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http://host.madison.com/ct/opinion/column/tyler-huebner-visionary-energy-ceo-headlines-summit-to-shape-the/article_59d4ecf7-c3a3-5f9c-b8dc-ff968e2078d1.html
Tyler Huebner: Visionary energy CEO headlines summit to 'Shape the Utility of the Future'

TYLER HUEBNER | RENEW Wisconsin executive director Jan 14, 2016

Throughout the nation and in Wisconsin, an evolution in where we get our electricity is well under way.

Solar and wind resources are providing more energy than ever before, and their growth outlook looks more promising every day. In Wisconsin, we also have tremendous resources from biomass sources — namely our state’s dairy herds — that we can tap to clean up our power grid and our water bodies at the same time.

How will Wisconsin’s electricity providers adapt to ever-changing technology, and the evolving desires of our citizens, as the cost of the clean power continues to fall?

We’ll answer that question and more on Thursday, Jan. 21, at RENEW Wisconsin’s fifth annual summit, “Shaping the Utility of the Future.”

We will hear from one of the nation’s utility leaders, CEO Mary Powell of Green Mountain Power in Vermont, who is seven years into creating what she calls the “Energy Company of the Future.”

Mary’s formula includes solar on rooftops, solar on old landfills, wind power, “cow power” and clean lakes initiatives, electric vehicles, a smarter grid, partnering with Tesla to offer home battery storage, and offering financing to customers to upgrade the energy efficiency of their homes and appliances. Along the way, her company has decreased electric rates twice in the past three years.

It’s a formula Wisconsin’s utilities can follow, and some are already.

We’ll also hear from three Wisconsin utilities who are investing in more renewable energy: Dairyland Power Cooperative, Xcel Energy, and River Falls, which represent different types of electric providers in Wisconsin.

At lunch, we’ll recognize the largest and best renewable energy installations from 2015.

The afternoon will feature James Tong, a national thought-leader in how the electric grid itself will need to adapt over time to enable more technologies to flourish. Mimicking the concept of “net neutrality” for the Internet, he is calling for “grid neutrality” for the electric grid, where technologies like solar and batteries can be more readily integrated.

Finally, we’ll hear from experts in Wisconsin’s wind, solar, and biogas industries on the opportunities for their success in the future, and what barriers need to be removed to enable continued economic growth in these industries.

Registration is open through the day of the event. You can find out more information, view our fantastic list of speakers, and register at http://renewwisconsin.org/2016_Summit/.

Tyler Huebner is executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, a nonprofit organization that works statewide to expand renewable energy.