Addressing the Three Grand Challenges: Perspectives from the Nation's Technology Leaders

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The Honorable Patricia Hoffman, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, U.S. Department of Energy, served as moderated for this session, which discussed the policies needed and the technical challenges to support the development of cost-effective advanced technologies necessary to address the Three Grand Challenges. 

Susan Tomasky, President, Transmission, American Electric Power (AEP), discussed AEP's GridSMART concept. GridSMART will help the distribution system operate more efficiently and allow customers to make informed decisions about their energy use.  It will also enhance customer choice, customer control and customer service through time-of-use rates, real-time pricing, and direct load control. GridSMART includes a plan to deploy advanced technology options. Ms. Tomasky noted that AEP has a high level of confidence in carbon capture, but realizes that deployment is an issue. New transmission is a necessary option and AEP is working on reducing line losses and ensuring new infrastructure can connect with renewable energy resources. Ms. Tomasky concluded by acknowledging that the decision of who pays for new infrastructure is an important one.

The energy industry is in a state of fundamental change and "being green must equate to making green," according to Robert Gilligan, General Manager of Transmission and Distribution for GE Energy.  He further contended that there should be incentives for energy efficiency.  The technology exists today to help move the nation forward, but improvements can and should be made. Mr. Gilligan contended that customers need an easier way to make decisions about their energy use through technology.  More efficient primary equipment, such as transformers, is needed.  Mr. Gilligan also mentioned that the aging infrastructure was not designed for distributed generation so smart technology is needed to help ensure its seamless integration. Finally, there needs to be a coordinated effort between utilities and regulators in order to drive the grid of the future.

Transmission and variability are two challenges to integrating intermittent renewable energy resources said Michael Howard, Senior Vice President, Research and Development, Electric Power Research Institute.  Generation sources are not always near the load, sometimes causing transmission congestion issues.  Some of the technical solutions Mr. Gilligan recommended include advanced transmission cables, high voltage direct current, and power electronics that can help to move the congestion to non-congested areas. Furthermore, renewable energy resources are variable and can cause flux in the output and necessitate a "ramping up" of spinning reserve.  Mr. Gilligan concluded his remarks by staring that energy storage is a potential solution to this and is the "Holy Grail" in the utility industry to solve many problems.

Google.org has launched a major initiative to produce electricity from renewable energy resources that is cheaper than producing it from coal.  Dan Reicher, Director of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives for Google.org, discussed the concept of RE < C, or Renewable Energy costing less than Coal. The goal of this initiative is to develop a 1GW renewable energy system that produces electricity more cheaply than coal. Mr. Reicher believes that funding for energy research and development is inadequate so it is very important to get demonstration and other new projects into the marketplace and successfully navigate the "valley of death" in which many projects fall.  Mr. Reicher also said that there has been a communication failure among key stakeholders in the technology, policy and finance areas.  These groups do not fully understand what the other does and they each need to be educated to in order to develop successful projects.