The U.S. Powerhouse
Electricity Abroad The fifth in a new series focusing on international electricity markets. In our latest report, Vincent DeVeau looks at the world's largest and most complex electricity infrastructure: the U.S.
Trying to summarise the U.S. electricity market is a bit like trying to swallow an elephant: it's not impossible, but you can't do it all in one go. In the first place, electricity generation and distribution are organised and controlled not within a single national framework, but by 50 separate states, each with its own providers and regulatory bodies. Some of these companies and regulatory bodies are contained within a single state, while others are the result of multi-state consortia and interstate authorities.
Furthermore, the liberalisation of markets, the ending of regional monopolies and and the introduction of competition, which have become a feature of the European experience, have also occurred in the U.S. - in at least 50 different scenarios. Only the U.S. Department of Energy oversees energy policy at a national level.
Despite all that complexity, some useful generalisations can be made, and the unique circumstances of the United States - from both resource and security perspectives - do offer some interesting insights. Historically, coal has been, and continues to be, the United States' principal natural resource for electrical generation. More than half of of U.S. generating capacity is coal-fired, and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. The abundance of U.S. coal reserves is the principal reason why U.S. consumers enjoy some of the lowest electricity rates of any freemarket economy in the world.
The problem with coalfired generation, of course, is environmental. The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Fossil Energy has been at the forefront of the development of new technologies to virtually eliminate the sulfur, nitrogen and mercury pollutants released when coal is burned.
The FutureGen Industrial Alliance, an international $1billion public-private consortium that includes some of the largest coal producers and users in the world, with membership serving customers on six continents, has partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy to design, construct and operate the world's first coal-fueled, "zero emissions" power plant, scheduled to come on line in 2012. It is envisioned that even greenhouse gases can be contained through the development of new carbon sequestration technologies that can capture and permanently store greenhouse gases. Other new technologies now in development are projected to nearly double coal-fired generation efficiency levels in the next 10-15 years.
While the emphasis on coal continues, natural gas is the fastest-growing fuel source in the U.S., and more than 90% of the power plants scheduled to be built in the U.S over the next 20 years are likely to be fueled by natural gas. Natural gas is also likely to be a primary fuel for new "distributed power generators" - mini-power plants that would be sited close to where electricity is needed.
Nuclear power generation continues to figure largely in U.S. plans, and the U.S. Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology sponsors research and development programmes aimed at maintaining the operating capability of the nation's 103 existing nuclear power plants and developing the next generation of nuclear technologies. Nuclear power plants supply about 20% of the electricity produced in the United States - second only to coal as a fuel source.
Given the size and complexity of the U.S. national grid, reliability and security remain paramount concerns. The Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability leads national efforts to modernise the electric grid, enhance security and reliability of the energy infrastructure, and facilitate recovery from disruptions to energy supply, especially from potential sabotage of this infrastructure by terrorist attack. EM
