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Alltricity Network Report
From the Desk of Executive Director Richard Putnicki Fall Convention Recap Chalk up another milestone! We made it through our first Virtual Fall Convention. Since April, the RMEL staff, with the support from our members, Board of Directors and our Education Section Committees, has transitioned our educational offerings to the virtual venue with webinars and roundtables. The Convention framework posed a whole new set of challenges. Though we are pleased with our first run, we know there are plenty of opportunities to learn from our experiences and improve our product for our participants. What did we learn? Number one...content is still King! The participants noted the quality and insightfulness of all the speakers. They also commented about the importance of hearing from leaders outside our industry, and their perspectives. The CEO Panel continues to be a solid draw. Also, the majority of attendees who provided feedback liked the Convention spread out over multiples days, allowing for easier scheduling and participation. Another key positive was the offering of a Corporate Registration Package, allowing a deeper dive into our member companies than normal. I’d say over 50% of our attendees were experiencing their FIRST RMEL event. We will certainly be looking at continuing that offering for the Spring Conference, as well. Opportunities for improvement? The platform, was not as intuitive to access as we would have liked. Networking has always been foundational to RMEL and in the virtual world continues to be a major challenge. The access to the networking sessions proved difficult for many of our attendees. We will certainly look for a resolution to that for the Spring Conference. We knew Virtual Exhibits were going to be a challenge in the virtual world going into the Convention. Our suspicions proved true. Again, another item we will be discussing prior to our May Spring Conference to provide our services and supplier members an opportunity to get out in front of the utility membership. RMEL Staff and the Board will continue to review opportunities to address these challenges as we begin our preparation for Spring 2021. I do have a request for each of you, though. As the virtual platforms are taking hold, please share your experiences with us. If you had an opportunity to participate in a session that was particularly engaging, let us know about it. What made it work? What was unique? Share anything that you think can enhance our product to our members. All of us are better than any one of us! Please help us provide the best product possible for you! Also, be looking for the date and time to our upcoming Planning Session for the Spring Conference. We are framing up that planning event now, and will get the date and time out to you as soon as they are finalized. Join in, and help us plan our 2021 Spring Conference. If you are not able to participate, we are always open to suggested topics and/or white papers on content you believe the membership would like to or needs to see. Moving Forward Let’s talk about the question of WHEN we will meet again? I know we have all been in the place of evaluating what we’ve had to change this year. I want to share with you our insight into what we are looking at for 2021. Hosting an event will eventually come back, maybe an in-person event can occur late next year. I am keeping in close communication with our Board of Directors, along with the Education Section Committees, to continually discuss what employees are wanting and when travel may return to their organizations. The consensus is we will see a slow transition to travel, and when it returns, it may be more on a regional basis. There is total agreement that the "virtual” will be here to stay, possibly in a hybrid formula. The following member benefits (plus more) will continue in 2021:
We want to finish the year out on a strong note. Here’s what we’ve got confirmed so far for the end of this year. Our Education Section Committees are continuing to schedule additional topics. October 22nd
October 27th November 3rd November 5th November 12th We hope to see y’all virtually soon and again in person hopefully soon after that! Thank you and stay SAFE!
Education and Upcoming Events
Thermal and Thermo-Mechanical Large-Scale Storage Solutions Webinar & Roundtable --- October 22, 2020 Alltricity Network Member Information
RMEL's trusted network is now accessible on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. These are forums intended for RMEL members only. Working side-by-side in a cooperative manner, RMEL members band together for the common goal of bettering the industry and improving service for utility customers. For more than 100 years, these key principles have proven successful, and more importantly, are tried and true methods for building strong business relationships.
RMEL Champions is a prestigious group of RMEL supporters with access to useful and beneficial promotional opportunities. Get more details, and see a list of 2020 RMEL Champions!
Industry Information
Back in 2012 and 2013, when Morten Lund, a partner at the law firm Stoel Rives, first began dropping in at energy storage technology conferences, he came across a wide variety of technologies on display.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy, in collaboration with the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and the Office of Science, announced a request for information (RFI) about “enhanced weathering” research opportunities that could lead to advances in the capture and storage of carbon dioxide (CO2).
President Trump released the "National Strategy for Critical and Emerging Technologies," which outlines how the United States will promote and protect our competitive edge in wide-ranging technologies that are critical to U.S. national security and our economic advantage.
Based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA) annual survey of electric generators, natural gas-fired generators accounted for 43% of operating U.S. electricity generating capacity in 2019.
Member Announcements
Black Hills Corp. announced that utility subsidiary Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power Co., doing business as Black Hills Energy, and power generation subsidiary Black Hills Wyoming received approval of their joint application for a proposed 60-megawatt power purchase agreement from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
RMEL is pleased to announce that Paul Barham, Sr. Vice President of Energy Delivery Services for CPS Energy, has been appointed RMEL President for 2020-2021.
El Paso Electric (EPE) continues its trailblazing trend of promoting and advocating for the safe, clean and sustainable form of transportation with plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles (EV).
With the area’s major fires no longer posing a threat, PacifiCorp has reopened the 15,000 acres of land adjacent to the company’s Lewis River reservoirs that are managed for wildlife habitat and are usually open for hunting in the fall.
Platte River Power Authority and its owner communities have formed a distributed energy resources (DER) strategy committee and are seeking public input to help create a roadmap for successful DER integration.
SRP released the results from its Electric Vehicle (EV) Community survey completed by 1,269 SRP customers part of the SRP EV Community, conducted between Aug. 24 and Sept. 17, 2020.
In recent weeks, some have misinterpreted the 'business as usual' scenario in a resource assessment filing Tri-State made in June 2020 with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.
All WAPA employees have had to adapt to a new working environment due to COVID-19. The Inclusion, Innovation and Technology team is no exception.
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