Energy Biz - September/October 2008 - (Page 24) » Financial Front Leadership and Learning dRiviNg TOWARd UNPRECEdENTEd ExCELLENCE By MiKE CHESSER “leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” This oftenquoted statement is taken from the speech that President John F. Kennedy was prepared to deliver on the day he was assassinated. This quotation carries particular meaning for people of my generation because we saw our nation inspired by this president’s challenge to land on the moon and safely return — and do it in a handful of years. We responded with confidence and technological know-how, and we met the goal in a fraction of a decade. The great challenge of our time is to operate our existing electric infrastructure while developing new technologies to achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency and sustainability. This year, I began my term as chairman of the board for the Electric Power Research Institute. As chairman of the board and chief executive officer for Great Plains Energy, I am keenly aware that we utility executives are preparing to ask more of EPRI than at any time in its 35-year history. The technological and operational demands in creating a “low-carbon” NewsFlash future for our industry may dwarf anything we have DaM spluRge attempted since we electriPakistan plans to spend fied the United States and $22 billion to help develop hydroelectric other developed countries. resources, according to For this new century we Asia Pulse Data Source. The country must electrify the developpotentially could draw ing nations while revoluon 40,000 megawatts of hydroelectric resources tionizing power generation, but has developed only delivery, end use and about 15 percent of the transportation. resource. September/October 2008 (Guest OpiniOn) It is a tall order, but all signs point to an imperative to reduce our industry’s carbon footprint. Fortunately, through EPRI we are already beginning to learn what we must do in order to lead. EPRI recently investigated the technical capability and economic feasibility of achieving substantial CO2 emissions reductions from the U.S. electricity sector. These analyses assessed the CO2 emissions reduction potential of a portfolio of advanced technologies, and the economic impacts associated with deploying these advanced technologies. EPRI also assessed the research, development, demonstration and deployment pathways necessary for these technologies to reach prescribed performance goals. Several major conclusions emerged. Just as with the moon shot, we must have the technology. A technology-based strategy is sustainable, minimizes costs to the U.S. economy and creates opportunities for decarbonization beyond the electricity sector and, ultimately, beyond the United States. There is no technological “silver bullet.” We require a diverse portfolio of technologies: efficiency, renewable energy resources, nuclear, coal with carbon capture and storage, and a grid that is transformed by new interactive, energy-management capabilities. We need focused, sustained research and development, starting now. Unlike the singular, focused technological challenge of the moon shot, we must consider the long lead times required for developing and deploying new electricity technologies. EPRI’s research indicates that an increase of roughly $30 billion in research, development and demonstration investment, public and private, will lower the cost of emissions reductions on the order of $1 trillion. These numbers tell me we need technological leadership. For energy and the environment we often look to lawmakers and energy companies, including utilities, to get things done. For the coming decades we must look for important leadership from our technologists. Scientists, engineers and others must lead in new ways. Based on my 20-plus years of experience with EPRI, I believe this organization is strategically positioned, thanks to its expertise and its central 24 E n E rgyB i z
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.