AGENDA - Wednesday, March 30, 2022
12:15 PM REGISTRATION
1:00 PM OPENING KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Barbara Sugg, President & CEO, SPP
1:30 PM Session I - Impact of ESG on the Electric Power Industry
Each of the three elements of ESG investing – environmental, social, and corporate governance – comprises a number of criteria that may be considered, either by socially responsible investors or by companies aiming to adopt a more ESG-friendly operational stance. Join this distinguished panel to hear how the electric power industry, industrials, and the investment community are responding to the evolving reporting requirements and investors’ appetite for ESG and sustainability efforts.
Moderator: Gordon Polozola, Partner, Kean Miller
Panelists:
Amy Gasca, Managing Editor, North American-European Power, S&P Global Platts
Rebecca Kruger, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs
Sandy Nessing, Managing Director for Corporate Sustainability, AEP
2:30 PM NETWORKING BREAK
3:00 PM KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Rob Gramlich, President, Grid Strategies LLC
3:30 PM Session II - Managing the Influx of Renewables
The electric industry is changing in profound ways. The industry’s longtime reliance on conventional baseload power plants is declining sharply, driven by economic factors and consumer preferences for clean energy, among other things. Meanwhile, the grid is becoming increasingly reliant on wind and solar resources that are available only when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining. Managing the system under such conditions will require transformational change in planning, markets, and operations. What coordinated actions will be required to make this transformation a success?
Moderator: Melissa Seymour, Executive Director, MISO
Panelists:
Brent Bailey, Commissioner, Mississippi Public Service Commission - Central District
Casey Cathey, Director, System Planning, SPP
Erik Ela, Program Manager, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
Teran Smith, Vice President, SunChase Power
4:30 PM A Conversation with Phillip May, CEO, Entergy Louisiana; Facilitated by Brian Lloyd, Regional Vice President, External Affairs, Sempra Infrastructure
5:00 PM COCKTAIL RECEPTION
AGENDA - Thursday, March 31, 2022
8:15 AM REGISTRATION
9:00 AM A Conversation with John Bear, President & CEO, MISO; Facilitated by Todd Hillman, Sr. Vice President & Chief Customer Officer, MISO
9:30 AM Session III - RTOs Vision for the Future
Growing concerns about the amount, nature, and funding of continued transmission investment amid rapid industry changes create a need to more strategically consider transmission planning processes across the electrical grid. How will the rapidly evolving state and federal regulatory conditions impact longer-term planning? In what ways might the RTOs coordinate activities related to the MISO Long-Range Transmission Planning (LRTP) and SPP 20-year Assessment processes? How should longer-range transmission planning incorporate and account for the changing resource mix as a result of state and federal environmental policy? The panel will discuss how the RTOs can anticipate what the future grid might look like in order to ensure reliable and economic electricity for end users.
Moderator: Ted Thomas, Chairman, Arkansas PSC & MISO OMS
Panelists:
Aubrey Johnson, Executive Director, System Planning & Competitive Transmission, MISO
Antoine Lucas, Vice President of Engineering, SPP
Jennifer Vosburg, Principal, Jennifer J. Vosburg, LLC
10:30 AM NETWORKING BREAK
11:00 AM Session IV - Grid Resiliency in the Era of Extreme Weather
Increasingly severe hurricanes, flooding, and winter storms have challenged electric utilities’ current infrastructure. Customer needs and expectations are driving regulators and utilities to consider how to proactively harden the grid to provide more resiliency in the face of these storms. The panel will discuss best practices in creating a more resilient infrastructure while balancing costs to customers.
Moderator: Lanny Nickell, Executive Vice President & COO, SPP
Panelists:
David Dismukes, Executive Director, Center for Energy Studies, Louisiana State University
Deanna Rodriguez, President & CEO, Entergy New Orleans
Vish Sankaran, Senior Manager, Energy & Power Markets, ICF
Ken Vergara, Strategic Account Director, Schneider Electric North America
12:00 PM LUNCHEON
1:30 PM KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Harry J. Vorhoff, Deputy Director, Louisiana Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities
2:00 PM Session V - Joint Targeted Interconnection Queue
The MISO-SPP JTIQ Study effort aims to identify transmission upgrades that would facilitate generation interconnection in each RTO’s region. The RTOs intend to consider various benefits to interconnection customers and load for purposes of optimizing the upgrades as well as cost allocation. This panel will discuss progress to date, as well as the expected market impacts and policy implications of this work.
Moderator: David Sapper, Director of Regulatory Affairs – Midcontinent, Customized Energy Solutions
Panelists:
Bill Grant, Regional Vice President, Regulatory & Strategic Planning, Xcel Energy
David Kelley, Director, Seams and Tariff Services, SPP
Beth Soholt, Executive Director, Clean Grid Alliance
Andrew Witmeier, Director Resource Utilization, MISO
2:45 PM NETWORKING BREAK
3:15 PM Session VI - Fuel Availability
Winter Storm Uri caused numerous outages, derates, or failures to start at electric generating plants across the U.S. The majority of these issues were driven by lack of fuel and highlighted the need for increased coordination between the natural gas system and the electric system. Join us for this discussion on fuel coordination issues and the critical importance of weatherization for all generation resources.
Moderator: Beth Garza, Senior Fellow, Energy & Environmental Policy Team, R Street
Panelists:
Steve Bruns, Vice President, Marketing, Tenaska Marketing Ventures
Lanny Nickell, Executive Vice President & COO, SPP
J.T. Smith, Sr. Director, Real Time Operations, MISO
4:00 PM Session VII - SEEM Market: Pros & Cons
In February 2021, utilities in the Southeast filed the provisions of a new market with FERC. The Southeast Energy Exchange Market (SEEM) creates a platform to facilitate certain sub-hourly bilateral transactions at a zero transmission rate. This new market will share a seam with both MISO and SPP. In this panel, we will learn more about the development of the SEEM, explore the pros and cons of the approach taken by the SEEM members, and its impact on customers in the region.
Moderator: John Chiles, Principal, Transmission Services, GDS Associates
Panelists:
Corey Sellers, Transmission Policy & Services General Manager, Southern Company
Maggie Shober, Research Director, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
5:00 PM ADJOURN