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stakeholder convening

Stakeholders convene

On January 13-15, 2011 twenty-one stakeholders met in Oklahoma City for a meeting intended to bring all participants to a common level of information and understanding about electric generation and transmission in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP).

This highly interactive, participatory meeting was the first step in bringing together a diverse stakeholder group as a team.

Below are highlights of the event:

Day One

Stakeholders received a briefing book with simple documents that presented balanced, objective data on:

Traditional generation (coal, nuclear, natural gas, hydro)
Nontraditional generation (wind, solar, geothermal)
Efficiency and “smart grid”
Transmission

Standard categories of analysis – including capacity factor, fuel cost, subsidy, water use, regulatory exposure – allowed apples-to-apples comparisons. (Documents were vetted by: generation and transmission owners, and Department of Energy to ensure that they were accurate and unbiased.)

Each topic was treated in back-to-back sessions:

Small groups of diverse stakeholders considered the challenges and merits amongst themselves. With neutral facilitation, they crafted questions for expert panelists.

Stakeholders returned to a plenary session to pose their questions to experts.

After four such sessions, having considered voluminous information and diverse opinions, stakeholders were surveyed to determine:

Their priorities for energy generation and consumption
Their resource mix preferences
How important are certain factors in selecting a resource (water, health, climate change, noise and sight pollution)
How should the amount of wind SPP plans for be determines?

Day Two

Based on the survey results, stakeholders gathered in peer groups where they brainstormed how to move forward including:

Timeline
Audience
Message topics
Type of materials
Which organizations to reach out to
Who are the champions from their states
What questions do we and our peers need answered

Stakeholder Vision Statement:

Future energy development in our states is at risk without new transmission. The path forward demands regional collaboration to ensure global competitiveness and economic prosperity in the Southwest Power Pool region.

HART Stakeholders have adopted an ACTION PLAN to focus their work.