The future of the electric industry was the focus of the Monday, November 7, CREA Energy Innovations Summit. More than 300 leaders from electric cooperatives, municipal power companies, Colorado’s investor-owned utilities, the renewable energy industry, government entities, the legislature and other industry segments gathered in Westminster for a day of panel discussions about electric industry innovations.
The event opened with CREA Executive Director Kent Singer facilitating a conversation between Tri-State G&T CEO Duane Highley and Xcel Energy President Robert Kenney. They shared their ideas on the challenges ahead and how, with the right policies in place and support from government, they might navigate the future.
Lunch speaker Robert Chapman, senior vice president of energy delivery at EPRI, a national research center, talked about reliability and resilience in a net zero economy.
The day closed with a panel of co-op managers discussing how their co-ops are evolving to meet their consumer-members’ expectations and needs.
Photo captions:
Top: Robert Chapman, senior vice president of energy delivery at EPRI, talks about new technology needed to get to a net zero energy economy while maintaining the reliability of the electric industry.
Bottom Left: Electric industry innovations such as Terex, an all-electric bucket truck, was part of the CREA Energy Innovations Summit.
Bottom Right: CREA Executive Director Kent Singer and Xcel President Robert Kenney listen as Tri-State G&T CEO Duane Highley makes a point during the opening session of the CREA Energy Innovations Summit.