Three Days in August

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Three lovely days on the Maine coast in August is something most of us can enjoy. With beautiful Penobscot Bay sparkling in the sunshine and Hurricane Irene still a long way away, it was a great place and time to get away from our offices, relax with friends and colleagues and catch up on what’s going on in our country and our industry. The 2011 NEPPA Annual Conference, staged at the beautiful Samoset Resort in Rockport, was successful by almost any measure, as members and guests enjoyed informative speakers, tasty meals and evening hospitality suites where they continued the day’s discussions and bragged about their grandchildren, golf games and smart grid programs.

Our speakers covered a wide range of technologies and developments changing our industry: electronic communications tools, social media, solar and tidal energy generation and networked information systems. On the second day of the conference, we were addressed by two distinguished leaders in the energy industry: Roger Gale, CEO of GF Energy, and Marc Spitzer, Commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Roger painted, in broad strokes, a picture of America’s electric future, highlighting what he believes to be some very clear trends: a diminished role for nuclear energy, a major role for solar energy (which he feels has much more potential than wind power in the US) and a gradual shift away from current unregulated wholesale market structures, which he feels are simply "artificial markets" at the present time, not accountable to the public interest and not adequately serving the needs of all participants or their customers.

Commissioner Spitzer, in his comments, reiterated his belief that the US electric and gas industries must continue to be built upon what he called a "three-legged stool": Markets, Infrastructure and The Rule of Law. He stated that most critics of FERC decisions simply focus on one of these elements, while he and his commissioners must consider all three in making their decisions. Also, despite criticisms of his agency by many in New England over the high rates of return granted to new transmission investments, he strongly defended the Commission’s decisions in this area, stating that the benefits simply "dwarf the costs" of getting new transmission built, when all of the benefits are accounted for.

The conference also gave us an opportunity to recognize some individuals and systems that have achieved significant milestones or made important contributions to their communities or our association (see related article). Such recognition is an important part of this annual event, as it provides a brief spotlight on those who most often work behind the scenes.