Working Towards a Low-Carbon Future

Jan. 25, 2013 - PRLog -- “Power generation, transmission and distribution companies need to be creative and work together,” says Paul Lau, Assistant General Manager Power Supply and Grid Operations, Sacramento Municipal Utility District. Knowing the challenges each utility is facing to combine old and new power generation is the way forward to achieving a low-carbon future, he adds.

A speaker at the upcoming marcus evans Generation Summit 2013, in Dallas, Texas, February 25-26, Lau discusses why utilities should ask themselves how new disruptive technologies can be combined with new customer programs.

How can the industry better deal with environmental challenges?

Each utility should have a robust long-term integrated resource plan. The different available renewables and transmission access within each region must be examined in order to develop the best risk mitigation strategies to deal with those challenges.

Prescriptive environment regulations can take away flexibilities from actually reaching the best possible carbon neutral outcome. Utilities should first know exactly what they are pursuing with these policies and then place the focus on how these regulations can be best aligned within the utility.

What challenges and opportunities do you predict for the future?

Power generation, transmission and distribution companies need to be creative and work together. They must have a long strategic look into the challenges that each utility is facing when trying to integrate existing and new power generation, in an effort to achieve a low-carbon future. This kind of thinking will pave the way forward because this will become a requirement for utilities.

Utilities should keep an eye on what disruptive technologies will be coming into play, such as smart grid, electric vehicles, energy storage, solar, and shale gas fracking. How these technologies will impact the cost of supplying energy, and how the whole dynamics of gas-fired plants and contracts will be affected must be taken into consideration.

The question is how can these new disruptive technologies be combined with new customer programs, such as demand response? Whether these play a more combined part in the generation mix can then be defined and compared with the conventional resource mix. Opportunities to lower costs and improve reliability and services are the outcome.

How can generation assets be optimized in an era of fluctuating energy costs?

An integrated resource plan would ensure that the different generation mixes are looked at in detail and the amount of risk each one poses to the utility resource portfolio estimated. Risk assessment can be carried out, and then resources can be applied to the categories to minimize risk.

Conducting research with other utilities and industry organizations can help to define how technology is evolving. How some utilities are integrating technology into their portfolios and how this is impacting operations, can be compared to other plants and costs defined.

What should utilities keep in mind when combining heat and power?

Utilities should work closely with customers to make sure that this option is really viable in term of cost and reliability. Great care should be taken to make sure that the customer really understands what they are getting into.
Written by: Maria Gregoriou, Journalist

For more info, contact: Jennifer Keljik, Marketing Manager, marcus evans, Summits Division
Tel: 312.540.3000 x6592
Email: j.keljik@marcusevansch.com

About the Generation Summit 2013

This unique forum will take place at the Hotel Intercontinental, Dallas, Texas, February 25-26, 2013. Offering much more than any conference, exhibition or trade show, this exclusive meeting will bring together esteemed industry thought leaders and solution providers to a highly focused and interactive networking event. The Summit includes presentations on investing in the power generation of the future, emerging environmental regulation and exploring clean coal power initiatives.

About marcus evans Summits

marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, think tanks, seminars and one-on-one business meetings.
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