For more details, please call Kenneth Downey at +1 617 866 5138

Service Benefits

The service provides objective, independent research that can help your organization

• Understand changing economics, patterns of demand, power markets, technologies, new players, and emerging business models.
• Make long-term investment decisions, including optimal choices for new generation by fuel or renewable source, and avoid decisions that could be ill-matched to the evolving policy landscape.
• Develop company policy positions as future CO_2,renewables and efficiency policy programs and regulations are developed by federal, state, and provincial governments.
• Assess the impact of regional power, fuel, and environmental allowance markets on competitiveness, and use this knowledge in setting your corporate “point of view.”

Future Research Themes: Big Questions

Members receive strategic reports that address questions of critical importance to the power industry:

• What will a US federal greenhouse gas policy look like, and what will be its impacts?
• What will be the trend of long-term power demand growth?
• How will transmission expand?
• How will the renewable power investment landscape change?
• Where are retail power prices heading?
• What kind of generation capacity will be built?
• Are there game-changing technologies on the horizon?
• What is the outlook for regional power markets?
• What will be the winning business models and company strategies?

Recent Research

• State-mandated Renewable Energy: Expect Compliance Wiggle Room. State renewable portfolio standards (RPS) will continue to support the development of renewable energy resources in the United States. Although a federal renewable electricity standard is under consideration, any such policy will take time to implement and will not necessarily supersede state policies, particularly where tate targets exceed a national target. Thus, RPS will remain an important factor shaping renewable energy markets. In some states, however, a number of industry and economic factors will challenge their implementation as originally envisioned.
• Residential Electricity Consumption: A Complex Interaction of Countervailing Forces. Aggressive new state policies are compelling the US power sector to evaluate whether investments in demand-side energy efficiency can produce a significant reduction in power demand growth. Electricity consumption and residential electricity consumption in particular, however, are complicated phenomena influenced not only by policy but also by technological, social, and economic factors.
• Blazing the Trail to a Smarter Grid. A convergence of factors, including policies, regulations, company strategies, public concerns, and the availability of advanced technologies, that have arrived at the economic threshold has provided momentum for the adoption of smart grids. Adding “smarter” technology promises to equip the power grid with advanced capabilities and could have a transformational impact on how utilities operate their systems, interact with their customers, and conduct their businesses.

Research Deliverables

Fundamentals Reports
IHS CERA’s Regional Market Briefings providing an integrated view of the regional power landscape, projecting short- to medium-term developments and trends in the regional power markets. Issued semiannually, the Briefings are accompanied by projections of on-peak and off-peak power prices and spark spreads on a monthly basis; and yearly capacity and reserve margin projections. The regions are

• Northeast Power Market (including Ontario)
• South Power Market
• Midwest Power Market
• ERCOT Power Market
• WECC Power Market (including British Columbia, Alberta)

Data Center

• Supply/Demand/Price Outlook, updated quarterly, for five years forward, for US and regional power markets and emissions and coal markets. Basic industry-level historical data are also available.
• Profiles of the North American regional power markets, which cover a market overview, supply and demand outlook, major market players, transmission, market policy and structure and the retail market.

Strategic Reports
Driven by the service’s Big Questions, which have implications for corporate leaders, investors, government policymakers, and energy users. The answers to these questions will set the stage for the strategic future of the industry. These reports are delivered as Private Reports and Decision Briefs.

Access to research staff

Multimedia conference calls to help members interpret key trends and market developments

Events: Exclusive member gatherings fostering interaction among senior-level decision makers and IHS CERA experts. Membership includes seats at IHS CERA’s Executive Roundtables, held each spring and fall. Members may also attend CERAW^_EEK,featuring IHS CERA’s Executive Conference and related events, held annually in Houston, for a reduced fee.