Times columnist Friedman moderates panel on transformation at electric utilities

New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman on Jan. 11 moderated a panel of experts who predict technology and consumers' market choices will transform the electrical energy economy.

Although Friedman introduced the discussion, held at the National Press Club, by citing the recent climate change accords in Paris, the panelists focused on the trends of rapid and extensive change in the industry.

Robbie Diamond, founder, president and CEO of Securing America's Future Energy, named the low price of natural gas as the currently transforming feature in the U.S., and went on to talk about the rapid changes taking place. "The whole world turned upside down," was how he characterized the twelve years since he founded his organization.

Looking forward to the year 2030, which Friedman asked the panelists to envision, Diamond picked the widespread adoption of driverless cars as the single most important development because so much of the structure of the economy is built around the automobile. Consumers' preference for safe, clean electrified vehicles will drive the trend, he said.

Larry Kellerman, managing partner of Twenty First Century Utilities LLC, saw electrification of more than just driverless cars as a future already appearing in the present. He said the port of Savannah in Georgia is widely electrified and noted that the airports are becoming more electrified as well.

He expected to see cleaner power with less coal, more natural gas and more renewable sources of energy in the future.

Kellerman introduced the need to consider broad societal and environmental costs and benefits of energy by citing the Grand Coulee Dam, which produced electricity at a higher cost than other sources in the 1930s. The Roosevelt administration considered irrigation and flood control benefits as offsetting the costs, he said.

Likewise, environmental costs and benefits should be incorporated into the costs of renewable energy now, he added.

Joe Garcia, a former congressman and Energy Department official, said "events are moving beyond politicians and it is why utilities are beginning to rethink their role."

If utilities provide more efficient appliances, will regulators allow them to charge rates that will pay for the appliances through consumers' utility bills, or, as Garcia put it, go "behind the meter" and "democratize" the investment?

Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, reminded the audience that consumers will respond to products that are "reliable, affordable and efficient."

If the vast majority of Americans are committed to a concept, it will go through despite politics and regulation, Garcia said, noting that the markets and technology have created opportunities such as solar power.

In Texas, which is "legislatively on the other side," there has been considerable development of wind energy, he said.