The Electricity Market & Critical Issues

Several factors affect the supply of electricity for manufacturing including growing consumer demand, limited new power plant construction and environmental impact issues. Record warm summers have been recorded in the last decade. Significantly strong hurricanes have damaged infrastructure in the Gulf region of the US. Environmental restrictions have increased in recent years regarding by-products from energy production. Weather conditions in other geographic areas affect the supply of natural gas, and increased demand in China and India and unrest in other countries add to energy supply problems. The outlook for energy generation for the next decade and beyond is highlighted in this paper.