May 29, 2019
Location: Hilton Raleigh North Hills Hotel
Hosted by: NC Electric Cooperatives
Electric technologies can save consumers money, improve our environment, and make the grid more flexible. If you can do one while harming none, you have beneficial electrification.
| 7:30 - 8:30 am | Registration and Networking |
| 8:30 – 8:45 am | Welcome and Kick Off Joe Brannan, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer, NC Electric Cooperatives |
| 8:45 – 9:30 am | The Promise and Potential of Beneficial Electrification (BE) Moderator: Keith Dennis, Senior Director, Strategic Initiatives, NRECA
Why is BE so important for North Carolina? Gain a better understanding of what BE is, what impact it is having on the national level and why it matters for North Carolina’s electric cooperatives. |
| 9:30 - 9:45 am | Break |
| 9:45 – 10:45 am | Game-Changing Technologies Making BE Possible Moderator: Jim Musilek, Director, Innovation and Business Development, NC Electric Cooperatives
Learn about the highlights of EPRI’s NC Electrification Assessment, an analysis of the potential benefits of expanded efficient electrification in North Carolina. Speakers will discuss new technologies showing the greatest promise for our end–use consumers and share the results of case studies using these technologies. |
| 10:45 - 11:00 am | Break |
| 11:00 am - 12:00 pm | The Role of Grid Flexibility in BE Moderator: Lee Ragsdale, PE, Sr. VP, Grid Infrastructure and Compliance, NC Electric Cooperatives
BE would not be possible without the many changes that have occurred on distribution systems thanks to smart technologies. Edge-of-grid technologies play a key role in meeting our members’ desires for convenience, control and comfort. They also play into the expanding integration of the distribution grid with the transmission/generation portfolio. In this session, experts will discuss how the grid has changed to enable BE, what is coming in the future and how BE fits into a Distribution Operator world. |
| 12:00 - 1:30 pm | Lunch and Ask the Experts See, hear and experience the newest technologies and trends in BE by visiting industry partners exhibiting during lunch, afternoon breaks and the reception. Continue the BE conversation as a group or in one–on–one discussions with industry experts, session speakers and event attendees. |
| 1:30 - 2:30 pm | Public Policy and BE Adoption Moderator: Michael Youth, Government and Regulatory Affairs Counsel, NC Electric Cooperatives
What role do policies and regulation play in promoting beneficial electrification? Learn more about Governor Cooper’s Executive Order 80 addressing climate change and how the goals align with BE. What are some of the biggest policy hurdles in our state that have the potential to impede BE? Is there anything we can do about them? |
| 2:30 – 3:00 pm | Break |
| 3:00 - 4:00 pm | BE and Agribusiness in North Carolina Moderator: Shawn Hunt, Manager Key Accounts, Lumbee River Electric Membership Corporation
Agribusiness is extremely important to the communities North Carolina’s electric cooperatives serve. What are the existing and new opportunities to electrify processes in this area? How can we help make these opportunities available to our members to help them increase/improve agribusiness in our state? Hear how one distribution cooperative in Minnesota has searched for new opportunities in agriculture and techniques they used to advance BE. |
| 4:00 - 4:15 pm | What’s Next? Curtis Wynn, President and CEO, Roanoke Electric Cooperative, NRECA Board President |
| 4:30 - 6:00 pm | Reception |