Strategy & Planning

Exchanging and using information effectively is what interoperability is all about. We often say that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and the same is true of the interoperability value chain.

U.S. cannabis industry is experiencing explosive growth. The industry is extremely energy-intensive and is already placing strains on some individual utilities and local grids. Here we discuss the implications for utilities and PUCs and explore potential solutions.

In 1991, Eastern European countries and the former Soviet republics responded to a completely different set of incentives and policy drivers for the development of their utilities. USEA, together with other implementing partners of the agency, was tasked to help change the mentality of folks that worked in these utilities.

Allen Leverett was appointed President and CEO of WEC Energy Group in May 2016. As one of the youngest CEOs of investor-owned utilities, Leverett brings verve to industry leadership, but also a deep respect for the past. WEC Energy Group is one of the nation's premier energy companies, serving 4.4 million customers in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota.

"The Jetsons" TV series offered remarkably accurate predictions of today's technology 55 years ago.

A downward shift in peak usage may mean a beginning change in elasticity of demand. A more rapid and pronounced downshift in peak demand might suggest a less robust utility franchise value.

It is important to help legislators and regulators understand the utility's risk management decisions so that they can approve of the company's risk management strategies. Legislators and regulators are accustomed to thinking in terms of insuring against failures.

Innovation success will require that utilities build distinct internal capabilities combined with parallel, directed future investment. However, they will supplement this activity simultaneously with external leverage through venture capitalists, start-ups, OEMs, partners and acquisitions. This formula is already being followed by a number of companies that have been leading the sector in formalizing innovation as a capability.

Many supporters of nuclear technology have tried to correct significant challenges on assorted issues from the public, the media, and the scientific, regulatory and political sectors. But these efforts failed; they could not acknowledge the true illness and pursue the cure. This discussion focuses on what that illness is, how the industry has treated it, how to cure it, and one way to achieve a new political and regulatory environment that can save the patient.