An Important Two-Day Conference on
POWER SUPPLIES
IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Emerging Issues for a Power Supply Future
August 12 & 13, 2004
Seattle, Washington
Renaissance Seattle Hotel
| A B O U T T H E C O N F E R E N C E The prospects of a rebounding economy and another poor hydro year underscore the importance of resource planning. A comprehensive approach to this critical task, Integrated Resource Planning (IRP), is back in vogue. The Power Council is completing its latest Power Plan, while most of the region’s investor owned utilities have resource plans pending before their regulatory commissions. As BPA moves ever closer to shifting responsibility for load growth to its customers, public utilities will step up to plan their futures. Suppliers and utilities alike are examining the options: self-build, own or contract for power; how far to push demand side management and distributed generation conservation; invest in renewables or stay with gas; line up new transmission or seek non wires solutions. The choices are never easy and they are before utility planners as you read this. Our excellent faculty will address supply and demand, transmission, regulatory, planning, technology, financial, and environmental perspectives. Integrated resource planning has a long history in the Pacific Northwest, but years of surplus made it possible for many industry participants to defer IRP until recently. Regulatory changes, technology and efficiency developments, and new information about costs and risks make this an excellent time to engage in the challenge of supplying the future. |