Global Lessons on Power Systems
Sheri Givens is President and CEO of the Smart Electric Power Alliance.
I have developed a habit when I travel. Whether the trip is for work or vacation, at some point I inevitably start asking about the local power system.
How do they generate their electricity? What does it cost? Who regulates the utilities? What are they building? And how are they managing some of the same pressures we are confronting here at home? For better or worse, my family has learned to expect it.
Since joining my organization, I have participated in Fact-Finding Missions to Australia, Denmark, Germany, Portugal and this September, Norway. I have traveled with the U.S. State Department to northern Greece, participated in conferences in Toronto, Shanghai and Lisbon, and found myself studying energy systems during personal travels from France and Switzerland to Mexico and the Caribbean.
The more systems I see, the less interested I am in asking which country has figured it all out.