March 2001 issue

 NWCouncil.org NeWs    March 2001 index

Reducing demand for power will be focus of March conference

The Northwest Power Planning Council, Northwest Public Power Association, Bonneville Power Administration and several large Northwest electric utilities are sponsoring a day-long conference in the Seattle area on March 27 to address ways to reduce demand for electricity.

The Pacific Northwest Load Management Forum is planned for Tuesday, March 27, at the Seatac DoubleTree Hotel. In addition to the Council and Bonneville, sponsors include Tacoma Public Utilities, PacifiCorp/Scottish Power and Portland General Electric Company.

The conference was organized in response to concerns about increasingly tight electricity supplies. Tight supplies are caused by several forces, including increased demand, slow development of generating and conservation resources, higher natural gas prices and drier-than-normal weather.

The forum will address questions such as:

Why should utilities look into demand-reduction strategies?

The nature of the Northwest power crisis -- is it a crisis of energy, capacity or both?

What measures are available to both utilities and end-users to mitigate market exposure both in the short term and the long term?

Speakers will address these topics and others, including power system reliability and market volatility, lessons learned from other energy markets about load management, regulatory concerns, business opportunities for end-users, load management technologies and programs, and the business rationale behind existing demand-reduction programs. In addition, there will be exhibits by Motorola, APOGEE, Cannon Technologies, Carrier Corporation and other equipment vendors.

Related links: Registration information