CUB Wraps Up a Successful #Utility2025
Posted on November 2, 2015 by Amelia Lamb
Tags, Conference & Events
On Friday, October 23 at the Downtown Portland Hilton, we convened the fifth annual CUB Policy Conference, Utility 2025: Building the Northwest’s Energy Future, to discuss the next ten years of energy policy in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. This stimulating, day-long multidisciplinary gathering of 215 energy professionals brought forth a variety of discussions aiming to project today’s trends onto the year 2025 and anticipate changes and innovations that must be pursued in order to meet the energy needs of tomorrow.
The conference opened with Executive Director, Bob Jenks sharing what he is most hopeful about and what keeps him up at night. What frightens him is the pace at which climate change is progressing and the potential for instability in the region due to the on-going price differential between investor-owned and public-owned utilities. He fears this situation may be aggravated if utilities decarbonize too quickly. However, new technologies in energy efficiency, reasonable prices for renewables, and forward thinking and collaborative NW institutions “make the future bright,” Jenks said.
Conference Emcee and CUB Board Chair Dan Jaynes
Jude Noland, Contributing Editor of Clearing Up moderated our first panel of CEOs from NW utilities. Stefan Bird, Pacific Power; Gregg Kantor, NW Natural; Elliot Mainzer, BPA; Scott Morris, Avista; Jim Piro, PGE; and CUB’s own Bob Jenks focused their conversation on the impacts of current and future climate regulation, and a variety of programs comprising the vanguard of adaptive utility strategies. Notably, the panelists reached consensus that, as Jude Noland said, “coal is in the past” and the task facing NW utilities today is to figure out how to divest of remaining coal resources as quickly as possible while maintaining viability and fair rates for customers.
Opening Panelists (l-r): Jude Noland, Stefan Bird, Bob Jenks, Gregg Kantor, Elliot Mainzer, Scott Morris, Jim Piro
The morning breakout session featured “They’re Hee-re…111(d)‘s New Regulatory Reality” discussing the final Clean Power Plan and its expected impacts in the region, and “Distribute This: Generation for a New Generation” which explored the friction and balance between the baseload utility model and various methods of distributed energy generation such as rooftop solar.
111(d) panelists (l-r): Mary Wiencke - PacifiCorp, Rachel Wilson - Synapse Energy Economics Inc.; Cameron Yourkowski - Renewable NW
The second breakout session included the panels “Got Gas? Bridge Fuel or Bridge to Nowhere?” in which panelists examined the role of natural gas in the evolution of a carbon-constrained energy sector, and “The Customer Side of the Meter” which delved into the twin topics of energy efficiency and demand response.
Finally, the third breakout session offered “Let’s Get Loaded: Weed, Web, Wheels and a Growing Load”, a fascinating look at the emerging effects of indoor marijuana agriculture, electric vehicles, and server farms on Oregon’s electric load, and “Beyond the RPS” which asked the critical question, “What comes next for renewables after Oregon’s current RPS is reached?”
Let’s Get Loaded panelists (l-r): Wendy Gerlitz- NWEC, Peter Freed - Facebook, Jeff Allen - Drive Oregon
Oregon Public Utility Commission Chair Susan Ackerman offered the mid-day keynote, “What You Can Expect From Oregon Regulators” which described some of the utility model and distribution system adjustments being explored by other states, and Oregon regulators’ perspectives on adopting similar changes in the next ten years. We wrapped up the day with Dr. Tom Potiowsky, Chair of PSU’s Economics Department and Director of the Northwest Economic Research Center, who gave an articulate as well as entertaining presentation on the economics of climate regulation.
Midday Keynote Speaker Susan Ackerman - Chair, Oregon Public Utility Commission
Closing Keynote Speaker Dr. Tom Potiowsky - Director, Northwest Economic Research Center; Chair, Economics Department, Portland State University
CUB is grateful to our sponsors and partners, listed below, for their invaluable support of this year’s CUB Policy Conference.
• Polar Bear Sponsors:
• Grizzly Bear Sponsors:
• Brown Bear Sponsors: Avista Corp., Bonneville Power Administration, Clearing Up, Iberdrola Renewables LLC, Oregon Department of Energy
• Honey Bear Sponsors: CLEAResult, Davison Van Cleve, Energy Savvy, Energy Trust of Oregon, Enhabit, McDowell Rackner & Gibson PC, Neil Kelly, NW Energy Coalition, Research Into Action, Sierra Club, Renewable Northwest
We also extend our thanks to the speakers and panelists who brought their best ideas and insights, and to everyone who attended. We are already looking forward to the 6th annual CUB Policy Conference on October 14, 2016, so if you want to receive periodic email updates throughout the year, contact us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Bob Jenks thinks the future’s so bright, he’s “gotta wear shades”. Here he is with CUB staff and board members (l-r): Jeff Bissonnette, Fred Huette, Theresa Gibney, Pamela White, Paula Pyron.
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05/02/17 | 0 Comments | CUB Wraps Up a Successful #Utility2025