RESTON, Va., Dec. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The future of
the United States electric utility
industry is fraught with regulatory, economic and competitive
uncertainty, and that trend will continue for the foreseeable
future, industry leaders discussed during the EUCG Fall Workshop in
Indianapolis.
EUCG, a global association of energy and electric utility
professionals, meets semiannually to discuss current and emerging
industry issues, share best practices and exchange data for
benchmarking purposes. The association is in its 38th year of
service to the power generation industry.
"The sheer volume of regulatory rulemaking that we are needing
to consider as we formulate our strategic and operational plans
today is unprecedented in our industry," remarked EUCG President
George W. Sharp from American
Electric Power (NYSE: AEP). New rules that govern the Clean Air Act
continue to be drafted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and reviewed by industry stakeholders, which often leads to
wide and varied responses by interested parties. Timelines for
implementation of draft rules, including the specifics for
compliance, continue to shift as more and more stakeholders express
their opinions during the rulemaking process. "The only certainty
we have going forward is that our industry will be confronting
large amounts of uncertainty for the foreseeable future," Sharp
said.
The Fukushima, Japan, nuclear
incident also has cast uncertainty on the future and role of
nuclear power in the United States
and the world. "We believe the events at the Fukushima Nuclear
Plant in Japan earlier this year
have created a short-term crisis of confidence about nuclear power,
but we are very confident that public perceptions worldwide will
shift back in favor of nuclear generation as the actual impact of
the incident becomes better understood, and we implement lessons
throughout our industry," said David
Ward, chairperson of EUCG's Nuclear Committee from Duke
Energy (NYSE: DUK).
The workshop's opening remarks were provided by Greg Fennig, vice president of public affairs
for Indianapolis Power & Light Company (parent company – NYSE:
AES). Fennig provided a first-hand account of how the current EPA
rulemaking is impacting IPL's operations and how the utility
intends to manage the capital investment and compliance uncertainty
of the draft rules. Fennig also provided an overview of IPL and its
role as an integral player in the economy and community, as well as
the impact it makes by providing low-cost power within a framework
of environment stewardship.
This year's keynote speaker was Thad
Ewald, vice president, corporate strategy and business
development, Cummins, Inc. (NYSE: CMI), an Indiana-based company that delivers power
solutions through the design, manufacture, distribution and service
of diesel engines, generators and related technologies. Ewald spoke
on "Performance Improvement to Increase Customer Value," an
overview of the strategies and actions that transformed Cummins
into the global company that it is today. The company's vision,
"Making people's lives better by unleashing the power of Cummins,"
underscores the emphasis that Cummins places on being a good
corporate citizen by improving the communities where employees live
and work while making high-quality products. Ewald's presentation
represented EUCG's practice of benchmarking with top performing
non-utility industries. "The perspective offered by Mr. Ewald and
Cummins in the keynote was refreshing, and provided a unique forum
for information exchange and mutual benefit between different
industries, " said Bill Bunker, EUCG
Emerging Issues Director, formerly with Alcoa (NYSE: AA). "Mr. Ewald certainly
delivered an outstanding and thought-provoking presentation."
EUCG committees held forums to discuss current events and what
the future will bring to the utility technologies.
- Nuclear Committee: The Nuclear Committee, chaired
by Ward of Duke Energy, focused on many areas, including task team
reports, using the Nuclear Integrated Information Database to
improve benchmarking, and an "open forum" addressing nuclear
issues. One of the highlights of the forum was a presentation by a
joint task force team about the impacts of the Fukushima incident
on the global nuclear industry. The team provided a summary of the
chronology of the incident, the impacts on the environment,
regional politics and related industry financials.
- Fossil Committee: Meeting, planning and
benchmarking were the main issues of the Fossil Forum led by
Committee Chairman John Huggins,
Southern Company (NYSE: SO). They discussed the Safety Case Study
of the Ash System Accident at the Fayette Power Plant and gave an
update on the biomass generation development environmental
regulation. Benchmarking presentations included results of a
railcar maintenance survey, given by Brian
Seiler, City Public Service Energy, and results of a
benchmarking methods and practices survey, given by Lucritia White, Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA). Best performer awards were presented to large and small coal
plants for their efforts in managing total operations and
maintenance costs, as well as their equivalent forced outage rate
from 2006 to 2010. Southern Company's Plant Miller received the
award for the large coal plant category, and TVA's Gallatin Fossil
Plant received the award for the small coal plant category.
- Information Technology (IT) Committee: The IT
Forum structured its meeting to provide updates on mobility trends,
benchmarking results and task team reports. A presentation on IT
Disaster Recovery Practices was given by Charlie Rater, CenterPoint Energy, and
Ron Dick, Omaha Public Power
District.
- Hydroelectric Committee: Hydroelectric Committee
Chairman Jim Miller from TVA
presented the opening remarks and introductions for the forum. One
of the main topics discussed was the 2010 leading/lagging
performers and results of various surveys, which included high
availability survey results, staffing survey results and capital
expenditure results.
- Transmission and Distribution (T&D)
Committee: Chaired by Joe
Martucci, PSE&G (NYSE: PEG), the T&D Committee
focused on a variety of current issues, including the aging
infrastructure vs. High Impact Low Probability Events, and best
practice safety and reliability. They presented an update on the
Columbus Smart Grid.
The conference, held Oct. 3 through Oct.
5, attracted more than 100 electric utility professionals
from various utility technologies all over the world. "We are
extremely grateful for the commitment from all of our members and
participants," Sharp said.
The next EUCG Conference will be held in Austin, Texas on April
15-18, 2012, at the Omni Austin Hotel Downtown. For more
information, please visit the EUCG website, www.eucg.org.
About EUCG: EUCG is a global non-profit
association of energy and electric utility professionals who
discuss current and emerging industry issues, share best practices
and exchange data for benchmarking purposes. The 38 year old
association is organized into committees that represent specific
utility functions: Fossil, Nuclear, Hydroelectric, Transmission
& Distribution, and Information Technology. Members attend
semiannual workshops that focus on strategic planning, maintenance
practices, operations management, outage management and various
other aspects of the electric utility business. Membership is open
to all utility companies and professionals worldwide. Interested
parties should contact Don Kaiser,
EUCG Executive Director, at (703) 234-4116 or Kaiser@eucg.org.
SOURCE EUCG