Vertically Integrated Utilities. Both markets architectures and designs are non-trivial paradigms of the power industry. It is argued, that the paradigm...

01 EWPC Superiority in Carbon Emission Reductions
Posted At : September 13, 2007 8:31 PM

A comparison between the power industry vertical integration and electricity without price controls (EWPC) non-trivial paradigms, will show that EWPC should be adopted in the new US Energy Bill, as pa...



jueves, febrero 14, 2008

Millennium Acoge Propuesta del BID

Cándida Acosta trasnformó la nota GMH Acoge Propuesta BID en la siguiente noticia del Listín Diario de esta fecha.

SANTO DOMINGO.- En este momento en que se insiste en un debate electoral con iniciativas de desarrollo, el Grupo Millennium Hispaniola (GMH), que dirige José Antonio Vanderhorst Silverio, consultor en electricidad, acoge la propuesta del representante en el país del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), Moisés Pineda, de poner en ejecución un “Pacto Eléctrico”.

Pineda propuso a los partidos políticos, al sector privado y a la sociedad civil poner en ejecución un “Pacto Eléctrico” para dar solución al problema energético en República Dominicana. Vanderhorst Silverio considera que es el país que tiene que apropiarse de su propia política en el área eléctrica.

“Igualmente vemos que la institucionalidad se debilita por la falta de soluciones de largo plazo” y no a la inversa. El GMH ha insistido en que se necesita desarrollar una visión compartida de aplicación global para profundizar la reforma y ha desarrollado los conceptos de la Electricidad Sin Control de Precios (EWPC).

Afirma que se trata de una alerta sobre la declaración del BID. Sin embargo, advirtió que un peligro que asecha a la solución de largo plazo es saltar a la conclusión de privatizar las distribuidoras sin realizar la reforma.

miércoles, febrero 13, 2008

GMH Acoge Propuesta BID

Con la noticia Representante BID Propone Pacto Eléctrico, Candida Acosta reporta que “El representante del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) en el país, Moisés Pineda, propuso ayer a los partidos políticos, al sector privado y a la sociedad civil en su conjunto poner en ejecución un “Pacto Eléctrico” para dar solución al problema energético en República Dominicana.”

En este momento en que se insiste en un debate electoral con iniciativas de desarrollo, el GMH acoge el interés del BID y concordamos en que en su conjunto es “el país que tiene que apropiarse de su propia política en el área eléctrica.” Igualmente, apreciamos positivamente que “la institucionalidad se debilita por la falta de soluciones de largo plazo” y no a la inversa. El GMH ha insistido en que necesitamos desarrollar una visión compartida de aplicación global para profundizar la reforma y ha desarrollado los conceptos de la Electricidad Sin Control de Precios (EWPC).

Una alerta sobre la declaración del BID. Un peligro que asecha a la solución de largo plazo es saltar a la conclusión de privatizar las distribuidoras sin realizar la reforma. Las distribuidoras que albergan las redes de distribución y las operaciones de comercialización al detalle son la principal retranca al progreso del sector, al mantener cerrado el mercado de la demanda que es por donde llegarán las innovaciones.

Asimismo, la reforma debe reintegrar las redes de distribución a las redes de transmisión, para facilitar la integración de la generación incierta como la eólica y la solar. Al igual que la generación, la comercialización al detalle debe ser abierta a la competencia. Esa es una visión a largo plazo de la industria global que ofrece grandes oportunidades de crecimiento, nuevas actividades económicas y empleos ligados al comercio exterior.

Invitamos a las personas interesadas en apoyar la estrategia de la EWPC a escribirnos aportando sus visiones personales al respecto.


Representante BID Propone Pacto Eléctrico


Moises Pineda lleva cinco años en el país, pero terminará su gestión pronto para ir a Washington.



Por Candida Acosta, Listín Diario

SANTO DOMINGO.- El representante del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID) en el país, Moisés Pineda, propuso ayer a los partidos políticos, al sector privado y a la sociedad civil en su conjunto poner en ejecución un “Pacto Eléctrico” para dar solución al problema energético en República Dominicana.

Pineda, quien se va del país próximamente a otro puesto en la sede del organismo multilateral en Washington tras cinco años como representante residente del BID, afirma que ciertamente muchas personas le han preguntado la causa por la que no se soluciona el problema energético en este país, y su respuesta es que “los avances no son tan grandes por factores políticos”. Atribuye el problema energético a la debilidad institucional.

Explicó que el organismo entiende que es el país que tiene que apropiarse de su propia política en el área eléctrica y que en sus cinco años aquí ha recibido personas interesadas en que haya mayor injerencia del BID frente a ese problema. “Y lo hacemos a través de las condiciones que pedimos en los préstamos y a veces el avance es gradual. Lo que no podemos hacer es suplir el papel de las instituciones nacionales”.

Pineda sostuvo que si el BID se involucra de esa forma le estaría quitando autonomía a este país en la toma de decisiones, por lo que a través de los créditos fortalecen las informaciones para la adopción de decisiones. “Los avances, a veces no son tan grandes porque dependen de factores políticos”.

En ese contexto, señaló que la institucionalidad se debilita por la falta de soluciones de largo plazo y hay actores que asumen roles que no les corresponden “y eso se debe a la debilidad de las instituciones”. Cree que una posible vía es tener un Pacto, aunque comprende las dificultades del manejo diario en el sector donde hay una especie de trampa para salir adelante.

En cuanto a la estatización de las distribuidoras, el BID sostiene que es bueno que estén en manos del sector privado, siempre que las entidades reguladoras tengan la fuerza para exigir las inversiones que se requieren.

Por esa causa es que Pineda plantea que haya un Pacto Político para proteger y dar un blindaje a las instituciones, a fin de que puedan operar y el país pueda alcanzar su competitividad.

Financiamientos

En un período de cinco años el organismo multilateral de financiamiento ha aprobado al país programas por un monto global de US$900 millones, un promedio de US$150 millones por año, incluyendo los de operaciones de emergencia financiera.

Este año el BID ha aprobado financiamientos de emergencia para hacer frente a los efectos dejados por el paso de las tormentas Noel y Olga por un monto de US$30 millones a los que se suman otros US$10 millones para una operación de mantenimiento vial y está pendiente de ser ratificado por el Senado.

Pendiente en Congreso

El Congreso de la República tiene pendiente de ratificar el proyecto del sistema de administración financiera SIGEF del Gobierno, que ha entrado y salido, puesto que ha perimido en el hemiciclo. El proyecto se considera de suma importancia para el BID.

“Creo que es fundamental, es uno de los mejores proyectos, de los que más valor agregado trae y de los que más orgulloso se debe sentir el Banco, porque ha servido para el reordenamiento de lo que es la administración financiera del Estado, la colección y procesamiento de información, los nuevos procesos para la elaboración de presupuestos y entrega de recursos”, afirmó Moisés Pineda.

Para el Representante del BID en el país ese proyecto es fundamental y es una de las mejores operaciones que tiene el organismo.

El proyecto envuelve unos US$26 millones que conjuntamente con la contrapartida estatal superará los US$30 millones. El operador es la Secretaría de Hacienda. También está pendiente de aprobación un proyecto de mantenimiento vial. Otro programa de mejoramiento de barrios que incluye acciones de vivienda, cuyo capítulo ayuda mucho al combate de la pobreza requiere reactivar la operación que fue cancelada.

martes, febrero 12, 2008

HOY ECONOMÍA - Detengamos el hurto

De acuerdo a mi querido amigo, el destacado periodista Don Mario Rivadulla, con su artículo Detengamos el robo energético, John Heath “puso el dedo sobre la llaga del problema nodal.” Heath opina que el problema nodal “es el fraude eléctrico, el robo de energía, destacando que al presente todavía las distribuidoras apenas logran cobrar el 60 por ciento de la que sirven, cuando el mínimo de cobranza necesario para garantizar un servicio razonable está en el rango de entre el 85 y el 90 por ciento.”La opinión de Heath es correcta si de lo que se trata es mantener el ineficiente y obsoleto sistema actual, así como garantizar la sostenibilidad de las inversiones de los agentes del mercado eléctrico con base a la modificación de la Ley General de Electricidad. El problema nodal es estructural. Uno de los elementos estructurales defectuosos es precisamente la distribuidora y su ineficiente modelo de negocios que no está diseñado para servir al público y que invita a los subsidios del gobierno.

Publicado en el periódico Hoy, sección Economía, página 3E, del martes 12 de febrero de 2008.



lunes, febrero 11, 2008

Uncertain Generation is Here to Stay

The discussion with Edward Bair in the EWPC article Two More Lessons from Denmark’s Wind Story ended with the statement “The third lesson is, thanks God, that uncertain generation (wind, solar, etc.) is here to stay!”

The third lesson is the result that “. . . EWPC re-regulation is key to have a controlled market that enforces system security with a proper mix of supply side and demand side that comes from an open retail and wholesale market. By developing the resources of the demand side a lot of energy storage (a lot of physics!) will be at the disposal of power system planning, operation and control.”

Elaborating on system security and the development of the resources of the demand side is the job of Second Generation Retailers (2GRs). While, Denmark has concentrated on supply side hydro resources for energy storage, under EWPC the aim is for 2GRs to develop business model innovations to exploit all the opportunities of customer energy storage, whether they are industrial, commercial, institutional, agricultural or residential.

The details of my answer to Ed’s questions about the uncertainty of wind power, which can be simplified to his statement “The key question in my mind is the probability that a power provider can honor a contract to deliver 50 megawatts of power at 1 pm on July 23, for example,’ went as follows:

Ed, I asked if you fully understood the meaning of system security, to test whether you knew that it is a function of the whole power system and no a function of one of its parts – the generator. In a market environment in which system security responds to uncertainty, and your power provider has a contract to deliver 50 megawatts (with unreliable base load generators that have forced outage rates of say 5% to 15%) and trips at 1 pm on July 23, for example, other generators, including wind generators, will sell electricity resulting in an economic transaction under EWPC to be paid by the base load generator. It is the very old power pool idea that is important to provide system security at very high system reliability, while providing back up to all the unreliable base load generators. That is how contracts will be honored under EWPC.

Sam Insull's idea of the two part rate is obsolete is the basis for your comment on peak demand. It was design to encourage people use more electricity. Insull and his descendents IOUs would no do business without the demand charge. The widely held belief on the myth that electric generation is a monopoly ended in 1978 and was later revived with The BIG California LIE (please hit the link). As EWPC emerged, the myth has ended.

Fred C. Schweppe et al, in their book "Spot Pricing of Electricity," state very clearly that "demand charge do not send good price signals," and "demand charges are not a good way to recover capital costs." In fact, they say "Since the price signal sent by a demand charge bears little relationship to hourly spot prices . . . customers are not motivated to adjust their usage patterns to match the utility's capabilities." This motivation is the key in demand side system security.

Another problem that I infer from your statements is that generation is owned by financial capital. Since EWPC results in a stable market environment, generation and retail should be owned by production capital.

I hope that you can see the importance of the two lessons (to be) learned that I wrote. The second lesson is that system security is not just about transmission, but transmission integrated with distribution, which I term transportation. The first lesson is that Americans should expand the transportation system at least costs, instead of the crazy rush now in place to invest heavily without much coordination.

By the way, Denmark has now a 20 per cent penetration of wind generation and is planning to go to 50 percent. They are using the Nordic electricity market rules to store wind generation with hydro generation. Just like America, I believe the Nordic market needs a lot of leadership as you can see in the EWPC article Handling Sweden’s Electric Reform Threats [please hit] the link.



miércoles, febrero 06, 2008

A.M. - La nueva clase social

La forma más rápida de ascender social y económicamente en nuestro país es la política. Esto ha creado una nueva clase social en la República: La clase política, que tiene sus costumbres particulares, sus modos, sus intereses e impunidades que preservar y que, por sobre todas las cosas, busca acrecentar su posición en el tablero económico dominicano y mantener su estatus.

Ser político se ha convertido en un objetivo de todos los grupos sociales. Para ser político no se requieren habilidades atléticas ni una edad mínima, como son necesarias para otra profesión atractiva: ser pelotero.

Tampoco se requiere un gran intelecto. Ser hábil es muy importante, como también ser aguerrido y osado. Si tiene condiciones para el engaño y mantiene una cara de jugador de póker diciendo la mentira más grande, usted está calificado.

A la clase política dominicana le ha ido tan bien, que ya no necesita de la ayuda de los burgueses tradicionales para participar en las elecciones. Basta haber pasado por el poder y tener aspiraciones, para que de repente aparezcan contratas, dinero por la izquierda y cuantas formas de apropiación de capitales existan en el manual de cómo hacerse rico rápidamente.

La clase política tiene también su cultura. Es adicta a los abrazos, a las yipetas y a las queridas. Todos se recelan, porque siempre habrá otro, dentro o fuera del partido, que quiere quitarle el puesto, pero difícilmente se agredan físicamente. Eso es para las bases, no para los políticos.

Les gusta comer bien y exigen bebidas de calidad. Es una cuestión del estatus ganado. En general son meteóricos: cuando están en buenas, todos los ven, pero se esconden cuando están en malas, y estar abajo "hiede".

atejada@diariolibre.com

martes, febrero 05, 2008

El Genio de la Y: Sostenibilidad y Bienestar Social

En la nota Detengamos el Hurto y Aumentemos el Bienestar Social se conjuga uno de los importantes postulados del libro "Built to Last," de Collins y Porras que es "El Genio de Y." No se trata de elegir entre detener el hurto y aumentar el bienestar social. De lo que se trata es hacer las dos cosas.

Hace año y medio, con la nota Evitemos un Crimen de Grandes Proporciones con el Genio de Y decía lo siguiente:

La mayoría de la gente quiere una solución a la crisis de electricidad. Este es el enfoque de la sabiduría convencional, aunque los que se aprovechan de la crisis podrían no estar de acuerdo con que se resuelva. Una gran masa de clientes produce pérdidas, pero muchos de ellos tampoco reciben beneficio de la electricidad. El objeto principal de la solución sobre el tapete es reducir esas pérdidas para garantizar la sostenibilidad financiera del sector eléctrico, lo cual es imposible sin también asegurar que se satisfagan al mismo tiempo las necesidades de los clientes.

Generemos otras oportunidades inherentes a la crisis eléctrica, ya que detrás de la gran crisis existen grandes oportunidades. Esas oportunidades son tanto para reducir la gran destrucción de valor que a pocos les beneficia, como también para generar nueva creación de valor con la inversión en tecnología e innovación. Los beneficios de los pocos que se aprovechan de la crisis son mucho menores que los de las oportunidades que están disponibles para generarse con una profundización de la reforma que introduzca la competencia al por mayor y al detalle.

Las opciones de competencia que los detallistas ofrezcan, hará que la mayoría de los clientes individuales que reciban beneficio asegurado de la electricidad la pagarán por quedar satisfechos. El objeto principal es generar nuevas oportunidades de negocios y empleo para aumentar substancialmente el valor que ofrece la electricidad y de paso satisfacer las necesidades particulares de cada cliente individual, así como impulsar el crecimiento de la economía.

Por mucho tiempo se creyó que un vehículo de mayor calidad tendría que ser un vehículo más costoso. Era posible que el precio del vehículo fuera más caro, pero cuando se suman los costos de operación y mantenimiento el de mayor calidad resulta menos costoso. Mercedes Benz ofreció a precios elevados esa opción hasta que Toyota la superó. Mayor calidad Y menor costo es la referencia de hoy. Es lo que Jim Collins llama el “Genio de Y.”

Por el “Genio de Y” podemos pensar en menor costo y mayor valor simultáneamente. Es por eso que el GMH quiere que desarrollemos ambas: solucionemos la crisis Y aprovechemos las oportunidades. Si desaprovechamos el potencial de generar oportunidades para los dominicanos y extranjeros, estaremos cometiendo un crimen de grandes proporciones.

Los que se aprovechan de la crisis tendrían un mayor espacio para aprovecharse proactivamente de las oportunidades si dejan de aprovecharse de la crisis. Con ambas soluciones se reducen los costos de la electricidad y se aumenta el valor que reciben los consumidores de la misma. Por el “Genio de Y” podremos profundizar la reforma para: financiar las inversiones de los agentes Y satisfacer las necesidades de los clientes.


Detengamos el Hurto y Aumentemos el Bienestar Social

De acuerdo a mi querido amigo, el destacado periodista Don Mario Rivadulla, con quien me han unido lazos de trabajo y amistad de muy largo tiempo, con su artículo Detengamos el robo energético, John Heath “puso el dedo sobre la llaga del problema nodal.” Heath opina que el problema nodal “es el fraude eléctrico, el robo de energía, destacando que al presente todavía las distribuidoras apenas logran cobrar el 60 por ciento de la que sirven, cuando el mínimo de cobranza necesario para garantizar un servicio razonable está en el rango de entre el 85 y el 90 por ciento.”

La opinión de Heath es correcta si de lo que se trata es mantener el ineficiente y obsoleto sistema actual, así como garantizar la sostenibilidad de las inversiones de los agentes del mercado eléctrico con base a la modificación de la Ley General de Electricidad. En mi artículo HOY ECONOMÍA - El hurto no es el problema, explico que el problema nodal es estructural. En particular, uno de los elementos estructurales defectuosos es precisamente la distribuidora y su ineficiente modelo de negocios que no está diseñado para servir al público y que invita a los subsidios del gobierno. También explico que la solución es emergente.

En el tercer considerando de la Ley General de Electricidad original se destacaba “Que a partir de la década del 70, diversos factores combinados determinaron una profunda y sostenida crisis en el suministro de electricidad debido a elevados incrementos en los precios del petróleo y derivados, principal fuente energética del país, insuficiente capacidad de generación instalada y excesivas pérdidas en los sistemas de transmisión y distribución.” Es evidente, que el mayor problema de tales pérdidas de distribución, en las que el hurto es el principal elemento, no ha podido ser enfrentado por las distribuidoras capitalizadas por defectos en el sistema previstos en la ley. Para mayores detalles, sugerimos ver también la nota El Hurto NO es el Problema Parte 2.

Si de lo que se trata es la sostenibilidad del sector completo para ofrecer el máximo bienestar social, incluyendo también las inversiones de los clientes, la opinión del Heath es incorrecta a la luz de los nuevos descubrimientos en la materia. El cambio estructural, que requiere una nueva Ley de Electricidad, pondría detallistas de electricidad a competir unos con otros, garantizando no solo detener el robo energético más rápidamente y de forma definitiva al ofrecer un servicio con calidad a cada cliente individual, sino crear nuevas oportunidades de negocios y empleos con elevado potencial de exportación.