Keys to grid innovation | Colette D. Honorable | Global Energy Dialogues

Thank you, Arun. Let me say greetings to you, to Sally, to Caroline, to Juliana, and our friends from around the world who are gathered today for an exciting discussion about energy. I'll answer this question in two ways. The first is as a former regulator. Clearly, all of these drivers have had an incredible impact in the current energy transition, and that's a great thing. We absolutely need to focus more and act on access to energy for so many places around the world that are still developing. That's critical. We can't leave anyone behind, because in as much as there are places around the world that lack access to energy, their economies aren't able to develop as robustly as they should, schools and hospitals and homes can't be supported as they should. So we can't lose sight of that. But yes, affordability is key for many places around the world. Everywhere around the world, that has been a primary role of the regulator, as well as ensuring reliability and resilience. So yes, it has to be affordable, but consumers need to be able to count on energy when they need it the most, especially in dark sky or black sky events that may occur, or interruptions to the grid of all types. But finally, and most importantly, I think the greatest driver, and I'm so excited about this, is this focus on the environment and climate change. It's real. We are major contributors to it, and I'm really excited about the many ways in which we are working together around the world to impact it and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Thank you. I'll give you one that comes to mind from my time as a state regulator in Arkansas. We were working diligently on a number of fronts. We were focused on net metering, on energy efficiency. One key area where we thought we could move consumers ahead and utilities that serve them, as well as support the integration of smart meters. As you all know, smart meters are meters that not only determine consumption but are able to gather and send back to the utility service provider important information about usage, time of use, etc., when load growth is the highest, so that it can be used to a great degree for planning and managing, especially on hot summer days or cold winter days. But smart meters provide two-way communication. We saw the value of allowing this technology to be used. However, it was quite expensive. Thank goodness, the Department of Energy in the US at that time allowed a number of grants to be used to pair with utilities that put forward a plan to focus diligently on the smart integration of smart meters. So it really incorporated another element that you mentioned, Arun, and that is security. In harnessing this important technology, we had to make sure that it was secure, and not only that, but that we attended to privacy concerns and issues regarding whose data it is, who owns the data (consumers do), and also how utilities would manage it. We also focused very heavily on the plan for keeping this information secure from intrusion from cyber threats. Another element of that was consumer education and engagement. We know that as a people, when we know better, we do better, and so we were focused heavily on that. Clearly, the integration of smart meters allowed us to gain greater information about how consumers use energy in our jurisdiction and allowed us to tailor programs and offerings to help focus more greatly on energy efficiency and to drive the usage of energy toward certain times of day when energy would cost less.

Thank you, Sally. And thank you for mentioning my affiliations in the opening. I would be remiss if I didn't mention my friends from the Brookings Institution. I'm a non-resident senior fellow with them, and I don't want to hear from them, so I thought I'd better mention that now. There are a number of important pathways for us to pursue deeper decarbonization. Clearly, some of them are longer term; I'll talk about those in a moment. In the nearer term, we absolutely can't forget about energy efficiency. It's the cheapest kilowatt of energy because it's the one never used. And in as much as we have been focused in the last 10 years on it, we cannot stop that focus. And as many of us are in our homes more, working from home more, we really need to be focused on being efficient in our consumption of energy: how we use it, how we set our thermostats and run water, how we water the plants. So I have to mention that first. A key area for us globally is harnessing greater emissions reductions in the transportation sector. Clearly, that is an area on which we could collectively focus together. If we did that around the world, we could have a greater impact sooner. I was at an event in the fall, which seems like forever ago, in Paris, and Fatih Birol, who is the head of the IEA, spoke there. Arun referenced the International Energy Agency earlier. He gave us a staggering statistic: today, almost half of the cars sold in the US and a third of the cars sold in Europe are SUVs. We had really been under this illusion that we were focusing more on smaller cars, compact cars, more efficient cars, but we're actually still using heavier cars and trucks that are consuming greater amounts of fuel. So we really should focus to a greater degree on how we gain efficiencies in heavy-duty transport, in renewable fuel sources, and yes, incorporating infrastructure to support greater use of electric vehicles. So those are some longer-term things. I'm very excited about the potential of hydrogen and also direct air capture technologies, of course carbon capture and sequestration, because we know that gas will still be used for some time to come. So we need to focus on how to make that work and those efforts more efficient. I can't say enough about the promise and the hope of integrating energy storage of all types, but battery storage significantly. These are the most promising pathways in my opinion.

Thank you, Sally. I harken back to my time as a regulator, and I think it's important that we think about it in this way. So many times in these dialogues, we are quick to discount what's not good and what is competing with the other. First of all, we have to focus on affordability. As much as we need to move quickly to focus on limiting the rise of the global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius, we also need to make sure that consumers who pay for so much of this work can afford to do it. That's critical. Now, in the midst of this pandemic, and Sally, I love the way you teed it up; I call it this triple pandemic that we're in. The economic pandemic is real, it's critical, and we can't say enough about focusing on affordability. I can also equally urge those who are working in this area to think about diversity: diversity of supply, of sources, of resources, of technologies. We absolutely need it all. So we have to be very nimble and flexible and not be so quick to judge one or the other. Let's see how we can get them all moving in the same direction and helping us to focus on reducing carbon emissions. And then finally, other important considerations include reliability and resilience for the reasons I mentioned before. But as we are developing these pathways and getting them launched and moving ahead, we absolutely have to be focused on reliability. That is why the work of regulators around the world has been critically important, and it's been an honor to work with regulators and commissioners around the globe who have been focused not simply on keeping the lights on but doing so as we undertake this complex work of retiring sources that are no longer needed or are more carbon intensive while also ramping up technologies and tools to aid in this effort. Again, resilience will be a prominent focus for us nationally. We can't ignore it because we continue to see globally issues and concerns around attacks on the grid of all types. We've been speaking of cyber and national security threats, but there are others: severe weather events with the onslaught of climate change, we are seeing ocean temperatures higher than they've ever been, winter storms colder than they've ever been, summers hotter than they've ever been, wildfires burning longer and hotter and more destructive than they've ever been. So we're experiencing unprecedented threats to the grid of all types, and I shouldn't leave out physical attacks to the grid. So we have to be able to talk and chew gum at the same time, walk and chew gum at the same time, and focus on every one of these elements. We can't let one slip through the cracks.

Thank you. I should put a word in here about the incredible reforms that have been underway around the world. We have been very supportive of our friends in Mexico and their energy reform efforts, and in Canada, for instance in Ontario, where they have been focused on a review of their energy regulatory scheme. My vision is for greater alignment, and I'll speak here about the US, but I believe these comments could well apply in a number of places, even the ones I've mentioned: greater alignment among the work of federal and state regulators in the US. I think especially our friends in Europe like to think of the ways in which we regulate this work in the US as a patchwork, and some don't quite understand it. It's really worked well for us because we've been able to allow what works well in states and regions to dominate and be prominent and prevalent. However, there is a need, in order to better align the utility business models at the local or retail and distribution level, which occurs in states and in municipalities or cities and towns, to align those objectives more with what is happening at the federal level. To be clear, all regulators are focused on the objectives we've talked about: access, affordability, reliability, resilience, diversity of sources and resources. We also need to support innovation in the utility business model. For instance, supporting greater integration of nuclear or technologies such as energy storage. How can we align that work at the retail and distribution level with what is happening at the federal level and aligning that with how wholesale electricity markets operate? So my vision is for greater alignment. When I was at FERC, we attempted to work a bit on that. It's so complex that I don't know if we'll have it mastered in five or ten years, but how we align and support investment so that we really provide greater regulatory certainty and transparency that will support greater investment not only in research and development (that's critical, we have to support more of that) but also integrating these newer technologies where we find them, where they are viable and deployable, in order to support this greater transition. Clearly, energy storage is a great example of that. FERC's recent activity, I hope we get a chance to talk more about that. It started when I was at FERC, and Chairman Norman Bay led the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and we developed an energy storage policy statement that really was a culmination of efforts to explore what are the barriers to integrating greater amounts of energy storage and then what can we as regulators do about it. FERC set out on the journey of directing regional transmission organizations and independent system operators to begin to remove those barriers. It's a very technical effort, practical, yes technical as well: removing or even amending business practice manuals and policies and procedures to reflect energy storage. To be fair to those ISOs, RTOs, or VSOs for places around the world, energy storage wasn't viable and able to compete in markets at the time those structures were developed, but now they're here. So it is incumbent upon us as regulated systems to envision what is coming and to prepare for it. In other words, we have to do better than to respond. We actually have to, and I'm going to use a Wayne Gretzky quote, 'skate where the puck is going to be.' We haven't done the best job of that as regulators. So I suggest that greater alignment among the federal level, the state level, and what's happening in the industry would yield us greater results more quickly.

Well, I will tell you, and I'll speak from experience during my time at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission when we spoke of beginning this journey with regard to market operations. For those who are joining, let me speak just a bit about markets. In the truest sense, they are meeting places, a marketplace for the exchange of energy. In the purest sense, we should absolutely motivate, encourage, and drive the scenario that Arun described: making sure that this low-cost energy is available for consumers wherever they are to benefit from it. That's really the beauty of this complex grid in the US in our wholesale electric market operations. However, it's not that simple because we have a lot of states and regions with policy objectives and policy goals that are really driving what is happening in their states. A state may have a renewable energy standard, or a city may have a goal, or a utility. Just yesterday, Southern Company, based in Georgia in the US, the state has no goal, but this utility, one of the largest in the US, has just announced a net-zero energy goal by 2050. So let's say it's a state that has a renewable energy standard. How will those goals be realized in a wholesale energy market? These are the very complex issues that FERC continues to grapple with. They grappled with them even as I was leaving the commission, and they still are. The goal should be not merely to accommodate those goals but really to integrate them, but that is where the challenge really begins because there could be a state that doesn't have a goal, or there could be a rise in energy costs for a certain resource or source. So these are extremely complex issues that require a great amount of work. That's why I'm really pleased that FERC continues to focus on wholesale market operations and that we have so many stakeholders, thought leaders, and others who are helping to find solutions to these difficult questions.

That's almost a stumper of a question, Sally. I'll take them separately. For energy efficiency, I think the pathway to gain greater improvements lies at the state level and state regulators. Let me be clear, because there are many energy and electricity providers that operate without any mandate or directive from a regulator. But having said that, in the same way that FERC has been focusing so diligently on energy storage, which is a phenomenal thing, we can do that at the state level with energy efficiency. When I was in Arkansas, I led an effort, and I actually was handed the baton by two previous chairmen, but during my tenure we actually stood up comprehensive energy efficiency programs in Arkansas. By comprehensive, I mean we were focused on developing and executing energy efficiency programs and offerings for every customer class: residential, even in lighting, commercial, and industrial. We were focused on something for everyone. It could be as simple as wrapping a water heater, replacing light bulbs with LED bulbs, and weatherization. It could be even more significant for commercial or industrial customers. Now, all of them would say you don't have to tell me about saving on my electricity bills; it's one of the highest costs I have, especially for low-income people, electricity costs are a much larger portion of their budget. But we went about it and had a great amount of support from the federal level, our friends at DOE again, and also the national laboratories and other groups, technical advisors, to really help educate and inform greater ways to drive greater numbers for energy efficiency. And we paired it with incentives. As a regulator, I initially went into it thinking, 'Why do we need incentives? What we need is a stick.' But I was persuaded otherwise and actually supported strongly our effort at rolling out energy efficiency programs with no stick or penalty but with incentives, which was the carrot, to really incent greater involvement and commitment by utilities. And it worked extremely well. We are still very proud today not only of the energy efficiency savings but also of the ways in which it impacted the economic development sector: the direct jobs and indirect jobs that were created from that experience. So that was one great example of how, if everyone is aligned from a market perspective, we can reap benefits in ways we may not even expect. Now, on the nuclear side, which is much more complicated for the reasons I've discussed, let me say markets are not perfect, but I continue to strongly support the operation of wholesale electricity markets in the US, energy and capacity markets, because of the ways in which they support the dispatch of lowest cost resources to consumers around the country. With this work, it's very complicated here because nuclear is quite expensive. It is true it may not be as flexible; gas can ramp up and down, but nuclear is pretty much 24/7/365 fuel unless it's out for maintenance, refueling, or some unusual occurrence. So it is a valuable resource for us to incorporate more greatly. I have to say too, I'm really concerned about our lack of investment in nuclear around the world. I appeared before the House Select Committee; the US House of Representatives just released a report on focusing on decarbonization and how to more greatly impact climate change in the US, and I participated in a roundtable on nuclear energy. We in the US really need to focus on it more. It is a challenge in wholesale markets because it seems not to be able to compete when we're talking about lowest cost resources. This is why we have to align the objectives of the operation of markets and consider broadening them to support, where possible and in ways that aren't uneconomic, the integration of greater sources of energy like energy storage, like nuclear, that can help us reduce emissions and meet these targets that we have. Let me say, although it's quite unfortunate that the US withdrew from the Paris Accord, there are many places around the US that are still very focused every day: men and women, mayors, governors, utilities, renewable energy companies, technology companies that are driving this work. I'm so proud of that. We have to continue to focus on this really critical issue. As a federal regulator, it was the most challenging issue that I dealt with, and that is saying a lot because there are a lot of tough issues at FERC focusing on overseeing the reliability of the grid across the country. But this issue of how we focus on objectives and policies that support greater GHG emissions, how we make sure those resources can survive in wholesale markets, is a challenging one. But we should be committed to it every day to making way for resources such as nuclear, but others as well, that can help us along the way.

That's a great question, and I think we could take another hour talking about that. I want to give a nod to all of the students that are in this chat around the world because you are remarkable, and you have a unique opportunity to impact our globe in ways that we could never envision. I get emotional about it because these are very difficult times, certainly for us in the US. It's been heartening to see how we have aligned around the world for this cause. The global managing partner at my firm, his nickname is Sandy Thomas, says this feels different. Many of us weren't around when our US civil rights leader John Lewis, who just passed away, a congressman here in the US, spoke at the March on Washington or marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. We weren't there, but we are here now, and you are here now. We have to really seize this moment and attack it and focus on it and act in ways that we never envisioned that we never saw ourselves doing. But I'm really hopeful about this generation of young people because they are active, they are strong, they are brilliant, really bright, creative, and there is something about this generation. I'm a bit biased; I'm raising one: my daughter is 19, a rising sophomore at Howard University in DC. But this time is like none other in our generation. I would say, and I'm middle-aged now, what can young people do? One, I would respectfully urge you to stop thinking that this doesn't concern you. If you are not a minority, if you are not African American, I would urge you to embrace the fact that this time we're in is bigger than a movement, bigger than a moment, because we are talking about systemic inequities and inequalities that span hundreds of years. But now they've impacted every single one of us. So none of us has the luxury to say, 'Somebody else died today, someone got shot by the police today, someone wasn't treated fairly at work today.' That impacts all of us. So I would urge you to embrace that racial inequality affects me and you. I would also urge young people to get educated about the history of it, don't feel defensive about it, but be educated and be willing to be educated about what has happened around the world, what has happened where you are, what's happened for us in the US, and how we get to this place. That's for all of us to do. Then I would also urge you to decide that you will do something differently today. Even if you haven't made this commitment, make a commitment to do something different. If you're in a conversation where someone says something inappropriate, take them to task. You can do it in different ways. You can say, 'I have to say that makes me uncomfortable,' or as my daughter, you can say, 'That is not okay.' Whatever you choose. Each one of us can take a role in that today. But finally, I would say do something that supports someone other than yourself. I take this to heart too. What are we each doing to make our world more inclusive and welcoming? We all have to take action. I'll end with that: let's all do something. Congressman Lewis once said, 'If not us, then who? If not now, then when?' I think what I've committed to personally in honor of his life and his sacrifice, and also Reverend Vivian, who passed away the same day, I want to commit today to doing something to improve the world around me. To those of you who have participated in protests and done many other things to shine a light on the fact that we are not accepting this time anymore, we can't go back to that. We can't all just go back to life as usual. So I hope that you will commit with me to do something differently today.

Some might say carbon pricing, although it hasn't been perfect in places around the world like in Europe or Sweden or Canada, at least they've done it, and I think we need to focus on it a bit more here in the US. A policy about which I have been delightfully surprised around the world are the times when I've observed really strong public-private partnerships. I'll give you two quick examples. Even before I give them, let me say in the US we have incredible work underway. I've mentioned DOE a couple of times and the national laboratories around the US, but their work is really critical. The work we undertake every day focused on research and development and demonstration projects, carbon capture, direct air capture. I have to mention our friends at EPRI, the Electric Power Research Institute; they work with folks around the world on providing the technical expertise and the science to determine what is achievable and what is viable. Clearly, there are lots of what I call 'missionaries' around the world who are so focused on supporting these structures and processes. So we have a lot of great things going on in the US, but to give a nod to our friends: one I observed in Spain, which was really powerful with renewable energy integration, specifically wind. The ways in which their energy ministries, their R&D and scientific agencies, private funded organizations, and regulators aligned around this was really remarkable. On this wind tour, I was able to see how this technology is evolving long before we went to gearless boxes for wind blades. Looking at the technology and prototypes for how wind blades and turbines were getting longer and taller, I remember standing under a prototype and the wind blew so hard it blew my hat off. Then going to Madrid to Red Eléctrica and seeing those same wind turbines operating and how it all connected to provide and support a reliable and resilient grid. Then going to a little place called Toledo, an old town, where one company had their control room and seeing how they were leveraging, many years ago, technology to stop or start a wind tower in Malaga, a place far on the other side of where we were. So the strong public-private partnership was remarkable to me. I think if more of us leverage that around the world, we could use it to a greater degree to support this work we've been speaking about. The other example I'll briefly mention is in Brazil. It was great to go there and engage with them around their renewable energy integration and their regional transmission planning and cost allocation efforts. I was really impressed with their commitment, not only regulators but also people throughout government in Brasilia. The electric and gas regulator there were separate, ANEEL and ANP, but also visiting their regional transmission organization and a number of their think tanks and seeing how they are really focused together on a number of objectives. Now, everyone still has a number of objectives they're working on, but one where they coalesced and focused greatly was on renewable energy integration to really diversify their fuel supply and take advantage of how they could complement and supplement their terrific hydro resources and gas resources as well. So those are two that come to mind.

Thank you for the question. I have to applaud FERC. By the way, in the US, that decision in FERC's Order 841 was appealed because of a jurisdictional question, and our appellate court in the District of Columbia just affirmed FERC's Order 841. It was the order that directed the integration of energy storage resources into wholesale electricity markets in regions throughout the US. That really is going to be a landmark order; we can't fully appreciate it now. But that order, and again this iteration of FERC is picking up the baton from previous iterations, is now focused on this critically important resource. I can't say enough about it because we are already seeing co-location projects in the US: wind and storage, solar and storage, now even tri-location projects, if that's a word, where gas is being coupled with that. That is going to be really transformational for us in the US. This is an example of how the regulatory process can really drive it. Now, to be fair, there has been some lag, but we have to applaud, identify, and recognize these advances where they come. I would also say it's critical for FERC to continue focusing on market reform efforts. It's a tough issue. Day-to-day, FERC decides and makes decisions on matters that are in the hundreds of thousands, millions, billions of dollars. But this work on market reform has to continue. Specifically, what I teed up earlier, focusing on how to achieve integration of these policy objectives in markets is key. I think if we were able to do that, we could focus more greatly on how energy efficiency and nuclear, I think I was speaking with Arun about that a moment ago, how these resources can play greater roles and how we can continue to provide customers with low-cost resources. So that's my main recommendation.

Thank you for asking that question. I get so excited talking about energy as a career. Let me confess, when I first began as a very young lawyer, I was really interested in public interest work. My first job was at Legal Services, and my dream was to save the world and help everybody that didn't have help. That's a part of our oath: to defend the cause of those who are defenseless, oppressed, impoverished. I really took that to heart. But through mentors, champions, and advocates, I found my way. As you heard, I've had many jobs, but I think none have been a mistake or coincidence; they've all prepared me well for the work I do today. Even that workforce role that I held really helped me to focus on how as a regulator I could support the development of our workforce to make sure people were getting trained to harness technological advances, making sure we had diversity in our workforce. But I'll have to admit, I've been a trial lawyer for a number of years, a litigator, and I did criminal work but loved civil litigation. One day I was asked to take the role in workforce in the Governor's Cabinet, and then the Governor called and said he wanted to talk with me. I would joke and say when he called, it meant I needed to pack up my bags and go to another place. This place was the Arkansas Public Service Commission. I knew there was an opening, but I never thought at all about pursuing it. But I took the opportunity. I'll admit again, two weeks into this job, I thought, 'Oh my, I think I've made a mistake,' because it didn't seem to move me the way civil law had. Then I had all these books and primers on the physics of electricity law, and I thought, 'Oh my goodness, have I made a mistake?' But two weeks later, I think a light bulb went off. No pun intended. Something clicked with me, and I really began to realize how vast this space is. I was intimidated; I thought I'm never going to be able to learn this. I'm working around people who have done this work for decades and people who appeared before me who often also thought they were smarter than me. They intimidated me. The work itself did because it's so vast; it is global. One of my directors came into my office one day and said, 'Chairman, no one knows everything.' Honestly, it made me breathe a sigh of relief, and I really began to dig into it. I love it. I will say law and my legal background have given me intuitive thinking ability and logic to bring to this work that is necessary. So yes, we absolutely need engineers; you guys are so important. Lawyers, you couldn't do this work without us either. It is critical that we get more lawyers who are interested in working in this area because lawyers play a key role not only in supporting the operations in the energy sector but you really serve a critical and unmatched task of informing, persuading, advocating. Take Order 841, for instance. Someone had to bring that matter before FERC, that proposal. Someone had to advocate there before the commission. Then an appeal was filed; a lawyer had to help them with that, but another one had to help pursue and advocate on behalf of FERC. So it's critically important that lawyers see themselves here and see themselves being inspired, motivated change agents in this space. We need lawyers working at every level. A lawyer working at a city level or municipality level is equally important at the state level, at the federal level, internationally as well. So my pathway as a lawyer was very helpful to me. Digging into very mundane technical issues, yes I've had to learn a bit of physics and science and brush up on that. But my background as a lawyer, I truly believe, is what has helped me crystallize and synthesize issues, translate the work of what is happening in the sector to the regulator, and also communicate as a policy maker clear objectives and clear signals about how the sector should move together. I can't talk enough about how much I love this work. I get up every day excited about it; I don't know if you can say that, and it's a blessing if you can. If you can't say that, I urge you to find the thing about which you can be excited. For me, energy is it without a doubt. Thanks for the question.

Thank you. That's a great question. I would say there are a number of things that regulators can do. One, regulators absolutely have to lean into this. This is a little bit away from their routine work. Certainly, when I became a regulator, no one talked to me about sitting in a SCIF room or a controlled access room with no internet connection learning about threats to the grid. But it's important work. We have very robust efforts here in the US. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) really works hard to partner with federal agencies like the Department of Justice, the Department of Energy, and the FBI to educate regulators about all sorts of attacks on the grid, not just physical but cyber threats as well. This work is critical. Also, it is imperative that regulators require robust plans for planning for threats to the grid. State regulators can do that work; federal regulators absolutely do. FERC has a division and department within the agency that focuses on critical infrastructure and cybersecurity. Both FERC and the NARUC commissioners work well together. I would also say there has to be another element of inter-agency cooperation. I saw that strongly at FERC with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. We would hold joint meetings twice a year to really focus on threats of all types. The joint meetings focused on threats in the nuclear sector but also lessons learned: what could we learn about threats with regard to infrastructure that we could share with our colleagues at the NRC and vice versa? I found those engagements to be very frightening but enlightening, and I'm encouraged by that important work that is still underway today.

I love that question. I'm sure that many of you watch, not where I work at home, I can look out over the street and I see probably six Amazon trucks a day roll through, and FedEx, UPS, post office trucks every day. While I am so grateful, and by the way, my 78-year-old mother lives with me and my daughter, and we are so blessed to have her. She turned 79 this week. I'm careful about going out and who comes into our home because we want to take good care of her. But we are grateful that we have the opportunity in a developed world to order groceries online and order things from Amazon. But I'm a little concerned about the lack of coordination and the lack of cohesion in how we do that. I think we can each take steps to address that. Do you order groceries every day that are delivered every day? Well, what if you order them once a week or once every two weeks? That's one way I can do my part to reduce some of that. Do I order things from Amazon one at a time, or do I order them all together? Sometimes they still ship them separately. Do I need them all tomorrow, or can I request that they send them all in one package if possible? These are steps we can individually take to cut down on the fuels being used to transport goods. By the way, I just told you about the trucks I saw on my street; I didn't tell you about the ones I saw on the highway or the planes, etc. So we can also be thoughtful about how we engage with our colleagues now and even things we do in our homes: when we wash clothes, when we cook, when we shower. There are a number of steps we can take that can really demonstrate and act on our mindfulness about the impact of our individual footprints on the globe.

I would say that there are many ways in which we are leaning into it. Let me say I can't say enough about our need to align more with our colleagues around the world in pursuing climate strategies. Even though we as a nation have indicated our withdrawal, I hope that will change in the US. But in spite of that, we still see the resilience of people, of corporate entities, of cities and states that are still committed to that. We still have a number of places around the US that are focused on R&D. I've mentioned our national laboratories. I haven't spoken enough about DOE's work in this area on direct air capture, carbon capture and sequestration, funding and supporting demonstration projects, pilots, and really focusing on technology investments and strategies that maybe we aren't sure are viable but could well be through testing and demonstration. I also know firsthand of the work happening at institutions like the Electric Power Research Institute, the Gas Technology Institute, and others who are focused on it. As a former regulator, I will acknowledge the tension in supporting research and development through investor-owned utility rate-making processes. I think it is owing to a concern about the ways in which we in the US check the boxes for energy supply to be passed on or paid for by consumers. It has to be 'used and useful.' That is a tenet going back to the early 1900s in the US. It means we can't allow consumers, many of whom are on low incomes or fixed incomes, to bear just any cost. So we really have to set some guidelines about those things for which everyday people and businesses will have to share in the cost. If it's a wind farm, a solar farm, a gas plant that is an operation, yes, if it's prudent and in the public interest, we allow those things to be passed on. But it really becomes more difficult, and I could talk about this all day, if you have a demonstration project and what if it starts and never goes online, and the company has spent millions. Should consumers pay for that too? So we see in the US that taxpayers are helping, and I think that is very appropriate. The programs at DOE are robust. Can we do more? Yes. The work at the laboratories and at industry-led and supported organizations and institutions, I think, are still working very well, and we need to continue to support those efforts. Hence my work with EPRI, and I've been working with them since my time as a regulator.

Oh, I love that question. If I had a magic wand, and let me say you have touched on an area of great challenge for us in the US, and I imagine for our colleagues around the world: transmission line, I would say infrastructure build out but transmission line build out in particular. It takes an unnecessarily long period of time. If I had a magic wand, I would create a one-place. Under our law right now, anyone building infrastructure has to go to that agency first and then also comply with a number of very important federal laws regarding endangered species, addressing issues associated with indigenous people, etc. Those are really important laws; I don't want to suggest the Clean Water Act or other Clean Air Act are not important; they are critically important. But if I could wave a wand, I would create an infrastructure bureau where, yes, another agency, it's a one-stop shop. That way, we could really trim down the amount of time it takes for these important and necessary evaluations to take place. I would also say we could work better at regional levels. I've talked about regional transmission organizations, independent system operators, or VSOs. We could work better in those to make sure that the timelines for consideration of projects, cost allocation, and development are more streamlined because it takes far too long. So I would love to have that magic wand in my hand.

Thank you. On the balance, let me say this is critical. It's important because it's imperative that we focus on reliability and resilience. For mere security reasons, neither one alone is the proper way to go. It wouldn't be prudent to only focus on a centralized system, and likewise we also can't support resilient systems that are completely decentralized. So it's critical that we have that balance and that we have the proper infrastructure and regulatory support for both, and operational support. That's key. We have seen more distributed energy resources coming onto the grid; that's a great thing. But I don't think the answer is going 100% microgrids or 100% wireless, no transmission. We really have to be thoughtful about this approach and focus on what is viable and long-term and what supports all of these objectives that we've talked about. Now, what are the ways to incentivize this work? The regulator can play an incredibly important role here because while the regulator in the US at least sits in a quasi-judicial role and makes decisions about matters that come before the commission, the regulator also has an important role to play in driving improvements in the regulatory scheme. Certainly, focusing on net metering, when I was in Arkansas, we revised our net metering rules. That was really important. But also, many ways we've observed around the country: I mentioned Georgia; their work on solar has been really impressive. The work happening in California and in the Northeast especially here. But in places where there is no mandate, I'm really inspired by those because you have to really analyze that ecosystem to see what is driving that work. In many places where regulators are driving change, they are focused on what their potential is. At the root of it, it's important that the regulator foster a cohesive learning engagement. We did that when we were really focused on the wind and solar potential in Arkansas. We brought in folks from NREL and other places, a very dear friend from NRDC, Ralph Cavanagh, and others, to help us understand what is possible where we lived and worked and within our jurisdictional boundaries. That's critically important because so many of us go to different places and learn, but then we leave others behind who can't go to that conference, can't afford that registration fee, or aren't part of that organization. So education began at home for us. Then we looked at what was viable and could be done in a way that would be affordable. That empowered us to encourage, nudge, or even challenge some of the utilities in our space to get on with it. I'm really proud of what we're seeing there now on the energy efficiency front and the renewable energy integration front. But I'm not yet at the place where I would suggest monetary incentives for utilities. I think there are enough reasons that shouldn't send the sector to focus on it. Clearly, the low cost of wind and solar now by virtue of the broadening of technology and the widening of the deployment of these resources have improved the cost. So the ability to engage in different ways to integrate DER is also a pathway because you can enter into a PPA, or a power purchase agreement, or you can build a wind farm, or you can co-invest with someone else, you can build a solar farm. So I'm not at the place yet where I would suggest monetary incentives, but certainly regulators can drive this focus and this investment. Let me mention a critically important tool here: integrated resource planning processes. We used those in Arkansas, and I've also helped others around the world, most recently including in the Caribbean nation, to focus on using this tool to really plan on what load growth will be in a certain time: five years, 10 years, 20 years. What are our resources? What are our capabilities? How are we going to get where we need to be? That allows you to focus on your resource potential and also your policy objectives and operational and practical considerations as well.

Thank you. Great question on which to end. How can we leverage this moment in this sector and really thread that needle? I hope first that when our friends around the world hear Black Lives Matter, you don't immediately get turned off by that. I hope you take time to understand what it's about. For us in the US, it really has been rooted in the killing of mostly men and women who are African American. Do our lives matter? Absolutely. But what drove this time we're in right now is a global alarm about the unnecessary, needless, and callous taking of lives that have been focused primarily on a certain ethnicity. How can we then leverage that in energy? I go into so many rooms where I'm still the only black person and still the only person of color. We can all do something about that. I'm not suggesting that all the rooms need to be all African American; that wouldn't be good either because diversity of thought is critically important. Diversity of experience drives the richness of our ability to reach innovative and creative solutions and strategies. We can each make sure we're being inclusive. Many people on this call: you are a manager, a supervisor. What are you doing to support pathways in the sector, especially in engineering? There are very few minorities, African Americans, in places around the country. What are we all doing to make sure that our work spaces, that the entities that serve the people, look like the people? That includes all of us: black people, Asian, Hispanic, Latino, European, Caucasian, Native American, you name it. We're all included in that. Then, I'm so pleased, Arun, that you mentioned C3E because that work is so important. This is an initiative with DOE and MIT, and it's been wonderful to work with these women. We are working to really shine a light on and highlight middle-level women: women who are not just starting out in their careers in energy but are mid-level. Many times for women, we get there and we stay there. We're kind of stuck; it's like a middle layer that we can't break through. Some women may not have had the champions and advocates that I have had and still have to this day, many of whom are men by the way. We focus on highlighting women in a number of areas: research, working government, law, finance. This work is amazing to see these bright minds, women who have been working somewhere between seven or eight and 15 years in their field, who are game changers and don't accept the status quo and who are humbly, thoughtfully keeping their heads down and focusing on ways to improve the sector. Especially in clean energy, it's been an honor to work with them. These strategies are ones we can employ. You can create one. I started a mentoring program for women energy regulators around the world. I think we're in our fifth year now, and I've had mentees in Egypt, Turkey, Canada, St. Lucia. We can all do that. So decide how you will, and maybe you can thread that needle with the 'do something' that I mentioned earlier. What will you do in this space to support diversity? Considering the Black Lives Matter movement and our work at C3E are just two ways to do that. So thank you. I've really been honored to be here with all of you today and thank you for taking the time to listen and for the great questions.