what’ s working
Conference speakers came from a diverse range of viewpoints, from utility CEOs Mary Kipp at Puget Sound Energy, Heather Rosentrater at Avista and Ryan Flynn at Pacific Power; energy customers including Amazon and Sabey Data Centers; and state agency leaders including Joe Nguyễn from the Department of Commerce, Casey Sixkiller from the Department of Ecology, Kurt Beckett from the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, and Brian Rybarik from the Utilities and Transportation Commission.
Some themes emerged, including the need for an“ allof-the-above” approach to meeting the state’ s future energy needs. Speakers highlighted the need to preserve the region’ s hydroelectric system, an economic and environmental advantage unrivaled in other parts of the country, as well as the importance of natural gas— the region’ s No. 2 source of power behind hydro— during the transition to zero-carbon energy sources.
“ We’ re not selecting any one technology, any one idea, any one policy,” said Bob Schuetz, CEO of Energy Northwest.“ We’ re going to find some way to do all of that because that’ s what it’ s going to take.”
“ We’ re not selecting any one technology, any one idea, any one policy. We’ re going to find some way to do all of that because that’ s what it’ s going to take.”
~ Bob Schuetz, CEO of Energy Northwest.
26 association of washington business