3/30/2022 1:00:00 PM | Pan American Life Center, New Orleans, LA

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MISO South / SPP Conference

Registration is now closed due to sellout of the 200 available seats. If you would like to be added to a waitlist, please contact Penny Sullivan at psullivan@gulfcoastpower.org. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING COVID POLICY FOR THIS CONFERENCE

The latest information from New Orleans is that effective March 21, the city has now lifted their previous COVID restrictions including indoor masking and proof of vaccination / negative COVID test. If you have any questions or issues, please contact Mary Armstrong at 281-460-3054.


GCPA 8th Annual
MISO South / SPP Regional Conference

Wednesday, March 30th - Thursday, March 31st

The Pan American Life Center - 11th Floor Auditorium
601 Poydras Street in Downtown New Orleans


Cocktail Reception on March 30th

DOWNLOAD THE CONFERENCE BROCHURE HERE
DOWNLOAD SPONSOR INFORMATION HERE


VENUE & PARKING INFORMATION

  • Venue: The conference will be held in the 11th floor auditorium of The Pan American Life Center located at 601 Poydras Street in Downtown New Orleans.

  • Parking: Parking is available in an attached garage on the east side of the building, accessible via Camp Street. There is also metered street parking and various ground lot parking available in the area.

 

Thanks to our Conference Planning Committee
Tom Anson
, Clark Hill Strasburger
Daryl Brown, MISO
Brian Johnson, AEP
Ken Dell Orto, Entergy
Tom Kleckner, RTO Insider
Talina Mathews, SPP
Courtney Mehan, Tenaska
Jesse Moser, MISO
Gordon Polozola, Kean Miller
David Sapper, Customized Energy Solutions
Clint Savoy, SPP

 

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS

Interested in sponsoring? Download sponsor information here.




 

 

THANKS TO OUR MEDIA PARTNER

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE CONFERENCE BROCHURE WITH AGENDA

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

CONFERENCE PRICING

 
Registrant Type Early Bird Reg. through 3/14/22 Regular Registration 3/15/22-3/28/22 Onsite Reg. 3/30/22-3/31/22
GCPA Members $495 $545 $595
Non-Members $595 $645 $695
State Agency/Govt. Employees $275 $275 $325
 
  • Discounted early bird pricing is available for all GCPA Members, Non-Members and State Agency Employees through Monday, March 14th. 

  • On-Line Registration closes on Monday, March 28th at 12:00 Noon.

  • On-Site Registration is available at the conference. Registration opens at 12:15 PM on March 30th.

  • Requests for refunds must be received by 5:00 PM on Monday, March 14th. A 10% processing fee will be deducted from all refunds.

GCPA has received approval from the Louisiana State Bar for Louisiana Continuing Legal Education Credit for a total of 6.5 hrs. covering sessions I - VII of this conference. We will provide the necessary forms on-site at the conference for Louisiana attorneys to file their credits with the Louisiana State Bar.