CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will offer a course for industry specialists on electricity transmission and power markets June 14-17.
The 2004 Illinois Transmission Business School will convene at the Illini Center, 200 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago.
Taught by leading professionals, the courses will explore the challenges faced by the electricity industry, including the question of transmission grid reliability, emerging transmission business structures and how the evolution of the electricity markets is affecting the nature of the transmission business.
"The mega-blackout of last Aug. 13 in the Northeast reinforced the criticality of transmission in ensuring the reliability of the nation's electricity supply," said George Gross, an Illinois professor of electrical and computer engineering who is the director of the Transmission Business School. "Our program is designed to provide industry participants with a comprehensive understanding of the technical and business challenges facing the industry."
In addition to examining the obstacles to and incentives for grid expansion and improvement, the presentations will look at the impact of market forces on the movement of energy, congestion management and a wide range of regulatory issues.
Besides Gross, lecturers will include Tom Ernst, supervising engineer of Minnesota Power; Paul Gribik, the director of FTR Markets at Midwest Independent System Operator; Leonard Hyman, a consultant for R.J. Rudden Associates; Jay Morrison, senior regulatory counsel for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association; Thomas J. Overbye, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Illinois; and Mary Ellen Paravalos, manager of ITC development of National Grid Co.
Also speaking will be Michael Rosenberg, the manager of market assessment at ISO New England; Harry Singh, senior market adviser of the office of market oversight and investigation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Jennifer T. Sterling, director of transmission planning for Exelon; and Bruce Wollenberg, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Minnesota.
James W. Glotfelty, the director of the office of electric transmission and distribution for the U.S. Department of Energy, will discuss the future of the nation's transmission infrastructure, and Phil O'Connor, vice president of Constellation NewEnergy, will speak on transmission needs from the energy service providers' perspective.
The Transmission Business School is coordinated through the Illinois Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER). Information and registration are on the Web.