The 2012 National Electricity Forum (2012 Forum) is sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and is held annually in conjunction with the NARUC Winter Committee Meetings. The 2012 Forum is planned by the 2012 National Electricity Forum Working Group, which is an ad hoc volunteer group consisting of a broad cross section of stakeholder representatives.
The 2012 Forum will be held on February 8 and 9, 2012. Presenters and participants at the 2012 Forum will address cutting-edge issues and discuss how collaboration can successfully modernize the nation’s electricity infrastructure. The Forum will feature national thought leaders from all sectors of the electric power industry, academia, policymakers, equipment manufacturers, consumers, and other affected parties. The first three panels will include futurists, senior DOE officials, industry representatives, state utility regulators, and business leaders who will provide their perspectives on what the world will look like in 2035 and discuss their visions for the 21st Century electricity industry and its successful execution.
Day 1 of the 2012 Forum will also include a series of panel discussions that will address technology frontiers, customers’ vision of the 21st Century electricity industry, and the dynamics of regulating the industry. Discussion topics will include transformational technologies, integration of intelligence and communications, R&D needs, customers’ benefits and cost burdens from an electricity industry transformation, smart grid devices, and barriers to transformation as a result of regulatory practices. Panelists in each of these sessions will represent experts, state and federal policymakers, academia, and stakeholder perspectives.
The discussions on Day 2 of the 2012 Forum are focused on generation needs, plug-in electric vehicles, grid-scale electricity storage technologies, transmission planning, energy efficiency, demand response, distributed generation, micro-grids, and institutional solutions to achieving a transformed 21st Century electricity industry.
