Advanced Energy United Webinars

An advanced energy economy requires a modern and efficient electricity delivery network that can access the best sources of clean energy and support electrification of transportation, buildings, and industry. Expanding electric transmission infrastructure — the long-distance high-voltage lines that deliver electricity in bulk from generation resources to local distribution networks — is central to that vision. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Congress, and the Department of Energy have devoted new attention and new funding to transmission expansion. But getting transmission built requires engagement at the state and local level, too, where siting and permitting decisions are made and local impacts are felt.  

In this on-demand webinar, originally recorded on May 3, 2022, hear from FERC Chairman Richard Glick about the agency’s vision for transmission development to handle a changing resource mix and new threats to the reliability and resilience of the grid. Plus, a panel of experts from industry and the states discuss the policies and technologies that can move transmission from drawing board to reality.  

With information technology a central focus of modern enterprise, many industries have shifted from traditional, on-premises IT solutions to cloud computing for scalability, flexibility, and efficiency. However, the regulated utility industry has been slow to make a similar switch. That’s in part because traditional rate regulation contains a bias for long-term, upfront capital investments, which give utilities an opportunity for a return over time, versus treatment of operating expenses, which contains no similar return, even if the expenditure serves the same purpose as well or better.

Based on the paper, Reaching for the Cloud: Solutions for Regulatory Parity for Cloud Services for Utilities, this webinar explored ways that different regulatory treatment of IT services can unlock customer options and savings while encouraging more utilities to seek cloud solutions.

Presented by AEE and the Edison Electric Institute. 

FERC Order 2222 directed regional grid operators to open their wholesale markets to distributed energy resources (DERs) but that will take more than action by RTOs/ISOs. Distribution utilities and their state regulators also have big roles to play in realizing all the benefits of distributed resources for customers and the power grid. In this webinar, which drew on FERC Order No 2222 Implementation: Preparing the Distribution System for DER Participation in Wholesale Markets, a report from AEE and GridLab, utility executives and DER companies explored what needs to happen locally to unlock the value of DERs at the grid edge.

Presented by AEE, GridLab, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), and the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO). 

With the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Congress committed billions of dollars to the deployment of advanced energy technologies, products, and services. Now it’s time for states to tap the various programs and funding channels made available by the legislation, as well as those that may come to fruition through further climate legislation, to build their own advanced energy economies from the ground up. In this webinar, federal and state officials, as well as industry executives, discussed how states around the country can get the most out of accelerating the energy transition – for customers, workers, communities, and the economy. 

While all eyes are on Washington, D.C., progress toward 100% clean energy continues to surge in the states. In 2021, AEE was involved in big legislative wins in three states — California, Colorado, and Virginia — that will move the ball toward that goal and create market opportunity for advanced energy companies. How did it get done? In this on-demand webinar, hear from decision makers who shepherded landmark legislation that made their states national leaders this year.