In Thursday’s Opening Address, Fred Krupp, President, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a self-described “nonideological environmentalist,” described the work of the US Climate Action Partnership and encouraged the use of collaborative and market-based solutions to climate change. Mr. Krupp, the author of Earth: The Sequel, said that addressing climate challenges requires a broad consensus; cap-and-trade is the best solution; and while coal will remain prominent in the energy mix, “until there’s money to be made by keeping CO₂ out of the atmosphere, no one will build CCS.” He believes that the US Congress will pass climate legislation this year, and that job creation and economic recovery will flow from the right environmental strategies, including research to develop and deploy new technologies. He concluded, “The key is developing a market system that unleashes you, the entrepreneur, to make it happen.”

Lawrence J. Makovich, CERA Vice President and Senior Advisor, Global Power Group, chaired Thursday’s Electric Power Plenary with Ralph Izzo, Chairman, President, and CEO, PSEG; David Joos, President and CEO, CMS Energy; James Miller, Chairman, President, and CEO, PPL Corporation; and John Young, President and CEO, Energy Future Holdings. They discussed the effects of the capital crunch, emissions policies and regulatory initiatives, and coal’s role. Whether consumers or utilities should take the primary role in making conservation programs effective was decided in favor of the expertise and fair access provided by utilities; educating consumers will be necessary to recover costs. Panelists agreed that a cap-and-trade program is likely easier to pass than a carbon tax and suggested that the monies go to research and development to solve carbon problems, not social problems.

In Thursday’s Critical Issues Forum on solar energy, chaired by Roger Kranenburg, CERA Director, Charles Gay, President of Applied Solar, outlined the policies, the supply chain–related job creation, and technology learning curves driving the industry today. Robert Fishman, President and CEO of Ausra Inc., differentiated his “sunlight direct to steam” solar thermal technology with near-term applications at existing power stations as the most land-efficient solar technology. Richard Gruber, Vice President Project Development of First Solar, shared his company’s strategy to “create a pull market” by reducing the cost of its thin-film technology to the $1 per watt “holy grail.” Steven Chan, President, Global Sales and Marketing and Chief Strategy Officer with SunTech, described the installation of solar panels as “prepaying fuel costs for 50 years.” Though the financial crisis is likely to “weed out the weaker players,” Mr. Chan is confident that the market is large enough for both SunTech’s polycrystalline and First Solar’s thin-film technologies.

Jone-Lin Wang, CERA Managing Director, opened Thursday’s Critical Issues Forum on “Managing Through the Global Power Construction Cycle” by outlining the capital-intensive nature of the electric power industry. “To be able to see where costs are going is very vital” for developers, financiers, engineering and design firms, and equipment manufacturers, she said. Dean Oskvig, President and CEO, B&V Energy, Black & Veatch Corporation, said that hesitancy in committing capital is leading to project delays, but not necessarily cancellations. “Lead times for equipment delivery are coming down, and that is an early indicator of cost decline,” noted Gregory M. Vesey, President, Chevron Global Power. Candida Scott, CERA Senior Director, sees the emergence of a wait-and-see attitude. James N. Suciu, Global Vice President, Marketing and Sales, GE Energy, views 2009 as well settled, as capital expenses toward equipment have already been committed. The panelists agreed that natural gas will be the default fuel choice for new power plant development in the near term.

Thursday's other Critical Issues Forums explored opportunities for power sector finance in a turbulent economy and prospects for electric cars.

Thursday’s Keynote Luncheon speaker, Gérard Mestrallet, Chief Executive Officer, GDF SUEZ, called for “Rediscovering Energy” and outlined current energy sector challenges and potential solutions. He identified secure energy supply at a competitive cost, managing depleting natural resources efficiently, and fighting climate change as key areas of focus. Though the current global recession is compounding the situation, Mr. Mestrallet urged governments and industry not to lose sight of long-term objectives and cited three critical guiding principles: that the energy and climate challenge is global in nature as “we will succeed together or we will fail together”; that this is a long-term challenge requiring immediate action; and that there is no silver bullet. He warned that sustaining investment through the current turmoil is particularly important, and said that a mix of solutions, including energy efficiency and a diverse supply portfolio, will be necessary.

From energy conservation to fewer outages and reduced line losses, CERAWeek’s Thursday concurrent Power Industry Plenary “Smart Grids: Big Bang or Incremental?” explored the promise for smart grid technology to have a transformational impact on the utility business. Chaired by Patricia DiOrio, CERA Director, the expert panel with the Hon. Barry Smitherman, Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Texas; Laurent Demortier, Senior Vice President at Alstom Power; David Mohler, Chief Technology Officer, Duke Energy; and Sharon Allen, President of Elster Integrated Solutions shared the various reasons for and ways in which their companies and organizations were pursuing smart grid technology and the potential challenges they have had to address along the way.

CERA Senior Director Douglas Howe chaired an Industry Plenary panel that examined how participants in the global power industry are dealing with the growing complexity in the trilemma of increasing power demand, concerns about carbon emissions, and desires for both competition and energy security. Eicke R. Weber, Professor and Director of Fraunhofer-Institute for Solar Energy Systems, exhorted the world to focus on solar energy. Jacques Besnainou, President of AREVA Inc., President and Chief Executive Officer of AREVA NP, Inc., declared that “nuclear is not a solution, but there is no solution without nuclear.” Takayuki Ueda, Director General, Energy and Environmental Policy, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, said that Japan has achieved remarkable results and will continue efforts in energy efficiency, clean coal, and nuclear development. Johannes Kindler, Vice President of Federal Network Agency and a Vice President of the European Regulators Group for Electricity and Gas, explained the European power strategy and offered advice to the United States on energy policymaking.

David Hobbs, CERA Head of Research, led a late-afternoon discussion on “Models of Innovation” with two pillars of innovative thinking: the Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Peter Diamandis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the X-Prize Foundation. Dr. Jackson described the “innovation ecosystem” that fosters breakthrough thinking. She also stressed the importance of talented people, stating that “the capacity for innovation rests solely on a talented workforce.” Mr. Diamandis described the genesis and purpose of the X-Prize Foundation, which fosters “incentivized competition,” harnessing natural competitive instincts to encourage the attainment of goals in energy, environment, life sciences, and economic development. Both panelists agreed on the importance of clear leadership to establish innovation goals, saying that President Barack Obama should set objectives and make national heroes of those who contribute to achieving those objectives.

On Thursday night Daniel Yergin, CERA Chairman and Executive Vice President, IHS, moderated a Special Economic Forum on the Future of the Global Economy with three of the world’s leading economists: Nariman Behravesh, Chief Economist at IHS Global Insight; Kenneth Rogoff, Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics, Harvard University; and Nouriel Roubini, Professor of Economics and International Business, New York University, and Chairman, RGE Monitor. The group agreed that 2009 is a “lost cause” economically and warned of a deepening economic crisis if the banking system is not fixed quickly. All three also agreed that the economic stimulus plan is needed, but the plan alone will not fix US economic problems. A pattern of increasing leverage in the financial sector is one major factor that contributed to today’s economic slump, the panelists concurred, but the timing of the downturn was nearly impossible to predict.