Heat Wave, Record Power Demand: Don't Just Build More Generation

Lynne Kiesling

Even though most of this article with investment analyst comments on generation capacity and the recent heat wave focuses on how growing demand means there's profit in building more generation, the article does finally get to the good stuff at the end:

Added generating capacity would boost the reserve cushion, but Hartley at Rice University said consumers also could be encouraged to trim energy use in peak hours.

"What we need is smart metering which allows people to sign up with electricity providers to switch power use to off-peak hours and get reduced rates," he said.

"Send a price signal to consumers to conserve and that can free up more power for the peaks," he said.

Gee, what a concept ...