Take a Two-Week Trip in April
Lori Burkhart is Editor-in-Chief of Public Utilities Fortnightly.
April is an optimistic month once you get past the rain showers. Perhaps more so this year as the vaccine is making its way through the public, unlike last year, when its nemesis, the virus, was doing so. For the sports minded, April brings opening day and the crack of bats. For the gardeners, work outside begins, with digging in the dirt. In PUF's home in the Washington, D.C. metro area, there will be cherry blossoms. We all look forward to being outside and getting on with life.
Spring brings a special event courtesy of the Edison Electric Institute. PUF looks forward to this year's EEI's Fifth Annual Global Electrification Forum, Destination 2050: Pathways, Inflections, Crossroads, Convergence. You can too. This is special, because for the first time, EEI is making sessions available to the public.
It is touted as the annual flagship event of EEI's International Programs, convening leaders from around the world to network with peers and explore the critical issues and megatrends shaping the global electricity industry.
According to EEI, as the Global Electrification Forum celebrates its fifth anniversary, EEI will explore visions for what the energy system will look like in 2050. With this destination in mind, the Forum will consider the pathways the industry can take, predict points of inflection, and envision the crossroads and opportunities to be harnessed, while preparing for the convergence of transformations. That's a lot.
In this pandemic period of being locked away for over a year now, EEI brings the world's thought leaders to you. How great is that? Over the course of two weeks, between April 12 through April 23 you will be provided the opportunity to listen in as the best and brightest discuss the most important issues in energy and then some.
You will be able to convene with leaders from around the world to network and consider the current topics and developments changing the world of today. With topics such as electrification, digitalization, innovation, decarbonization, and net zero goals, who knows where the discussions will go from there? It's anyone's guess.
The Forum will be held virtually for the first time, with Leadership in Uncertain Times, sure to be a hot topic as the pandemic has proven we only can be certain of uncertainty. Other not to be missed sessions include the Customer of the Future, Enabling the Clean Energy Future, Pandemic Implications for the Energy Industry, and Securing the Digital World. Quite the lineup.
Speakers are being added to EEI's Global Electrification Forum, but at this writing with more than thirty confirmed speakers from over a dozen countries, the CEOs from big energy alone include Iberdrola, AES Corp., Manitoba Hydro, Ontario Power Generation, Fortis, PSEG, Ørsted, Edison International, Portland General Electric, Hydro One, NorthWestern Energy, UK Power Networks, ENEL Group, EDP Group, and PNM Resources. PUF can't wait and we are sure you can't either.
The word Global stands out in the Forum's name too. It doesn't get more global than this. Again, with more speakers being added, at this writing, luminaries will be talking from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, Australia, Portugal, Canada, Iceland, Denmark, United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, Mali, and Spain. What a great way to break up the malaise we all are feeling from lack of travel during the pandemic. Let EEI bring the speakers from all over the world to you.
We all know EEI is a heavy hitter in the United States, representing all U.S. investor-owned electric utilities, but did you know EEI has more than sixty-five international members? EEI's reach is massive. Combined, EEI's U.S. and non-U.S. members have operations in more than ninety countries around the world. That is quite an accomplishment.
Just when you think it can't get any better, EEI has keynote speakers sure to enhance your experience. You will hear from Lord Mervyn King, former Governor of the Bank of England and author of Radical Uncertainty. Also confirmed to appear is public philosopher, Roman Krznaric, author of The Good Ancestor. The PUF team is intrigued. See you there.
