Agenda Friday, February 27th 8:30am – Breakfast 9:30am – 12:00pm – Panel 1 – The Reorientation of Federal Policies & Programs Federal policy was upended over the past year by the new Administration and Congress. The federal tax incentives for wind, solar, and clean hydrogen will phase out at the end of 2027, the tax credits for nuclear power now phase out in 2035, and a complex set of rules were adopted related to foreign entities. Through executive orders and other administrative actions, the Trump Administration has blocked renewable development on federal lands and waters, adopted procedures that largely foreclose environmental permitting of renewable projects, and instituted an array of policies to promote fossil fuel generation. This panel will discuss the new federal policies, their impacts on the electricity sector, and the responses by market operators, developers, and utilities. Moderator: David Adelman, Professor, University of Texas at Austin School of Law Panelists: Evan Chapman, Director of Clean Energy and Climate Policy and Strategy, Clean Tomorrow Brooke Marcus, Partner, Nossaman Justin Pidot, Professor at U. Arizona and former CEQ General Council Maren Taylor, Director of Legislative Affairs, SEIA 12:15 – 1:15pm – Lunch Keynote Speaker: Congressman Scott Peters, California’s 50th Congressional District 1:30 – 4pm – Panel 2 – Local Opposition to Energy Infrastructure By all accounts the United States needs to build a tremendous amount of new energy infrastructure in order to meet soaring demand for electricity, upgrade an aging grid, meet state carbon emission standards, and lower customers’ future energy costs. Local opposition has been (and continues to be) an obstacle to that buildout, triggering national, state and local discussion of permitting “reform,” which in turn means different things to different people. This panel will explore the dynamics of local opposition to new energy infrastructure and their implications for energy markets of the future. Moderator: David Spence, University of Texas Panelists: Sanya Carley, Mark Alan Hughes Faculty Director of the Kleinman Center, University of Pennsylvania James Coleman, Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Maddy Gould Laughlin, Director of Regulatory Affairs, GridUnited Dahvi Wilson, President, Siting Clean Saturday, February 28th 8:00am – Breakfast 9:15 – 11:45am – Panel 3 – Nature of the Rising Electricity Demand and Insights to Best Address It Accelerating electricity demand, driven substantially by the rise of AI data centers, coupled with rising affordability concerns have cast a sharp focus on the locus and distribution of impacts associated with the pleasures and pains of rapid electricity sector growth. This panel will discuss the nature and drivers of those impacts, insights from relevant history in the electricity industry, the most practical strategies being deployed, and the emerging promising ideas being debated to address the challenges and opportunities facing the electricity system. Moderator: Varun Rai, Professor of Public Affairs, LBJ School of Public Affairs Panelists: Jeff Dagle, Chief Electrical Engineer, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Caleb Holland, Senior Engineer, ERCOT Nithish Mahalingam, Partner Engineering Manager, Azure/Microsoft Julia Matevosyan, Associate Director and Chief Engineer, ESIG Eric Padilla, Director of Public Policy, Vistra 12 – 1pm – Lunch Keynote Speaker: Dr. Ryan Wiser, Senior Scientist in and Senior Advisor to the Energy Markets and Planning Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 1:15 – 3:45pm – Panel 4 – The Renewed Importance of Gas Generation & Supplies With major changes in the direction of US renewables policy, there are concomitant, if potentially short term, increases in the role of natural gas in the electricity industry. What are the implications for decarbonization? How will an increasing role for gas interact with gas turbine supply chains? What needs to be done to better align gas and electricity trading? What are the price implications of international trading of gas? What are the longer term implications as gas continues as an essential, but more variable, component of the electricity mix? What is the role for increased gas storage? Moderator: Ross Baldick, Professor Emeritus, Cockrell School of Engineering Panelists: Vincent Kaminski, Professor in the Practice of Energy Management, Rice University Jeff Makholm, Senior Managing Director, NERA Bryan Sams, Vice President, Government and Regulatory Affairs, Calpine Frank Wolak, Holbrook Working Professor of Commodity Price Studies, Stanford University
