The Future of Energy: What's in Store for Connecticut Employers, Consumers?
Joan McDonald, commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Economic & Community Development, introduced a panel discussion about the future of energy at the region’s premier business energy conference on Monday, Oct. 4. Sponsored by CBIA and the Connecticut Power & Energy Society, the eleventh annual What’s the Deal? conference drew more than 250 business leaders and government officials to the Crowne Plaza in Cromwell.
The discussion featured presentations by Jessica Cain, director of customer solutions for CL&P; Roddy Diotalevi, director of sales and business development for United Illuminating; Jim Dougherty, partner with McNees Wallace & Nurick; and Ann Randazzo, executive director of the Center for Energy Workforce Development. The discussion followed a keynote address by Sen. Joe Lieberman, who affirmed the need for Congress to take up the future of energy—in particular, energy independence—not only as a matter of national security but also to improve our environment, economy, and national confidence.
Dozens of vendors showcased their products, technologies, and services at the eleventh annual What's the Deal? Business Energy Conference on Oct. 4, 2010.
“Competitiveness Is Key”
McDonald led off the discussion by noting that state policymakers have recognized that “economic competitiveness is key,” evidenced, she said, by new “environmental policies that nurture all businesses,” lending programs, angel investor tax incentives, and additional venture capital and student loan forgiveness for those who choose to focus on alternative energy, health IT, and bioscience.
CL&P’s Cain and UI’s Diotalevi talked about technologies in the works that would help drive down consumer demand and cost.
“It’s about providing options and influencing customers to use them,” Cain said, adding that consumer choice starts with better consumer information. “Customers often don’t realize that energy prices vary hourly,” she said, and that they can save money by shifting more of their energy consumption off-peak. In the absence of this fundamental information—“price signals,” as she and Diotalevi called them—customers cannot take advantage of energy savings.
Intelligent two-way meters, or smart meters, said Cain, would provide “many practical, tangible benefits we don’t have today,” including remote reading and activation, automatic communication between customers and utilities to help with outage detection and restoration, measuring and optimizing voltage, real-time energy “speedometers,” and the ability to push or pull power. By sending price signals through near-real-time data, said Diotelevi, technologies such as these would allow for dynamic pricing. He likened smart meters to a weight-loss system that instantly tracks real calories as a way of helping people reduce their consumption.
A New Pipeline
Dougherty’s presentation centered on the Marcellus shale formation in the eastern region of North America. The second biggest natural gas field in the world and the single largest source of domestic natural gas yet discovered in the U.S., the Marcellus formation extends throughout much of the Appalachian Basin and contains largely untapped natural gas reserves. Its “dry, pipeline-ready gas,” its proximity to high-demand markets along the East Coast, and a proposed interstate pipeline in the Northeast, said Dougherty, make this a “game changer.” The formation is estimated to contain 500 trillion cubic feet of natural gas—which, converted to BTUs, could amount to 870 billion barrels of oil. Tapping this source of energy could result in tremendous savings for manufacturers and other commercial consumers, up to 35% for those in close proximity and with direct connections to the pipeline.
He also described “the Marcellus multiplier,” a series of benefits that would result from a new pipeline, including a surge in the region’s wealth through job creation, royalties and lease payments to landowners, cheaper fuel, and reduced transportation and delivery costs. The problem, of course, is how to capture the gas. While advances in hydraulic fracturing and other processes make it possible, overarching environmental concerns would need to be effectively addressed. A large volume of water is required in the fracturing process, Dougherty explained, and “flowback” is an environmental concern. (Frac fluid contains high concentrations of salt and other elements regulated by the EPA. Because of its water chemistry, it cannot be released into freshwater rivers and streams untreated.)
NORM (naturally occurring radioactive material) and gas migration into water wells and aquifers are other concerns. Dougherty acknowledged that while the energy and economic development potential associated with the Marcellus formation are compelling, the environmental issues are equally compelling.
Pipeline of Energy Workers
The CEWD’s Ann Randazzo rounded out the Future of Energy panel discussion with a question: “So what’s the deal with workforce development?”
In the traditional utilities, she said, 40% of the workforce will be eligible to retire in the next few years. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that we don’t know what technologies future workers will need to become proficient in.
“We need everybody from apprentices to Ph.D’s,” she said, adding, “but how can we create a sustainable workforce?
First, she suggested, we need to “up the game in academics.” Many test-takers entering the energy field, she explained, lack the basic math abilities that are threshold skills for those jobs. Targeted outreach to (and appropriate support for) everyone from students to dislocated workers and low-income adults is necessary, as is a system for identifying credentials and workplace requirements that the energy industry needs in its employees.
“We are creating the structure to make this happen through the formation of consortiums,” Randazzo said, pointing out that Connecticut has formed one of the first energy workforce development consortiums in the country, thanks in large part to CBIA’s Education Foundation. “CBIA, UI, and NU,” she said, “pulled together utilities, educators, government,” and others to look at companies’ fuel mix and future workforce needs. (To learn more about the Connecticut Energy Workforce Development Consortium, contact Judy Resnick, executive director of the Education Foundation.)
The hourlong panel discussion ended with a question and answer session that delved more into cost-saving technologies and energy workforce training issues on the horizon.
Lesia Winiarskyj is a CBIA writer-editor. She can be reached at Lesia.winiarskyj@cbia.com.
