Dr. Gülen has worked with ministries, regulatory agencies, national and private energy companies, utilities, universities, and NGOs to help them address their short-term energy questions and develop longer-term strategies.

 

Between 2000 and 2011, most international efforts were supported by development agencies such as the USAID and World Bank; others by local associations or companies. Depending on the country and the timing, a wide range of issues, all with a focus on local specific needs, were covered, including electric power sector reform, natural gas pipeline and market development, electric power and natural gas regulatory frameworks, upstream contracts and local content. 

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In the late 1990s and early 2000s, many U.S. companies were expanding their international electric power operations as countries restructured their industries dominated by state monopolies. Natural gas was becoming a preferred power generation fuel. However, there were large gaps across natural gas and electric power sectors in terms of infrastructure, and legal and regulatory maturity. Conditions differed significantly across countries without established best practices to reform. For a six-month period in 2000, Dr. Gülen appraised electricity laws and regulations in Latin America and Europe to assess legal and regulatory risk to Duke Energy International’s electricity and natural gas projects. This work overlapped with comparative assessment of gas and power laws and regulations in seven countries for Texaco Natural Gas International.  

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Some projects, mostly in the United States, went further into detail in terms of background research and modeling needs. For example, Dr. Gülen developed a statistical approach to normalize upstream drilling and completion costs around the world for one client, and, for another, modeled the economics of smart metering electricity consumption of certain load profiles in the early days of the ERCOT market. Most recently, he and colleagues compared the pros and cons of several scarcity pricing approaches in wholesale electricity markets.

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In short, different problems and clients need different approaches and tools. Listening to the problem description and developing answers together with the client by exploring the links across energy value chains as well as legal and regulatory context is critical. To learn more, email.