On Thursday May 14 Grid Forward hosted its third Virtual Utility Roundtable to continue the assessment of the ongoing impacts on the grid from COVID-19. The discussion for this roundtable focused on adjusted forecasts and planning. The group included representatives from BPA, Eugene Water and Electrical Board (EWEB), EPRI, Guidehouse, HECO, Holy Cross Energy, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), Seattle City Light and other members and advisors.
Tyler Nice and Adam Rue of EWEB kicked off the discussion with how their organization has been responding to the past months, beginning with an immediate Response phase to ensure workforce protection. EWEB plans next for a Reintegration phase as they returned to normal operations, then a Recovery phase to ensure that resiliency is built into staff operations and business continuity, and finally a the Replenishment phase with a look forward to reliability and strategic investments.
Louis Ting, Director of Power Planning, Development and Engineering at LADWP continued the conversation, with a compelling review of their updated forecasts and planning. Louis states, “With the uncertainty of the speed of economic recovery and the impacts due to additional COVID-19 waves without a successful vaccine, LADWP’s current forecasts of a 7% decrease in energy sales for the upcoming fiscal year may be cautiously optimistic. We believe the City of LA is resilient and businesses will be transformed and reviewed potentially with different new norms.”
Some other key takeaways from the discussion included how fuel prices have been dropping (an unexpected outcome of COVID-19 crisis) and that will help to offset revenue losses. You can see a version of Ting’s comments in this recorded Grid Forward Insights presentation, “LADWP Load Impacts and Adjusted Forecasts from COVID-19.”
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The Grid Forward Virtual Utility Roundtable Series uses an invitation-only, small-group format to encourage information sharing and frank discussion. We were pleased to have a strong response for the early series and have shifted into a bi-weekly format.
Our next Roundtable is planned for May 28th.If you have an interest in reserving a seat for the next Virtual Utility Roundtable, please contact gerard@gridforward.org.
