On behalf of PESD, Stanford co-hosts PIE, TomKat, and SIEPR, and external sponsors Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and the Kauffman Foundation, convened an all-day conference on September 15 on “Transmission Policies to Unlock America’s Renewable Energy Resources”   
   
The traditional transmission paradigm was well-adapted to fossil fuel plants built near cities and operated by vertically-integrated utilities.  We need a whole new transmission paradigm to realize the potential of intermittent wind and solar generation in today’s wholesale markets.  
   
The conference sessions (see Agenda) focused on different aspects of what this new paradigm will have to look like, focusing on the Western region.  How can markets for renewable energy credits help drive transmission policy?  Who will pay for new transmission that straddles state lines and service areas?  How can environmental impacts be weighed without bogging down transmission planning?  
   
Our distinguished speakers and discussants have many years of experience working on precisely these issues from the academic, industry, nonprofit, and government perspectives.  This event brought new insights into how to move forward on transmission in the West, and we thank everyone who participated.

For conference photos, click here

Opening remarks by Frank Wolak, Director, Program on Energy and Sustainable Development

Session 1: The Paradigm Shift in the Role of the Transmission Network

Speaker—Lorenzo Kristov, Principle, Market and Infrastructure Policy, California Independent System Operator (ISO)

Discussants: James Bushnell, Associate Professor, UC Davis Department of Economics and Udi Helman, Director, Economic and Pricing Analysis, BrightSource Energy

Session 2: Policy Tools for Meeting Renewable Energy Goals

Speaker—Harry Singh, Vice President, Goldman Sachs

Discussants: Sydney Berwager, Director, Strategy Integration, Bonneville Power Administration and Julie Fitch, Director, Energy Division, California Public Utilities Commission

Session 3: Developing a Regional Transmission Planning Process

Speaker—Brad Nickell, Director of Transportation Expansion Planning Western Electricity Coordinating Council

Discussants: Scott Cauchois, Transmission Expansion Planning Policy committee Chair, Western Electricity Coordinating Counsil and Rebecca Wagner, Commissioner, Nevada Public Utilities Commission

Session 4: Paying for Transmission

Speaker—Douglas Kimmelman, Senior Partner, Energy Capital Partners and Perry Cole, Managing Director, Energy Captial Partners

Discussants: Michael Hindus, Partner, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and Darrel Thorson, VP, Business Development North America, BP Wind Energy

Session 5: Environmental Impacts of Transmission Siting

Speaker—Sean Gallagher, Managing Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs, K Road Power

Discussants: Julia Souder, Project Development Manager, Clean Line Energy Partners and Carl Zichella, Director of Western Transmission, Natural Resources Defense Council

Session 6: Lessons for Transmission Planning and Pricing   
from Other Jurisdictions

Speaker—Benjamin Hobbs, Director, Environment, Energy, Sustainability,  
and Health Institute, Johns Hopkins University

Discussants: Cristian Munoz, Engineer, AES Gener, Santiago, Chile and  
Alex Papalexopoulos, President and CEO, ECCO International, Inc.

This EWG talk will highlight PESD's first analysis using our new coal model by demonstrating how it can be used to analyze the effects of China's import behavior on world thermal coal consumption. We will explore China's capability as a consumer to exercise market power in the domestic Chinese markets, and to what extent this behavior affects the price, consumption, and production of steam coal globally. Two scenarios will be presented: 1) we assume Chinese consumers with import capability behave competitively and 2) we assume they exercise market power.

The use of coal as a fuel has increased tremendously over the past decade, with most of the growth coming from rapidly expanding economies like those in China and India. As coal continues to be the fuel of choice for electricity generation around the world, PESD is excited to be developing a model to further understand the global steam coal market.  In the future, we anticipate the model will help answer questions regarding climate and trade policies, market structure, and technology improvements.

Michael Joined PESD in July of 2010 as a research assistant after graduating from Stanford University with a BA in Economics.

PESD Director Frank Wolak will be participating in the Singapore Electricity Roundtable 2010 hosted by Energy Market Company (EMC) as the keynote speaker -on the challenges in developing regional electricity markets, as well as an industry panelist.

EMC is gathering leading practitioners and thinkers in the electricity industry for this event, which is dedicated to connecting influencers, decision makers, potential investors and experts in the electricity and related industries. Senior executives and decision makers from the energy, electricity and related industries in Singapore and across the region look forward to this valuable opportunity to meet one another and discuss the challenges and issues of importance to the electricity industry in Asia Pacific and globally.

Topics this year will range from challenges of developing regional electricity markets and insight into the impact of pricing CO2 into electricity trading to smart metering and electricity derivatives markets plus updates on Thailand, China and the NEMS. Our much-anticipated panel discussion will cover Singapore's Economic Strategies Committee's (ESC) recommendations and implications for the power industry.