Power and energy: Cogenerators battle with utilities before regulators nuclear industry undergoes sweeping changes after Chernobyl explosion operating life is extended at old generating units U.S. manufacturers decline, European makers gain

Last January electric utility executives were confronted with an expanding and unfamiliar market force: competition. The California Energy Commission, for example, swamped with permit applications from industrial cogenerators, had by year's end requests to produce more than 11 000 megawatts of electricity. The commission feared there would be more electricity generated in the state than could possibly be used, a situation that might undermine the economies of utilities.