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About NERA
Since 1961, NERA has provided unparalleled guidance on the most important market, legal, and regulatory questions of the day. Our work has shaped industries and policy around the world. Our field-leading experts and deep experience allows us to provide rigorous analysis, reliable expert testimony, and data-powered policy recommendations for the world’s leading law firms and corporations as well as regulators and governments. Our experience, integrity, and economic ingenuity mean you can depend on us in the face of your biggest economic and financial challenges.
We are pleased to announce Senior Managing Director Jeff D. Makholm and Director Laura T.W. Olive have been recognized in the “Editor’s Choice: Must-Read Research from the Editor in Chief of The Electricity Journal” list. The publications included on the list offer timely and uniquely insightful analysis on globally signification electricity issues. Collectively, they encompass a range of geographical, methodological, and topical focuses curated to engage a wide audience and enhance the positive momentum The Electricity Journal has established.
In second place, from the April 2024 issue of The Electricity Journal, is Dr. Makholm’s article “Toward a Physical Dodge City High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) Electricity Hub.” Dr. Makholm explains the barriers to establishing a physical HVDC electricity hub in Dodge City, highlighting that such a hub could enhance risk transfer and attract financial industry investment necessary for advancing renewable electricity and storage technologies. The primary obstacle is the administrative system developed since the late 1990s, which promotes regional electricity markets based on abstract concepts that overlook geography and investment risk. Dr. Makholm emphasizes that this system centralizes planning and scheduling power in a manner akin to a command economy, hindering market-driven investment in US energy infrastructure. Dr. Makholm concludes that recent actions by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regarding regional transmission organizations (RTOs) reveal a path dependency that state and federal policymakers must address to facilitate the integration of large-scale renewable generation and storage technologies.
In 10th place, from the May 2023 issue of The Electricity Journal, Dr. Olive comments on the complexities of the US-Canada energy trade and provides context for potential future disputes in North America’s transition to clean energy resources in “Walk the Line: The Paradoxical Complexities of US/Canada Energy Trade.” The US and Canada are each other’s largest trading partners, with energy being a significant component of that trade. The infrastructure connections between the two nations have developed through a complex interplay of national politics, unique US federal permitting laws, and special interest groups, beginning with oil and gas pipelines in the 1950s. Dr. Olive presents three case studies to highlight how these factors influence energy infrastructure routes and provide context for potential future disputes as North America shifts to clean energy resources. Dr. Olive concludes that, despite billions of dollars of trade between two allies who share the longest border in the world, history, a lack of understanding from either side of the border, unusual US permitting legislation, and unanticipated special interest groups affect existing energy infrastructure links and have the potential to cause future disputes. But, as they have in the past, institutions can evolve through legislative action and court opinions to resolve those conflicts.