1. My Take: Utility CEOs look to future of industry
Five major utility CEOs spoke on Wednesday, June 10, during the Edison Electric
Institute's annual convention about the past and future changes that will affect the
electricity field.
The panel of EEI board members consisted of moderator Dominion CEO Tom Farrell,
outgoing EEI chair and Edison International CEO Ted Craver, Exelon CEO Chris
Crane, Southern Company CEO Tom Fanning and American Electric Power CEO Nick
Atkins.
Renewables and subsidies
When asked about subsidies for renewable energy Exelon's Crane explained that the
solar investment tax credit would be a good subsidy policy, compared to the wind
production tax credit that has caused overdevelopment, distorted power markets and
investment choices that favor wind.
Southern Company's Tom Fanning condemned the federal government for driving
"social change with the tax code," adding that utility customers, not the government,
should outline the resource mix.
Edison's Craver had a different perspective on the issue, saying the obstacles are not
technical but rather economic in nature and that the utilities will find a way to make
the change happen even though the costs are still unknown.
Load growth and distributed generation
Electricity load growth is expected to remain the same or even decline, according to
Akins and Craver. There are mitigating factors such as advances in efficiency
technologies and big data that will hold load growth back.
Craver added that sooner or later a third of generation would be distributed, possibly
hurting load growth instead of benefiting it. Fanning views distributed generation not
much differently than central station generation, except for the benefit that it's closer
to the customer, minimizing line losses.
Storage
Fanning said the next generation of battery materials (most likely not being lithium
ion batteries) would provide electricity's storage innovation while being a potential
moneymaker for the utilities.
The Clean Power Plan
Farrell predicted EPA's proposed Clean Power Plan surviving court challenges. The
utility leaders agreed that they support the Clean Power Plan and any other efforts to
decarbonize the energy grid. They also said they would meet the targets but would
like to see changes to the final plan and more time to meet targets in order for the
transition to be more manageable.
- Markeus Farrand, ECSC Summer Intern