Is coal dead? No, but it's facing an uphill battle in the U.S., according to EPRI's Jeff Phillips, senior program manager for advanced fossil generation. And so began a thought-provoking conversation about where we are today, and the innovation needed to make fossil fuels relevant in the future.

Mike Caranfa leads sales efforts for the electricity and water businesses in the Americas.

Jane Lewis-Raymond is a partner in Parker Poe's Charlotte office, practicing with the firm's Public Company Growth & Compliance and Energy groups. She has over 25 years of legal experience, including a decade as general counsel and chief compliance officer of a publicly traded company, Piedmont Natural Gas.

For many utilities in Australia, a 25% solar penetration rate is now business as usual. But utilities have also missed opportunities to shape policy on key grid modernization initiatives, such as the rollout of smart or advanced meters.

Terium is CEO and Chair of the Mgmt. Board at innogy SE. Grellman is Managing Dir., innogy Consulting.

Rudy Wynter oversees electric transmission and generation, liquefied natural gas storage, and gas transmission pipeline investments at National Grid. With over 25 years of experience in the utility sector, Wynter has held positions in customer operations, strategic planning, engineering, and operations.

Since early February 2017, FERC has faced an unprecedented freeze of certain major agenda items when one of its three remaining commissioners resigned, leaving just two. The agency usually has five commissioners, and typically needs a quorum of at least three to approve certain projects. FERC has never been in a situation in which it had just two commissioners until this year.

Owens set the stage for an industry moving into the modern era of electricity competition, smart grids and fuel diversity. Kudos by Tom Kuhn, Jim Laurito, Hilda Pinnix-Ragland, Kevin Fitzgerald, Ralph Cavanagh, Paula Glover.