|
EnerVision held its 3rd Breaking the Mold Conference at
the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center in Atlanta, Georgia on
October 9th and 10th.
Tuesday, October 9th
Nelson Hawk, Chairman of
EnerVision, welcomed everyone to the 2007 conference and introduced
the Keynote Speaker, Dr. Sam Shelton. Dr. Shelton is the Research
Program Director at the Strategic Energy Institute (SEI) at Georgia
Tech.
Keynote
Dr. Shelton delivered a very interesting presentation on
“Strategic Energy Initiatives” – providing his overview/perspective
of electric utility power supply options for the future. He covered
a wide spectrum of topics and set the stage for a very dynamic and
informative conference. Some interesting facts from Dr. Shelton’s
presentation include the fact that U.S. power plants only use 2% of
the country’s oil consumption. He also informed the audience that
the U.S. Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has proposed
environmental legislation that could remove the tax deduction for
home mortgages. This would apply to homes over 4200 square feet.
This additional revenue would help fund energy efficiency
directives.
Integrated Resource
Planning (IRP)
The next session on Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) was
moderated by Elaine Johns, President/CEO of EnerVision. The first
presenter, Jim Dean, is the former Director of Strategic Analysis
for the Florida Public Service Commission (FPSC). He gave a very
thorough outline of how the Florida electric utilizes approach IRP
considerations. Jim indicated that renewables and energy efficiency
must be part of any IRP plan regardless of cost. He also pointed
out that Florida utilities have recently been denied approval to
proceed with coal generations plants. Based on these actions from
the Florida PSC, other utilities have withdrawn their plans for
coals plants. Also, Bill Edwards, Vice President, Regulatory
Affairs for CFC discussed the “Keys to Obtaining Approval”. He
discussed many energy issues that are on the horizon including
nuclear plants, rate issues, and low carbon strategies. He expects
an Energy Act will likely be passed in 2009-2010 that will mandate a
CO2 Tax. This will substantially increase the cost of coal-fired
generation.
Transmission
Transmission was the next subject on the agenda. EnerVision
Vice President, Tom Siegrist moderated a panel of experts discussing
“Why You Need to be Concerned”. The first presenter was Jim
Sheffield, Vice President Morgan Stanley. Jim has been representing
Morgan Stanley in hearings before FERC with regard to RTO and ISO
market strategies. He shared his experience of transmission access
from the power marketer’s perspective. Jim emphasized that market
participants’ involvement is key because the process is driven by
those who participate. It is easier to affect the FERC process now
rather than try to change it later. The next presenter was Mike
Lavanga, Attorney of Counsel, Brickfield, Burchette, Ritts, and
Stone. He gave the audience some captivating case studies regarding
transmission issues from various utilities. Mike indicated that
cooperatives have often been unable to access competitive generation
options because there is no available transmission. He also said
that many utilities don’t want to build transmission to allow more
competitors to come in and compete with their generation. The final
panel presenter was Charles Askey, Principal Consultant from
EnerVision. Charles has extensive experience in transmission from
many viewpoints. He highlighted concerns of the transmission
provider, the network customer and the marketers. Charles said that
individual transmission needs mandate a strong level of involvement
in the Transmission Planning Process. He also indicated that cost
allocation of transmission service is a common concern across many
entities.
Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management (DSM)
“Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management (DSM) –This
Time Around” was one of the anticipated hot topics of the
conference. Elaine Johns moderated the discussion given by Lynn
Stein, Director of E Source and Dennis Creech, Executive Director,
Southface Energy Institute. Lynn provided a detailed look into
different utilities and community approaches to energy efficiency
and DSM programs. She shared that many energy efficiency
technologies have become less expensive and more reliable since
their inception in the 1980’s. She also mentioned that consumers in
certain areas of the country are embracing the resurgence of energy
efficiency and DSM programs due to the issue of global warming.
Dennis previewed the new ECO Office at the Southface Energy
Institute that includes many green and energy efficient features.
He also reviewed many of the DSM successes of the past and the
future. He did indicate that many DSM programs have limited scope
or impact (i.e. CFLs).
Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS)
Nelson Hawk presented “Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS)
Requirements—How You Can Mold Them or How You Can Meet Them”. He
described the different types of renewable resources, the states
activities requiring compliance with new RPS standards, and the
impacts and concerns to various entities. The costs to implement
these programs still seems to be a hot topic among the states. How
will the consumers’ rates be impacted by implementing these
government-driven mandates? The presentation finished on how
electric utilities can help mold regulations that are under
consideration and/or better meet the RPS requirements that are under
development/implementation.
Wednesday, October 10th
Power Supply – Technology
Review
The morning panel was definitely an impressive one. They
presented “Power Supply-A Discussion of Resource Technologies”. The
moderator was Barbara Bauman Tyran, Director, Washington Relations,
EPRI. Barbara gave a terrific overview titled “Electricity
Technologies in a Carbon-Constrained World”. She covered EPRI’s
role in the electric utility industry and the challenges all
utilities are about to face. EPRI predicts that a full technology
portfolio can result in a CO2 price less than ½ of the price from
the limited technology portfolio scenario. By significantly
reducing CO2 emissions, electricity prices could become relatively
insensitive to CO2 impacts according to EPRI.
Panelists from varied power
supply backgrounds provided brief overviews of the technology they
represented. These individuals included:
Nuclear
H. Warren Shows - Vice President, South Region Sales, GE-Hitachi
Nuclear Energy
Pulverized Coal
Bob Brooks – Executive Vice President, LS Power
IGCC
Chris Kellar – Business Development Manager, Southern Power
Company
Solar
Bob Reedy – Solar Energy Research Director, Florida Solar Energy
Center
Wind
Andy Bowman – Senior Vice President, Airtricity
Power Supply – Managers
Panel
Later in the morning, these presenters were joined by a
panel of executives from various electric cooperatives. This group
included:
Lee Layton, COO, Blue Ridge EMC, Lenoir, NC
Michael Whiteside, President/CEO,
Coweta-Fayette EMC, Newnan, GA
Dennie Hamilton, CEO, Lee County Electric
Cooperative, Ft. Myers, FL
Dan McClendon, General Manager, Delta-Montrose
Electric Association, Montrose, CO
A lively discussion was
exchanged regarding costs of the technologies, obstacles with
implementing various technologies, and when will these technologies
be ready to implement on a large scale. Many questions still remain
as government legislation/policies may well drive the future of
these technologies. Differences of opinion clearly still exist
among many parties about how to best meet customers’ future energy
needs while maintaining both reliability and affordable costs.
Comments from conference participants included:
- “Very good job. Great caliber of
speakers.”
- “Excellent overview of the challenges
ahead of the industry…very informative for the challenges
ahead.”
- “Good job. Very well organized.”
If you were unable to attend
the conference but would like a copy of our conference CD, which
contains the presentations from both days, we will be happy to send
you it to you. Simply send an e-mail to
BreakingTheMold@enervision-inc.com and include your mailing
address and contact information as to whom and where we should send
the CD or call us at 1-888-999-8840 to request a copy. |
Conference 
