Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Early bird registration for the second annual Southeast Energy Policy Forum, scheduled August 14 and 15 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), ends on the last day of July. After that date, prices will increase.

Hosted by the Center for Energy, Transportation and Environmental Policy (CETEP) housed at the Howard H. Baker Jr. School of Public Policy and Public Affairs, the two-day event will provide educational content and networking opportunities for private and public sector leaders as they navigate new energy markets, decarbonization trends, demand-side technologies, and transportation electrification.

All sessions will be held in the Baker School building, 1640 Cumberland Avenue.

The preliminary agenda has been released, headlined by first day keynote speaker Daniel Poneman. He’s a former Deputy Secretary of Energy during the Obama Administration who first joined the Department of Energy in 1989 as a White House Fellow. The next year Poneman joined the National Security Council staff as Director of Defense Policy and Arms Control. Prior to assuming his responsibilities as Deputy Secretary, he served as a Principal of The Scowcroft Group for eight years, providing strategic advice to corporations on a wide variety of international projects and transactions.

On the second day, Third District U.S. Congressman Chuck Fleischmann will be the keynote speaker. Among other roles in Congress, he chairs the House Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee and is Co-Chair of the Nuclear Cleanup Caucus, Tennessee Valley Corridor Caucus, Fusion Energy Caucus, National Labs Caucus, Advanced Nuclear Caucus, Nuclear Security Working Group, and Spent Nuclear Fuel Solutions Caucus.

Other sessions include:

• “Digitization: Unleashing Organized DERs for Renewable Flexibility and Decarbonization” featuring David Wade, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at EPB in Chattanooga; and Scott Sluder, Senior Research Engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
• “Energy Policy: IRA, BI, CHIPS and Beyond” featuring Molly Cripps, Director of the Office of Energy Programs in the State Department of Environment and Conservation, and Karl Hausker, Senior Fellow in the World Resources Institute Climate Program.
• “Willingness to Pay for Electricity Reliability” that features Bobby Harris, Assistant Professor of Economics at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
• “Identifying Additional Policies Needed to Fully Unlock the Benefits of IRA (Inflation Reduction Act)” featuring Harrison Fell, Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at North Carolina State University.
• “The Supreme Court’s Chevron Decision: Implications for Environmental Policy” will feature Nathan Richardson, Professor of Law at Jacksonville University.
• “Natural Gas Pipeline Woes: How Does Lack of Infrastructure Affect the Region” features Tim Fitzgerald, former White House Chief International Economist for the Council of Economic Advisers, and Paul Smith, Director of Fuel Operations for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
• “Supercharging Clean Energy Technology with Public-Private Partnerships: The Private Perspective” that will be moderated by Michael Walton, Managing Partner at Energy Transition Finance Inc., and feature Richard Rast, President and CEO of Highland Materials Inc.; David Morgan, Chief Strategy Officer at Carbon Rivers; and Vince Romanin, CEO of Gradient Comfort.
• “Supercharging Clean Energy Technology with Public-Private Partnerships: The Public Perspective” will feature Misty Mayes, Founder and President of Management Solutions, and Ed Davis, President of The Pegasus Group.
• Valley Pathways Study: A TVA-Baker School Collaboration Toward a Clean, Sustainable Future for the Tennessee Valley” features CETEP Director Charles Sims and Laura Duncan, TVA’s Senior Project Manager.

There is an official government and nonprofit rate. In addition, the event is free for UTK students and faculty.

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