USEA Virtual Press Briefing: Extreme Weather: The Existential Threat to Utilities
Matt Chester of Chester Energy and Policy recently had the pleasure of joining a USEA Virtual Press Briefing as a member of the media asking pointed questions to key leaders in the sector. The full details and video can be found at this USEA.org link, and the relevant information is also copied below.
The electric utility industry is enduring an existential crisis. Day in, day out it is under threat from aberrant weather and from wildfires, even as it meets unprecedented demand growth in many regions. Also, there is the ever-present concern about cyberattack or gunfire attacks on substations. When it comes to recovery, the supply chain is stretched, whether the need is for transformers or new bucket trucks.
In the news: Houston has just recovered from Hurricane Beryl and wildfires are raging in California and Canada. This is against the background of utilities switching from fossil fuels to renewables and against protracted heat emergencies and extreme and unpredictable cold in areas which have no tradition of it. The words “heat dome” and “polar vortex” have entered the utility lexicon and look like they will remain there.
To explain the situation and to offer remedies — both in hardening the system against these perils and in rapid storm remediation -- the United States Energy Association held a virtual press briefing on Wednesday, Aug. 7, at 11 a.m.
The Experts:
Elliot Mainzer, President and CEO, CalISO
Todd Hillman, Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer, MISO
David Naylor, President and CEO, Rayburn Electric Cooperative
Ravi Seethapathy, Executive Chairman, Biosirus Inc.
Timothy Unruh, Director, National Association of Energy Service Companies
David Owens, President, Da'VAS
Scott Aaronson, Senior Vice President Security and Preparedness, Edison Electric Institute
Andrea Staid, Principal Technical Lead, EPRI
Pablo Vegas, President and CEO, ERCOT
The Reporters:
Jennifer Hiller, The Wall Street Journal
Ken Silverstein, Forbes
Matt Chester, Energy Central
K Kaufmann, RTO Insider
Adam Clayton Powell III, PBS