Strategy & Planning

“I think about the potential for increased reserve margins for utilities due to extreme weather, the impact of economic development decisions, as well as potential load growth from electrification of the motor vehicle fleet. With all that demand coming onto the grid in the near and long term, it gives me concerns. The grid is going to be challenged.”

Like the space program, the drive to decarbonize is encountering many unsolved problems. Each has the potential to prevent a smooth landing.

The challenge is to modernize these systems without imposing undue costs on consumers, balancing fiscal responsibility with the imperative for technological advancement.

While these revenue stabilization mechanisms mitigate specific risks, they also require monitoring and calibration – they are not to be set and forgotten.

"We ask our project managers to first understand why business diversity is important, then to understand that we will need to subcontract our typical engineering services that we provide. Those are two new ways of thinking for our employee-owners."

FERC Order 881 was the subject of discussion at a recent IEEE Power & Energy Society T&D Conference, which was attended by POWER Engineers’ Lisa Deppa. She explains here the latest on Order 881 and why it is important to the decarbonization journey.

"We learned that through immediate and accelerated investments in demand-side solutions, we can offset about a third of the incremental costs of full grid decarbonization, saving approximately $107 billion annually by 2050."

This panel at CAMPUT 2024 on Building and Maintaining Trust: The Art and Craft of Today's Communication, examined how in today's energy sector dynamic landscape, effective communication is key to building and maintaining trust. Public trust drives participation in regulatory processes and enhances credibility. This session delved into innovative strategies and platforms.

This panel, Incentivize and Optimize: A Paradigm Shift in Rate Design, discussed new approaches to rate design. How can the abundance of data now available be used to inform decision making? How can or should rate design influence customer behavior to optimize the use of energy resources and the energy transition?

“Our service area is among the lowest cost of living in the country, and we play a big role with our low rates. Our rates need to stay attractive. We’re investing in opportunities to make our communities better so we can continue to widen that competitive advantage we have with our rates.”