CEO Roundtable discussion at Electric Power 2008

ByRod Adams

On Tuesday, May 6, 2008, I had the opportunity to attend a couple of sessions at Electric Power 2008, held at the Baltimore Convention Center. The opening session included a talk by Pat Wood, former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and a very informative and engaging roundtable discussion among electric company CEO’s. The moderator of that discussion, Robert Peltier, is the editor in chief of Power Magazine. (He is also a retired Captain in the US Navy Reserve.) He did a fine job of selecting five guests that each had very different views of the electricity landscape because of their own company situation and each of them were quite candid in their predictions for the future.

The guests included:

Michael Morris, Chairman, President and CEO American Electric Power
Thomas Brooks, Vice Chairman, Executive VP Constellation Energy
Bill Carnahan, Executive Director Southern California Public Power Authority
James E. Rogers, Jr., Chairman, President & CEO Duke Energy Corporation
Milton Lee, General Manager and Chief Executive Officer CPS Energy

I took a lot of notes and captured some audio from the discussion. Though I hate to resort to the techniques of mainstream media, I am going to have to ask you to stay tuned until I have a chance to process all of the material to provide you my thoughts and impressions. Time to get ready for my day job.

While you are waiting, I highly recommend a visit to an article and video posted on the Nevada Sun titled A coal-fired discussion. It covers some of the same themes and topics that the CEO’s talked about with one glaring exception – the Nevada discussion only mentions nuclear in dismissive terms while the CEO’s generally had more nuanced and interesting thoughts about the technology’s value and prospects for growth.

Rod Adams
Rod Adams

Rod Adams is Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital, a venture fund that invests in advanced nuclear, which provides affordable access to this clean energy sector to pronuclear and impact investors. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., which was one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience. He has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology, regulation, and policies for several decades through Atomic Insights, both as its primary blogger and as host of The Atomic Show Podcast. Please click here to subscribe to the Atomic Show RSS feed. To join Rod's pronuclear network and receive his occasional newsletter, click here.

Similar Posts

  • Russian Nuclear Expansion Challenged by "Ecologists"

    ByRod Adams

    My Google news alert yesterday pointed me to a story that surprised me. The link description indicated that it was from the St. Petersburg Times and gave a headline telling me that there was some opposition to a nuclear plant expansion. I subscribed to the St. Petersburg Times when I lived on the Florida west…

  • Taiwan favoring coal for new generating needs

    ByRod Adams

    One of the frustrating parts of discussing energy choices is that there are plenty of people with opinions who will not recognize facts. In the case of power supply choices, they WANT to believe that there is an easy – or, in the word used by Amory Lovins, “soft” – way to ensure a sufficient…

  • "Clean Coal" PR Firm Details its Tactics for Elevating The Visibility of Coal During 2008 Presidential Campaign

    ByRod Adams

    A friend of mine just sent me a link to a desmogblog.com post describing a proud friends and family newsletter from a Virginia based public relations firm called Hawthorn Group. The newsletter provided numerous details about how Hawthorn Group used a focused set of traditional public relations tactics to give the impression that there is…

  • FUD About Nuclear Energy From Two Highly Educated Solar Energy Technologists

    ByRod Adams

    There is an article on RenewableEnergyWorld.com titled Welcome to the Revolution: Emanuel Sachs and Frank van Mierlo that includes some remarkably negative commentary about nuclear energy, especially considering the education level of the men being quoted. One of them has a PhD from MIT and one has both an MBA from INSEAD in France and…

  • Who funds "Environmentalists"?

    ByRod Adams

    The following post was first created as the response to one more article from a “pro energy” guy who does not understand his competition. The original article can be found at the Energy Pulse web site under the title of Oil Now and Oil Tomorrow. In case you do not want to wade through all…