After unknown saboteurs toppled a strategic pylon near Lethabo Power Station in the Free State in November 2021, almost causing the country to plunge into stage 6 load shedding, Eskom’s chief executive officer André de Ruyter declared: ‘This was clearly now an act of sabotage and I think we can call it as such.’ Who was behind this, and what is their ultimate goal?

Since his appointment in January 2020, De Ruyter has faced intense opposition from within the power utility as he attempts to clean up corruption and return the electricity company to a semblance of its former glory. He is not alone. Chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer and other trusted allies in Eskom have also come under intense fire. From forensic investigations and botched probes to accusations of racism, De Ruyter and Oberholzer have spent significant amounts of time fending off allegation after allegation. Amid this onslaught, it has become clear that their enemies will take any measures necessary to have them removed from office.

Based on exclusive interviews with De Ruyter, Oberholzer and other key figures, Sabotage is a story of conspiracy and subterfuge at South Africa’s ailing power utility, uncovering the power struggles that threaten the country’s very survival.

Since the late 1980s, policy makers and regulators in a number of countries have liberalized, restructured or "deregulated" their electric power sector, typically by introducing competition at the generation and retail level. These experiments have resulted in vastly different outcomes - some highly encouraging, others utterly disastrous. However, many countries continue along the same path for a variety of reasons.
This book examines the most important competitive electricity markets around the world and provides definitive answers as to why some markets have performed admirably, while others have utterly failed, often with dire financial and cost consequences.
The lessons contained within are direct relevance to regulators, policy makers, the investment community, industry, academics and graduate students of electricity markets worldwide.
- Covers electicity market liberalization and deregulation on a worldwide scale
- Features expert contributions from key people within the electricity sector

Electricity is a basic requirement for a modern economy, and transmission grids at the center of transition to a low-carbon power system. They are the principal means to integrate large shares of wind and solar power and they are essential to ensuring a secure and reliable electricity supply. Grid companies around the world are struggling to find their niche in this transition. The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) is one of the principal players in this round of global competition. Central state-owned enterprise (SOEs), such as SGCC, continue to hold the 'commanding heights' of the Chinese economy. Their relationship with the Party-state is crucial to understanding the questions of whether SOEs take orders from, and do the bidding of, the Chinese Communist Party, and how they operate under the state ownership and with a wide range of operational autonomy and expectation that they are profit-maximazing corporations. This book examines the origin, development and expansion of SGCC, the world's largest utility company and the 7th largest corporation. By telling both the electricity story and the SOE story, it provides insights into the challenges facing the grids and their possible futures. It challenges the orthodox account of Chinese politics that portrays SOEs as little more than puppets, jumping to every demand of the Party-state. It shows that SGCC has been built into a modern corporation by entrepreneurial managers. By extending its operation to four continents, SGCC is now a global player, competing with its peers and also having its input in the future low-carbon electricity system. This book challenges the popular interpretation of Chinese government. Piling detail on detail, it provides a comprehensive picture of Chinese political economy that is both new and utterly convincing.

A practical, accessible introduction to the evolving electric power industry

As the industry environment transforms from a completely regulated setting to a broader, deregulated marketplace, new market participants must understand planning and operations of power systems to effectively participate in markets. This industry overview provides a description of utility operations and traditional planning, and then explains asset management, investment analysis, and risk management within the context of a market environment. Written to provide a broad, working knowledge of the industry, Electric Power Planning for Regulated and Deregulated Markets:

Includes descriptions of generation and transmission network equipment

Provides an overview of the regulatory framework, system design, and systems operations for ensuring reliable delivery of power

Presents system planning across different time horizons with the objective of minimizing power production costs

Explains the principles and architecture of a market environment, coupling operational imperatives with financial transactions

Addresses approaches of various participants, including power producers, retailers, and integrated energy companies toward bidding in day ahead markets, managing risks in forward markets, portfolio development, and investment analysis

Provides numerous examples addressing cost minimization, price forecasting, contract valuation, portfolio risk measurement, and other challenges

Examines past news events and explains what went wrong at Three Mile Island, the Northeast blackout of 2003, and the California energy crisis

This is an ideal reference for professionals in the public and privatepower service sectors, including engineers, lawyers, systems specialists, economists, financial analysts, policy analysts, and applied mathematicians.

Worldwide, the electric utility industry has been changing over the last several years as deregulation and privatization have been instituted. These changes in how the industry does business are summarized, and the evolving experience of the deregulation in 15 major countries is analyzed. In addition to the analysis, theoretical models and detailed case studies are provided to illustrate the changes. Utility regulatory agency personnel, utility management staff, and research professionals will all be interested in this work.

Before the energy crisis of the 1970s, electricity provision was a non-issue the world over, but the crisis of 1973 induced policymakers worldwide to consider private and restructured electricity provision as an alternative to unified, publicly and privately owned systems. Czamanski examines arguments and experiences concerning the divestitute of state-owned enterprises in a variety of political and technological contexts. He also considers restructuring under the Thatcher government in Great Britian, the reforms drafted by Czamanski in Israel, and restructuring in the United States as well as events in Norway, the Pacific Rim, Canada, and the developing countries. In addition, he considers the advantages and disadvantages of privatizing through theoretical discussion and by exploring experiences in various countries.

Competition in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity is of increasing interest to policy makers as well as to buyers and sellers of power. The use of competition as a social policy tool to benefit consumers carries the necessity of preserving competition when it is threatened by mergers or other structural changes. The work explains central principles of antitrust economics and applies them to mergers in the electric power industry. This work focuses on mergers, but the economic principles explained here will be useful in analyzing many important issues flowing from growth of competition in electric power. For example, proper definition of markets and analysis of market power will be useful in decisions on whether to continue regulation.

It is now almost twenty years since liberalisation and the introduction of competition was proposed for electricity utilities. Some form of restructuring has been widely adopted around the world to suit local objectives. The industry now faces new challenges associated with global warming, rising prices and escalating energy demand from developing countries like China and India. The industry will have to cope with; managing emissions; managing variable energy sources like wind, dev eloping clean coal technology; accommodating distributed generation and new nuclear stations and managing the impact of these developments on the distribution and transmission networks. It is now necessary to consider how the various market structures that were adopted have performed and how they will address some of these new issues and what further changes might be necessary.

This volume presents an all-inclusive analysis of the electricity market structures that have been adopted around the world and how they are performing. It provides an up-to-date analysis of the cost of competing technologies, the operation of energy and ancillary service markets and the impact of renewable sources and emission restrictions. It takes a forward look at likely future developments necessary to cope with the new emerging issues.

Part One introduces industry infrastructure, analysing state utilities, the motives behind liberalisation and the resulting structures.

Part Two considers generation costs, including renewable generation costs, and investigates the cost of restricting emissions as well as transmission and distribution costs.

Part Three discusses market operation, describing how costs affect the organisation of power generation. It covers trading arrangements, ancillary services, international trading and investment.

Part Four looks to future markets and technological developments that will shape the industry through the next twenty years. This includes the appraisal of investment opportunities for global power companies and implications for market performance.

Written by an internationally renowned consultant engineer, this book is full of expert insight and balances fundamental methodology and academic theory with practical information and diverse worked examples.

This is an excellent reference on the topic for power system engineers, regulators, banks, investors, and government energy agencies. With its many worked examples, it is also a brilliant tutorial accessible for postgraduates and senior undergraduates in electrical and power engineering.

This book uses electricity-sector reforms to question some of the preconceived ideas concerning the MENA region and to provide a broader analysis of related political economy issues. It presents potential further developments of MENA's electricity-sector reforms, taking into consideration the region's unique constraints and opportunities, and discusses the practical limits of reform and deregulation. Specifically, it examines the relationship between reforms and oil prices from a new perspective and presents alternatives to the Single Buyer Model. Complementing existing research on electricity-sector reforms in other emerging markets, the book provides a new analytical framework for assessing reforms that can be easily applied to other markets and sectors.

Technologies such as renewable energy alternatives including wind, solar and biomass, storage technologies and electric engines are creating a different landscape for the electricity industry. Using sources and ideas from technologies such as renewable energy alternatives, Research and Technology Management in the Electricity Industry explores a different landscape for this industry and applies it to the electric industry supported by real industry cases. Divided into three sections, Research and Technology Management in the Electricity Industry introduces a range of methods and tools including technology assessment, forecasting, roadmapping, research and development portfolio management and technology transfer. These tools are the applied to emerging technologies in this industry with case studies including data from various organizations including Bonneville Power Administration and Energy Trust of Oregon, from sectors including lighting and wind energy. The final section considers innovation through these technologies. A product result of a collaboration between Bonneville Power Administration and Portland State University, Research and Technology Management in the Electricity Industry is a comprehensive collection of methods, tools, examples and pathways for future innovation in the electricity industry.

Peak Load and Capacity Pricing lays out clear pricing strategies for understanding peak load and capacity pricing structures, further cementing electricity's role as an asset class with fixed and variable costs.

Packed with case studies and practical real-world examples, Electricity Marginal Cost Pricing Principles allows regulators, engineers and energy economists to choose the pricing model that best fits their individual market.

Written by an author with 13 years of practical experience, the book begins with a clear and rigorous explanation of the theory of efficient pricing and how it impacts investor-owned, publicly-owned, and cooperatively-owned utilities using tried and true methods such as multiple-output, functional form, and multiproduct cost models. The author then moves on to include self-contained chapters on applying estimating cost models, including a cubic cost specification and policy implications while supplying actual data and examples to allow regulators, energy economists, and engineers to get "a feel" for the methods with which efficient prices are derived in today s challenging electricity market. The book is accompanied by a companion website which will allow for the testing of methods and validating results.

A guideto cost issues surrounding the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity

Clearly explains cost models which can yield the marginal cost of supplying electricity to end-users

Real-world examples that are practical, meaningful, and easy to understand

Explans the policy implications of each example

Provide suggestions to aid in the formation of the optimal market price"

Consume thy rival may be the new law of corporate survival in the U.S. utilities industry. This book describes close to $70 billion of global utility mergers stemming from the anticipated deregulation of the U.S. gas and electrical utilities industries. Occurring from 1995 to 1997, these mergers are completely restructuring U.S. power utilities. Thirty-seven billion dollars of these mergers, a full 53 percent, occurred abroad. About two-thirds of the foreign mergers were U.S. takeovers, while the remaining one-third was mergers, defensive and otherwise, of U.K. firms with other U.K. firms. This may be the first time U.S. industrial restructuring has generated more investment abroad rather than in domestic markets.

Exploring the diversity of strategies and changes driving these mergers, the author concludes that although complex, the mergers can be explained by strategies traditionally used in domestic M&As. These very large U.S. utilities now consider themselves to be operating in a global industry of private, deregulated utilities, and they are determined to survive through mergers that help them cut costs, spread expenses, and increase profits.

Margot P. C. Weijnen, Zofia Lukszo and Geert Deconinck Abstract The infrastructures for electric power and information and telecommunication services are critical enablers for all economic activity. Both of these infrastructure systems evolved over time as networks-of-networks in an institutionally fr- mented landscape. In understanding and steering the emergent behaviour of these infrastructure systems both their physical network complexity and their social n- work complexity pose a formidable challenge. On top of the socio-technical c- plexity of the electricity infrastructure and the information and telecommunication infrastructure as such, the two infrastructure systems show unprecedented mutual interdependency. Unravelling this multi-level interdependency and identifying strategies to curb the new risks and vulnerabilities it implies for the reliability of electric power services is the goal of this book. It clearly shows that technical so- tions alone will not suffice to ensure the future reliability and security of electricity infrastructure operations. Keywords Cybersecurity * infrastructure vulnerability * infrastructure depend- cies * power systems 1. 1 Infrastructures Are Critical Infrastructures are the backbone of the economy and society. Especially the network bound infrastructures operated by public utilities and network industries provide essential services that are enabling for almost every economic and social activity. M. P. C. Weijnen (*) and Z. Lukszo Technology Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, P. O. Box 5015, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands e-mail: M. P. C. Weijnen@tudelft. nl; Z. Lukszo@tudelft. nl G. Deconinck K. U.

This is an ideal volume for professionals in academia, industry and government interested in the rapidly evolving area at the nexus between energy and climate change policy. The cutting-edge international contributions allow for a wide coverage of the topic.
Energy Diversity and Security focuses on the consideration of financial risk in the energy sector. It describes how tools borrowed from financial economic theory, in particular mean-variance portfolio theory, can provide insights on the costs and benefits of diversity, and thus inform investment decision making in conditions of uncertainty. It gives the reader an in-depth understanding of how to manage risk at a time when the world's focus is on this area. The book provides insights from leading authorities in the area of energy security. It gives readers abundant, rigorous analysis and guidance at a critical time in facing the twin challenges of energy security and climate change. The book also highlights the role of clean energy technology in moving towards future diverse and intelligent electricity systems. It will be a trusted, first point of reference for decision-makers in the field of energy policy.
The book includes a foreword by the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner. All royalties from sale of this book will be donated to charities working in the energy sector in the developing world.
- Theoretical underpinning and applied use of Portfolio theory in the energy sector
- In-depth consideration of risk
- Contributions from leading international energy economists
- Innovative methodologies for thinking about energy security and diversity

The acute energy problems facing China today are characterized by their own histories and realities. Some have come about because of China's energy endowment and stage of development, while others have been created by a combination of domestic and global factors. Some are the results of an accumulation of longstanding contradictions, while others are new challenges posed by the new order. There are no "miracle cures" to solve these problems instantly. What is needed is a tireless enquiry, with goals, planning and procedures, guided by a clear energy strategy. With China's increasing dependence on foreign energy sources, and the global energy situation and greenhouse gas issue exerting an increasingly prohibiting effect on China's energy development, energy diplomacy has become an important component of Chinese diplomatic affairs. Based on a "broad energy outlook", this book studies and analyzes China's energy issues and energy strategies from the perspective of electric power. * Discusses a variety of issues, including energy transportation and allocation, end-user consumption, markets, early warning and emergency, technical innovation * As a leading player in the power and energy area, China s strategies attracts global attention * Proposes the innovative idea of "Macro Energy Perspective" * As a key player in China's energy industrial circle, the author's perspective can help global audiences to understand China's energy strategies better Electric Power and Energy in China is ideal for government energy policy makers, engineers, scientists and enterprise managers to understand China s strategy in electric power and energy. It is also a good reference for energy economics researchers, consultants and university students.

This book attempts to explain what went wrong in California's restructured energy markets and what must be done to restore California's economy and build new electricity systems. The intention here is to reconcile the principles of competition and regulation. California had a severe electricity crisis for about thirteen months beginning in May of 2000. The economic consequences and political fallout that arose from this crisis persist. California's economy continues to suffer and the state's treasury is deeply in debt. The state's three investor-owned utilities were nearly financially decimated. San Diego Gas & Electric has recovered to a greater degree than the other two only because its retail prices are about three times the national average and, for a time, well above the other two IOUs in California. Southern California Edison has recently been restored to investment grade and was granted a rate increase. Pacific Gas & Electric is emerging from bankruptcy. This book discusses all of this in greater detail. The problems and consequences arising from California's ill-fated foray into electricity market restructuring could damage the state for years to come. Challenges of this nature are not new to the Golden State. In the past, as we explain here, pragmatic, not entrenched, approaches have worked best in California. If California is to relatively quickly restore its previous enviable economic vitality and recover from the damage done to tarnish its luster, pragmatic approaches must again be used.

This book addresses the fundamental issues underlying the debate over electric power regulation and deregulation. After decades of the presumption that the electric power industry was a natural monopoly, recent times have seen a trend of deregulation followed by panicked re-regulation. This important book critically analyses this controversial area from a legal and economic perspective.

The blackout of 2003 illuminated just how dependent America is on electricity. It was not just that some 50 million people in eight states and Ontario were cut off from their televisions, microwaves, ATMs, and email. Without the electrical juice to keep their sockets alive, factory managers were forced to close production lines, city managers shut down water deliveries, grocery store clerks watched their frozen inventory slowly melt away. Economists estimated that the blackout cost Americans $5 billion even as energy analysts were predicting that a similar blackout could happen again. The catastrophe forced us to marvel at the unusual ability of sub-microscopic particles to move like waves inside a wire and cause bulbs to glow. It highlighted the complex requirements for managing the massive generators, transformers, transmission lines, and switch boxes needed to tap and deliver flowing electrons. It encouraged us to recognize the profound impact of electricity on all aspects of commerce and culture. Such events as the blackout, the Enron debacle, and the California "brownouts" also reveal the cracks in a 100-year-old industry structure that have been building ever since Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and their contemporaries first managed to harness electricity and make it available to the masses, and tycoons, such as Sam Insull and George Norris, began to concentrate financial control and political influence. From Edison to Enron traces the controversial history of this $210 billion industry--the nation's largest--showcasing the key individuals, technological innovations, corporate machinations, and political battles that have been waged over its domination. Munson maintains thattoday's technological and regulatory infrastructure, as a function of its history, is a relic that has long outlived its usefulness; he points out that two-thirds of the fuel burned to generate electricity is lost, that Americans pay roughly $100 billion too much each year for heat and power, and that environmentally unfriendly generators are the nation's largest polluters. Meanwhile, innovations in technology and business models are being blocked by entrenched monopolies. Ultimately, Munson argues that current policies and practices, including those favored by the Bush Administration, are preventing entrepreneurs from producing more efficient, healthy, and sustainable power supplies. Moreover, he presents an agenda for business and policy reforms that will stimulate economic development in the United States and around the world.

Bridges the knowledge gap between engineering and economics in a complex and evolving deregulated electricity industry, enabling readers to understand, operate, plan and design a modern power system

With an accessible and progressive style written in straight-forward language, this book covers everything an engineer or economist needs to know to understand, operate within, plan and design an effective liberalized electricity industry, thus serving as both a useful teaching text and a valuable reference. The book focuses on principles and theory which are independent of any one market design. It outlines where the theory is not implemented in practice, perhaps due to other over-riding concerns. The book covers the basic modelling of electricity markets, including the impact of uncertainty (an integral part of generation investment decisions and transmission cost-benefit analysis). It draws out the parallels to the Nordpool market (an important point of reference for Europe). Written from the perspective of the policy-maker, the first part provides the introductory background knowledge required. This includes an understanding of basic economics concepts such as supply and demand, monopoly, market power and marginal cost. The second part of the book asks how a set of generation, load, and transmission resources should be efficiently operated, and the third part focuses on the generation investment decision. Part 4 addresses the question of the management of risk and Part 5 discusses the question of market power. Any power system must be operated at all times in a manner which can accommodate the next potential contingency. This demands responses by generators and loads on a very short timeframe. Part 6 of the book addresses the question of dispatch in the very short run, introducing the distinction between preventive and corrective actions and why preventive actions are sometimes required. The seventh part deals with pricing issues that arise under a regionally-priced market, such as the Australian NEM. This section introduces the notion of regions and interconnectors and how to formulate constraints for the correct pricing outcomes (the issue of "constraint orientation"). Part 8 addresses the fundamental and difficult issue of efficient transmission investment, and finally Part 9 covers issues that arise in the retail market.

- Bridges the gap between engineering and economics in electricity, covering both the economics and engineering knowledge needed to accurately understand, plan and develop the electricity market- Comprehensive coverage of all the key topics in the economics of electricity markets- Covers the latest research and policy issues as well as description of the fundamental concepts and principles that can be applied across all markets globally- Numerous worked examples and end-of-chapter problems Companion website holding solutions to problems set out in the book, also the relevant simulation (GAMS) codes

Due to the characteristics of electricity, power markets rank among the most complex markets operated at present. The requirements of an environmentally sustainable, economically efficient, and secure energy supply have resulted in the emergence of several interrelated markets that have to be carefully engineered in order to ensure efficient market outcomes.

This book presents an agent-based simulation model that facilitates electricity market research. Simulation outcomes from this model are validated against price data from German power markets. The results significantly contribute to existing research in agent-based simulation and electricity market modeling, and provide insights into the impact of the market structure and market design on electricity prices.

The book addresses researchers, lecturers and students who are interested in applying agent-based simulation to power markets. It provides a thorough discussion of the methodology and helpful details for model implementation.

The electric power sector operates under an archaic regulatory system that is ill-equipped to oversee a competitive, restructured, regionally-organized industry. This book offers the first systematic discourse on regional aspects of regulatory reform, sharing topical perspectives from leading actors and regional case studies that show how the debate plays out on the ground. It frames the policy debate, applies economic and political theoretical lenses to federalism issues, and outlines options for regulatory reform, modes of cooperation, and an analytical basis for decisions. Most important, it provides a strategic road map for the industry over the coming decade. Contributors include current and former regulators at the State and Federal levels, senior utility executives, leading advocates, government policy makers and academics, including Michael Danielson, Michehl Gent, Kenneth Gordon, Kevin Kelly, Raymond Maliszewski, Richard O'Neill, Jackie Pfannensteil, Mary Sharpe Hayes, Charles Stalon, and many others.

`Electric energy must be treated as a commodity which can be bought, sold, and traded, taking into account its time- and space-varying values and costs.` Spot Pricing of Electricity, Schweppe et al, 1988. Computational Auction Mechanisms for Restructured Power Industry Operation outlines the application of auction methods for all aspects of power system operation, primarily for a competitive environment. A complete description of the industry structure as well as the various markets now being formed is given. A thorough introduction to auction basics is included to explain how auctions have grown in other industries. Auction methods are compared to classical techniques for power system analysis, operations, and planning. The traditional applications of economic dispatch, optimal power flow and unit commitment are compared to auction mechanisms. Algorithms for auctions using linearized power flow equations, DC power flow equations, and AC power flow equations are included. The bundling of supportive services, known as ancillary services within the United States, is discussed. Extensions to the basic auction algorithms for inclusion of supportive services as well as algorithms for scheduling and bidding on generation for GENCOs or independent power producers are presented. Algorithms for scheduling and contracting with customers are also presented for energy service companies. An introduction to the various commodity and financial market products includes the use of futures and options for GENCOs. The material is useful for students performing research on the new business environment based on competition. Regulators will find information on initial methods of designing and evaluating market systems, and power exchange and financial analysts will find information on the interdependence of markets and power system-based techniques for risk management. This information compares the new business environment solutions with old business environment solutions. Computational Auction Mechanisms for Restructured Power Industry Operation provides a first introduction to how electricity will be traded as a commodity in the future.