Perspective

“EPAC’s philosophy is that the industry can and must work together to proactively and voluntarily advance its own standards, rather than waiting for mandates to be imposed.”

“In the coming year, we will provide opportunities to follow and contribute to the global dialogue on critical issues shaping the clean energy future. Through participating in EEI’s Global Electrification Forum in April and signing up for the EEI International Engagement Hub, stakeholders can engage directly with our programs – which all are aligned with our commitment to share knowledge through Power by Association.”

“The main thing we want folks to know is that there are practical pathways, and they can look at this within their area of interest and start to understand how some of these solutions might fit for them.”

“We are announcing our 5x25 initiative, which will be rolled out in early 2024, focusing on five areas where our industry will need to find practicable solutions for over the next two years to ensure we meet our carbon reduction goals.”

“We have improved the reliability of the system by 35% in the first two years of operations. It’s quite a record in the U.S. for any utility. It would be hard to find any that have improved by 35% in two years in frequency of outages, and 20% of duration of outages in comparison to the previous year.”

The 2023 Conference on Innovative Smart Grid Technologies - Latin America, sponsored by IEEE Power & Energy Society, focused on the theme of disaster recovery and network transformation in times of climate change. Puerto Rico’s unique experience with disaster preparedness and recovery in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria was a notable topic of discussion for the convening engineering and climate change experts.

“We’ve seen the cost declines often lag for customers in ways that they may see technology as being ready, but it’s not showing up as a meaningful bill impact. Where are some gaps between perception and reality?”

“It’s having locational pricing at a community aggregation level and being able to actively participate in a retail market and bring your products and services to the table, to provide real value to the grid by lowering demand, and the grid operator needs that demand to be reduced. That kind of innovation if it can happen, is a game-changer.”

“A lot of innovation is not just about the technologies and the people behind them, it’s also about consensus from across sectors on what we’re collectively trying to achieve. Having collaborations that bring in academics, NGOs, investors, and a wide variety of participants can help alleviate polarization.”

Innovators and superstars of the energy and utilities industry attended Fortnightly Top Innovators 2023 at the historic Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. to learn, trade ideas, and network.