Technology ´90: power and energy

Significant events and issues of 1989 are examined. Among them are the growing number of mergers and attempted mergers. These, along with concrete proposals for new Federal clean air legislation, hint at structural changes in the electric utility industry. Competitive and environmental concerns also fostered technical advances, particularly in the harnessing of renewable- and alternative-energy sources and in the use of computers to monitor and control interconnected high-voltage transmission networks. At the same time, important US commercial efforts to develop relatively nonpolluting alternative energy technologies were being sold to overseas investors. Changes in Federal regulations governing relicensing of hydroelectric power plants have also prompted activity by the utilities, as some 300 hydroelectric plants are due for relicensing before the turn of the century