Grid Forward Town Halls

Virtual events the cover a range of pressing topics for our energy community – another of our Forward Focus events.

Coming Together to Face Our Region’s Pressing Challenges

Grid Forward Town Halls are 90-minute virtual events that bring together our members, friends and advisors to tackle a number of top-of-mind topics as our community manages the electric grid and utility services through the COVID-19 crisis. Each Town Hall gives you very current information across a spectrum of topics. You can voice your own opinions, share early lessons and pose questions with our community.

Image courtesy of Guidehouse/Navigant

A Flexible, Open Format That Encourages Learning and Interaction

The Forward Focus Virtual Town Hall format lets us encourage as much back-and-forth discussion as possible. It’s open to all Grid Forward members, and we cap attendance to give every attendee a chance to contribute. We don’t share any specific comments outside of this group, just a general summary for our organization.

Next Town Hall: Spring 2021

We are planning our next Forward Focus Virtual Town Hall for this spring. If you’d like to be invited, please contact our membership director, Sam Zuckerman.

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See some of the discussion leaders and topics from our first Forward Focus Town Halls.

December 2020 Forward Focus Town Hall

Grid Forward and more than 130 leaders in electrical power and the grid came together on December 11, 2020 to talk about what impacts the new administration may have on the electric utility sector and grid modernization in particular. Read a summary of the town hall here.

A central theme from among the speakers was optimism with the new administration and that past bi-partisan mis-alignments may be corrected. Compounding this change is that fact that the 117th Congress represents “a sea change” and “musical chairs” at both the federal and state level for key energy influencers as new faces enter key positions. The Town Hall speakers indicated that we all can assist this transition by educating key decision makers on infrastructure issues from our perspectives.

June 2020 Forward Focus Town Hall

Breakout Session Leaders and Topics
  • Preparing for infrastructure projects (and federal support) led by Emeka Anyanwu, Seattle City Light at 10:30am
  • Engaging customers during the crisis and recovery led by Don McPhail of Uplight and Robin Maslowski from Guidehouse at 11:00am
  • Where do DER efforts go in the short run led by David Narang of NREL at 11:30am
  • How to continue electrification initiatives led by Shanna Brownstein at Portland General at 12:00pm

General session recap and follow-up discussion at 12:45pm

May 2020 Forward Focus Town Hall

Discussion Leaders and Topics
  • Emeka Anyanwa, Seattle City Light: Learning from Load Data and Building a Better ’New Normal’
  • Scott Corwin, NWPPA: Public Power Priorities in Recovery
  • Skip Dise, Clean Power Research: Adjusting Adoption Forecasts & Customer Mindshare on Energy
  • John Gibson, Avista: Continuing Innovation in Crisis
  • Scott Harden, OSI Digital: Federal Updates For Grid Infrastructure Investments
  • James Mater, Quality Logic: Where Does Smart Grid R&D Go Now
  • Mark McGranaghan, EPRI: Load Impacts from Around the Globe from COVID
  • Tyler Nice, EWEB: How to Continue to Prioritize Resiliency
  • Jane Peters, Opinion Dynamics: Voice of the Customer in Pandemic
  • Amit Ronen, Sen. Maria Cantwell’s office: View from the Hill
  • Aram Shumavon, Kevala: What Happens to DER Adoption
  • Paul Wyman, Landis+Gyr: COVID Impacts on Projects and Consumers