8:30 am – Breakfast Begins
9:20-9:30 am – Opening Remarks
Featuring David Spence (The University of Texas at Austin School of Law)
9:30 am-12:00 pm – Panel 1: Clean, Firm, Grid-Based Generation & Reliability
The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is predicted to unleash investment in a variety of energy transition technologies, including clean firm technologies like nuclear, geothermal, hydrogen, and carbon capture and sequestration. This panel will address the nature of the support role played by clean firm technologies and how their growth will influence management of the electric grid.
Featuring William Boyd (UCLA School of Law), Sanya Carley (University of Pennsylvania), Dalia Patino-Echeverri (Duke University), and Kyle Gabb (Fervo). Moderated by Dr.Melissa Lott (Columbia Climate School)
12:00-12:15 pm – Break
12:15-1:15 pm – Lunch with Keynote
Featuring Michael Skelly (Grid United)
1:15-1:30 pm – Break
1:30-4:00 pm – Panel 2: Domestic Content & Clean Energy Prices
Recent federal legislation is set to potentially transform the energy sector. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) authorizes substantial funds to support electricity grid investment as well as a broader set of investments in resilience, energy efficiency and renewables. The tax subsidies contained in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are larger for energy transition projects that satisfy certain domestic content, prevailing wage, and energy/environmental justice criteria. This panel will explore the effects of these policies on electricity markets. How will post-pandemic labor and materials markets respond to these incentives? Will replacing imports with subsidized American energy products make for more or less expensive energy? How do investors view these questions?
Featuring Frank Wolak (Stanford University), Emily Grubert (University of Notre Dame), Colin Meehan (DOE Grid Deployment Office), and Andrew Bowman (Jupiter Power). Moderated by Andrew Waxman (The University of Texas at Austin).
4:15-6:30 pm – Networking Reception
Located on the Amphitheater Patio.
8:00 am – Breakfast Begins
9:00-11:30 am – Panel 3: The Siting Challenge
The success of the energy transition envisioned by the drafters of the IRA depends in part upon reducing barriers to market entry: for transmission, for new domestic manufacturing plants, and for new mines (for copper and crucial minerals). This panel will explore the legal and political barriers to entry that could introduce friction into the transition, and how they might be overcome.
Featuring Stephanie Lenhart (Boise State University), David Spence (University of Texas School of Law),Melinda Taylor (University of Texas School of Law), and Romany Webb (Columbia University). Moderated by Elizabeth Wilson (Dartmouth College)
11:30-11:45 am – Break
11:45 am – 12:45 pm – Lunch with Keynote
Featuring Brett Perlman (Center for Houston’s Future, Inc.)
12:45-1:00 pm – Break
1:00-3:30 pm – Panel 4: Do Demand Side Solutions Ease These Challenges?
We do not know what the cost of a net zero electricity will be, but that cost will almost certainly be reduced by making use of distributed energy resources (DERs) like demand response and behind the meter generation. This panel will explore the nature of the role those resources can play in a net zero future, and the institutional rules that can facilitate that role.
Featuring Kevin Brehm (Rocky Mountain Institute), Ahmad Faruqui (Economist), Karl Rábago (Rábago Energy, LLC), Jason Ryan (CenterPoint Energy). Moderated by Sharon Jacobs (The University of California, Berkeley)
3:30 pm – Wrap Up/Closing Remarks
Featuring David Adelman (University of Texas School of Law)
