Perspective

“Think about the title of the Energy Evolution Summit; what’s evolved now? It’s driven by changes that have evolved due to regulatory perspective, due to economic climate. Issues have become more passionate and urgent, and some have become less urgent, or some are now settled.”

“People need electricity and gas, and we provided it. We need to use lessons learned from other industries. How did they transition from one type of product to another?”

“The biggest focus of my work is transitioning gas utilities to the next 100 years of their relationships with customers and the electric sector. I’m here to participate in the discussion about the evolution toward integrated electric and gas network planning and the future of gas.”

“It’s exciting when I think of the vision of SEPA, how it aligns with what we’re doing as a cooperative in Virginia as we address the growth that we’re seeing that is unprecedented.”

Conversations with Southern California Edison's Caroline Choi; Arizona Public Service's recently retired Jeff Guldner; PPL Corp.'s Sal Salet, Electric Power Engineers' Hala Ballouz; NASUCA's David Springe; Environmental Resources Management’s Brian Jones; Rappahannock Electric Co-op's Peter Muhoro; Smart Electric Power Alliance's Sheri Givens; CPS Energy’s Elaina Ball, Angela Rodriguez, and Ana Lozano; Commonwealth Edison's Melissa Washington; and Orlando Utilities Commission's Linda Ferrone.

“We developed an AI-powered innovation called HiZ Protect, which has shown highly accurate and fast high-impedance fault detection. These faults can lead to ignition on utility distribution systems. We believe we’ve got a novel approach that can help utilities mitigate faults.”

“One of our recent CEO studies showed that out of all 20 industry segments, the energy segment had the highest positive potential expectation of value from AI, and the lowest in terms of progress of implementation.”

“IOUs and some non-IOUs have dropped over half a billion dollars to acquire private spectrum or get access. One of the key drivers is to make grid control more predictive, by leveraging wireless infrastructure to extract real-time intelligence from sensors at remote sites.”

Conversations with Ericsson Global Head of Mission Critical Networks – Utilities Koustuv Ghoshal. IBM General Manager – Energy and Utilities Casey Werth, Eaton Utility Marketing Manager Jason Plane, with PUF’s Steve Mitnick and Joe Paparello on the conference floor.

“Some utilities are already exploring structured cost-sharing models, such as milestone-based investment commitments and firm load agreements, to ensure that new infrastructure investments are made with clear demand signals.”