Workshop Summary

Wharton

William & Phyllis Mack Center for Technological Innovation

OCTOBER 3, 2008

Green Technologies and the

U.S. Energy Grid

An insight-building workshop for decision makers in industry, government and academia. 

A select group of more than 50 thought leaders from business, government and academia met to discuss the forces that will shape the U.S. energy grid in the next decade and beyond, including several different future scenarios. This workshop marks the beginning of a pioneering study on the future of the U.S. Energy Grid between now and 2025. 

This workshop was held in Huntsman Hall at the Wharton School on October 3 and was co-hosted by the Mack Center for Technological Innovation and Decision Strategies International (DSI). 

 ABOUT THIS EVENT:  Last June, the Mack Center for Technological Innovation presented a conference entitled Winners and Losers in Green Technologies. At this event, the U.S. energy grid was identified as an area of major interest and concern.  The energy grid is positioned squarely in the crosshairs of green technologies innovation and is a major potential bottleneck.  It is an arena where innovation and efficiency are urgently needed.

 As a follow-up to the well attended June conference, the Mack Center for Technological Innovation and DSI hosted a supplemental workshop to explore the various forces with the potential to influence the US energy grid’s current footprint, operating model and value chain.   

Our follow-up workshop examined the major forces that may impact the energy grid over the next 12 to 17 years, in order to understand better the different futures that could take shape. Understanding those futures will be very beneficial to the various stakeholders of the grid who are pressured to make sizable investments in the face of increasing uncertainty.

Presently, the U.S. energy grid is severely strained. Declining production capacity and an aging transmission infrastructure, combined with increasing generation costs, are leading to greater stress on consumers and mounting political pressure to curb rate hikes, or otherwise intervene and regulate. The cost, scale, and complexity of the problems plaguing the domestic grid are staggering; consequently, any decision carries a very significant risk associated with it. These challenges partly explain the lack of progress that has been made in resolving the problem. Some would argue that no significant progress has been made in improving reliability since the 2003 blackout.  

The current infrastructure is inefficient, wasteful, and liable to breakdowns. The grid is also ill-equipped to deal with the energy and environmental challenges facing the country. On both counts, the present energy infrastructure is part of the problem.  Power generation is one of the main causes of greenhouse gas emissions as well as one of the main users of expensive non-renewable resources.

There are major challenges to be faced; the industry needs to renew the electric network to meet growing energy demands while enabling the implementation of a smart grid to integrate more sustainable generation resources (including renewable sources, co-gen etc).

The Future of the US Energy Grid Study

The William and Phyllis Mack Center for Technological Innovation at the Wharton School and Decision Strategies International have partnered to develop a pioneering study on the future of the U.S. energy grid.  The grid study will target the state of the U.S. Domestic Energy Grid in 2025 from an infrastructure, technology, markets and investors standpoint.  The study will detail what the state of the future energy value chain could evolve into, involving all actors that contribute to or benefit from the grid existence and operation.

The study is designed to create unique insights for its participants by seeking contributions from leading organizations and experts in industry, government and academia. 

The study involves multiple partners including PJM, the U.S. Navy, Lockheed Martin, Nerac, DSI and the Mack Center for Technological Innovation since the issues can only be understood and solved if multiple parties work together. In the words of the R&D head of a large utility company: “The issues facing the industry are larger than any individual company and require us to share information about our experience in order that we all benefit and [achieve our respective goals].”

 Contact Information:

William & Phyllis Mack Center for Technological Innovation