Conference

8th Annual Electricity Workshop

Oct 15, 2024

DK Johnson Centre

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Registration Closed

The Ivey Energy Policy and Management Centre will be hosting its 8th Annual Workshop on the Economics of Electricity Policy and Markets on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 in Toronto. The workshop brings together prominent scholars, practitioners and industry to share ideas and research on contemporary issues related to electricity policy, regulation and electricity markets with the goal of:

Building a community of academics and practitioners who are active in electricity policy;
Expanding the network of researchers in Canada with an interest in electricity markets and electricity polices and regulation; and,
Fostering academic research that contributes to effective electricity policies and electricity market design.

Date: Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Time: 8:00am - 5:00pm

Location: Ivey Donald K. Johnson Centre, 130 King St W, Toronto

Workshop Theme: Electricity Market Redesign: Timely change or lagged evolution?

After more than 20 years, Alberta and Ontario are set to make significant changes to their original wholesale market designs. The planned changes should better align the provinces with the standard design features already deployed in the United States’ restructured markets. Nova Scotia is proposing legislative amendments that would see the creation of an independent system operator and independent energy regulator, and a market restructuring to enable transparent competition for new generation. Nova Scotia also intends to introduce time-varying electricity rates like those in place in Ontario and Quebec. Concurrently, federal and provincial net-zero emission targets and global advances in consumer and producer energy technologies, foreshadow significant change to the future operations of bulk and distributive electrical grids. This workshop will explore the evolution of electricity market design in the face of net-zero polices and technological change, with a focus on Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Ontario.

The Ivey Energy Policy and Management Centre gratefully acknowledges continued financial support from the Ivey Energy Consortium and Ted Kernaghan, HBA '65; as well as the following organizations for their financial support of this particular event: The Alberta Electric System Operator, B lake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, The Canadian Association for Energy Economics, The Independent Electricity Systems Operator, Alberta’s Market Surveillance Administrator, and London Economics.

REGISTRATION CLOSED

Current Agenda:

Time	Function	Speaker
7:45 a.m.	Registration Opens
8:00 a.m.	Continental Breakfast
8:45 a.m.	Introductory Remarks	Brian Rivard, Ivey Business School at Western University
9:00 a.m.	Session 1: Redesigning Markets to Inform and Attract Investment	Moderator: Brian Rivard, Ivey Business School at Western University Speakers: Peter Cramton, University of Maryland Darren Matsugu, IESO Vittoria Bellissimo, Canadian Renewable Energy Association
10:30 a.m.	Morning Refreshments
11:00 a.m.	Session 2: Wholesale and Retail Market Design Coordination	Moderator: Nicola Charles, OEB (Invited) Speakers: Steven Puller, Texas A&M University Andrew Wilkins, MSA Karynne Munroe, Nova Scotia Power
12:30 p.m.	Lunch
1:00 p.m.	Keynote Address	Speaker: Dr. Ashley Langer, University of Arizona
2:00 p.m.	Session 3: Transmission Policy	Moderator: Reena Goyal, Blake, Cassels, & Graydon LLP Speakers: Johannes Pfeifenberger, The Brattle Group AJ Goulding, London Economics Dale Friesen, ATCO
3:30 p.m.	Afternoon Refreshments
3:45 p.m.	Session 4: Ancillary Services in Decarbonized Wholesale Markets	Moderator: Steve Kim, AESO Speakers: Jesse Bunchsbaum, University of Chicago's Energy & Environment Lab Amelia Blanke, California Independent System Operator Jason Doering, ENMAX
5:15 p.m.	Closing Remarks	Brandon Schaufele, Ivey Business School at Western University
6:00 p.m.	Cocktail reception and dinner at Leña Restaurante	Keynote Remarks from Peter Gregg, President & CEO of Nova Scotia Power

Moderators and Speakers:

Vittoria Bellissimo	Vittoria Bellissimo is the President and CEO of CanREA, the voice of Canada’s wind energy, solar energy and energy storage industry. She was previously the Executive Director of the Industrial Power Consumers Association of Alberta and worked in renewable energy procurement at both the Ontario Ministry of Energy and the Ontario Power Authority (now the IESO). Vittoria served on the Board of Emissions Reduction Alberta, as Vice Chair of Energy Efficiency Alberta, and was a founding Board member of Women+Power. She holds a M.Sc. in Environmental Sustainability from the University of Edinburgh and is a licensed professional engineer (B.Sc. Queen’s University). Vittoria is based in Calgary.
Jesse Buchsbaum	Jesse Buchsbaum is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Energy & Environment Lab and an incoming fellow at Resources for the Future. Jesse completed his PhD at the University of California Berkeley's Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. Prior to getting his PhD, Jesse studied economics and mathematics at the University of Michigan and worked as an economic policy associate at the Environmental Law & Policy Center. His research interests include energy and environmental economics, electricity markets, and retail rate design
Peter Cramton	Peter Cramton, an Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland and an International Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, is a leading researcher in market design. His research on auctions and market design, focusing on the design of complex markets, spans a wide range of industries, including electricity, finance, and communications, where he has introduced innovative market designs. Numerous governments have sought Cramton's counsel, and he has advised dozens of bidders in major auctions. He serves as an advisor and chief economist to several companies. From 2015-2021, he served as an independent director of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) board. He earned his BS in Engineering from Cornell University and his PhD in Business from Stanford University.
AJ Goulding	In his role as president of London Economics International LLC, AJ Goulding manages a growing international consulting firm focused on finance, economic, and strategic consulting to the energy and infrastructure industries. In addition to serving as a sector expert in electricity and gas markets, his responsibilities include project management, marketing, budget and financial control, and recruiting. AJ also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University, where he teaches a course on electricity market design and regulatory economics while also supervising graduate workshops. With over twenty-five years of experience in evolving electricity and natural gas markets, AJ’s diverse background enables him to work effectively in both emerging markets and OECD countries. In North America, AJ has been articulate in describing market relationships between wholesale power marketers, merchant plants, aggregators, and the existing investor-owned utilities. In emerging markets, AJ has considerable experience dealing with the challenges of mixed private and public ownership, difficulties in creating credit-worthy distribution and retail entities, and the realities of line losses, unreliable fuel deliveries, and politicized labor relations. AJ has extensive experience throughout Ontario, having worked with diverse clients such as the Ontario Energy Board, Ontario Power Authority, large Canadian hydropower generators, and wind project developers.
Peter Gregg	Peter Gregg is the President & CEO of Nova Scotia Power; a role he assumed in October 2020. In his role, Peter is focused on planning for Nova Scotia’s clean energy future while overseeing the delivery of safe, reliable electricity to customers across the province. Peter is an experienced leader in the Canadian energy sector. Prior to his role at NS Power, Peter most recently served as the President & CEO of the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), where he oversaw the operation of Ontario’s bulk electricity system. He was also President and CEO of Enersource from 2014 to 2016, where he was integral in the merger of four of Ontario’s largest local distribution companies to create Alectra Inc., the second largest municipally owned utility in North America. Peter served as COO at Hydro One Networks, overseeing energy transmission and distribution across Ontario. Peter is currently the chair on the Board of Directors for Electricity Canada and a member of the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council. Peter received a Master of Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business at University of Western Ontario and holds the Institute of Corporate Directors ICD.D (Certified Director) designation.
Steve Kim	Steven is responsible for the design, procurement and management of bespoke, out-of-market ancillary services to ensure reliable and affordable power for the Alberta Electric System Operator. He is also accountable in managing the long-term contracts from the Renewable Electricity Program and Fort McMurray West transmission project. Steven is experienced in negotiating and managing PPAs, consulting, power market modelling and asset and portfolio management in the power industry during his time with TransAlta, London Economics International LLC and Ontario Power Generation.
Ashley Langer	Ashley Langer uses frontier economic methods to evaluate the impact of environmental and energy policies. Professor Langer’s interest in environmental economics stems from an observation that—because individual choices have environmental repercussions—policies such as subsidies, regulations, and standards are often crucial for improving environmental outcomes. Building on this observation, her research evaluates how alternative policy approaches will change environmental outcomes by merging theoretical insights with econometric modelling that allows her to recover the drivers of individuals’ and firms’ behavior. Professor Langer studies fundamental forces that affect many industries (for instance, the role of dynamic incentives on policy design and enforcement), major industries with widespread environmental impact (for instance, the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation and transportation), and econometric approaches to solving research questions faced far beyond environmental economics (for instance, the measurement and implications of policy uncertainty). Professor Langer is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Arizona and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Before coming to the University of Arizona in 2012, Professor Langer worked at the University of Michigan and the Brookings Institution, and she earned degrees from the University of California-Berkeley and Northwestern University.
Karynne Munroe	Karynne Munroe is an energy and demand side management professional with over 14 years of experience in the industry. Currently, Karynne is the Manager of Regulatory Affairs at Nova Scotia Power. Working in the rates and costing projects, Karynne’s projects span areas such as time-varying pricing tariffs, customer renewables programs like Green Choice, and retail and wholesale markets. Prior to joining the utility in September 2022, she held several roles at EfficiencyOne (E1) – most recently in regulatory and program management. As a recent Sobey School of Business graduate, Karynne is passionate about economics, energy equity, and regulatory innovation. She is experienced in program development and implementation, regulatory affairs and strategy, as well as economic analysis, market research, and cost-benefit analysis. Karynne’s experience in the demand side management and utility sectors lends a holistic view of the energy landscape in Nova Scotia and the opportunities facing the province in the transition to a cleaner energy future.
Brian Rivard	Brian Rivard is an Adjunct Professor at the Richard Ivey School of Business, Western University and a member of the Market Surveillance Panel, an independent body that monitors, investigates and reports on activities and behaviour in Ontario’s electricity sector. His area of expertise and study is electricity market design and regulation. Brian has experience as an energy consultant, most recently as a Principal at Charles River Associates. He also worked as Director of Markets for the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO). While working at the IESO, Brian was responsible for providing analysis of the impacts of changes to the IESO Market Rules, Market Design, government policies, and other industry initiatives. For almost 15 years at IESO, he helped support the development of market-based approaches to managing Ontario’s electricity system needs. In addition, Brian spent six years as a senior economist with the Canadian Competition Bureau. He has written articles for various publications such as the Energy Journal, Canadian Competition Record, Antitrust Law Journal, and the Journal of Economic Theory as well as chapters included in Competition Policy and Intellectual Property Rights in the Knowledge-Based Economy, Payments Systems in the Global Economy: Risks and Opportunities, and The Guide to Energy Market Manipulation. He has also provided expert testimony before the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Ontario Energy Board. He received his MA and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Western Ontario.
Brandon Schaufele	Brandon Schaufele is the Director of the Ivey Energy Policy and Management Centre and an Associate Professor of Business, Economics, and Public Policy at the Ivey Business School. Prior to coming to Ivey, Brandon was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Ottawa, as well as Research Director of the university’s Institute of the Environment. Brandon’s areas of expertise are regulation and energy and environmental economics. He has published in range of leading academic journals including, among others: the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Canadian Journal of Economics, Journal of Regulatory Economics and Energy Economics. Brandon served as Research Director of a national environmental policy think-tank and was Chair of the Canadian Resource and Environmental Economics Association. He is currently Treasurer and an Officer of the Canadian Economics Association. Brandon has testified before provincial and federal governments, participated in hearings on major energy projects, consulted for a wide array of companies and law firms on a range of policy topics and is host of the podcast Ergs and Equilibrium.
Andrew Wilkins	As Director, Market Assessment, Andrew leads the MSA’s work conducting economic assessments of the structure, performance, and efficiency of Alberta’s electricity market. Before his current position, Andrew directed the MSA’s enforcement of ISO rules and Alberta Reliability Standards. He has previously held other leadership roles at the Alberta Electric System Operator and the MSA, as well as research roles at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business and School of Public Policy. Andrew holds an M.A. in Economics, and since 2012, he has instructed a variety of economics courses at the University of Calgary. Andrew conducts economic research relating to energy and environmental economics, industrial organization, and public policy.
Jason Doering	Jason Doering is the Vice President of Corporate Operational Services for ENMAX Corporation. His team is responsible for supply chain management, safety and environment services, mobile fleet services, facilities operations and maintenance, and physical security services for ENMAX’s distribution, transmission, and generation operations. Jason joined ENMAX in 2017 and held the roles of Director of Generation Engineering and Director of Engineering and Maintenance prior to his current role. Prior to joining ENMAX, Jason spent nine years at the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) and held the roles of Director of Commercial Services, Director of Energy Strategy, Director of Transmission System Planning, and Director of Operations Planning & Engineering. Before joining the AESO, Jason spent nine years in progressively senior roles with Manitoba Hydro. Jason’s diverse electricity industry experience spans 24 years, and includes turbine and rotating equipment engineering, control system engine maintenance management, market operations, integrated resource planning, transmission system planning, transmission system operations, safety management, environmental management, and supply chain management. Jason is a registered Professional Engineer, and holds bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering and psychology, both from the University of Manitoba.
Reena Goyal	Reena is a leading energy lawyer. She has been practicing law for almost 20 years and has specialized in energy law since 2011. Reena focuses on electricity markets, regulation and compliance. She provides strategic advice and direction to private- and public-sector clients, including shareholders, acquirers and investors. She also has experience advising developers of power assets such as energy storage, gas, hydrogen, wind, solar, biomass and nuclear. With a vast knowledge of wholesale electricity markets and regulation, Reena is well-positioned to advise industry stakeholders, including commercial and industrial loads, generators, transmitters, distributors, utilities, demand response aggregators, retailers and gas marketers. Reena is also a litigator. When clients require legal representation before energy tribunals, she works diligently to achieve the best outcome. She has appeared before the Ontario Energy Board, the Alberta Utilities Commission and all levels of courts in Ontario. Before joining Blakes, Reena practised in the business law group of another large law firm in Toronto. Prior to that, she was a lawyer with the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), holding various roles, including with regulatory affairs, market assessment and compliance and special advisor to the CEO. While at the IESO, she managed the market rule amendment process and represented interests in complex disputes relating to electricity markets and various procurement contracts.
Amelia Blanke	Amelia Blanke is the Principal Economist and Director of Market Strategy and Governance for the California ISO. Prior to serving in this role, she was the manager of Monitoring and Reporting for the California ISO’s independent Department of Market Monitoring , where she worked for over a decade. Dr. Blanke’s research interests include the identification of market manipulation and gaming and market competitiveness assessment. Prior to joining the California ISO, Blanke had extensive experience in energy consulting and economic research in the United States and China. Blanke received her PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from UC Davis and her BA in Economics from Stanford.
Nicola Charles	Nicola Charles is a Senior Advisor on the Strategic Policy team at the Ontario Energy Board specializing in econometric methods applied to challenges in the energy industry. With a background in achievable potential study modelling, energy efficiency and demand response evaluation, and economy-wide decarbonization optimization, Nicola is well versed in energy analytics. She uses these skills to develop dynamic rate design initiatives at the OEB to improve electricity pricing options and promote efficient use of grid assets in a changing industry.
Dale Friesen	DALE FRIESEN, P.ENG. SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CORPORATE AFFAIRS & CHIEF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS OFFICER Dale Friesen is Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Chief Government Affairs Officer for ATCO. Appointed to the role in 2020, he oversees ATCO’s Government Relations and Indigenous Relations teams and provides strategic counsel to the company’s Executive Committee on relevant policy and legislative priorities. Mr. Friesen has more than 30 years of experience with ATCO. He has served in technical and senior leadership roles in both Canada and Australia and has built and operated several power plants and cogeneration facilities, including the Bulwer Island Cogeneration Plant in Australia as part of the Queensland Clean Fuels Project. He also served as Vice President of ATCO Water, where he was responsible for business development in Canada, Australia, and the UAE. From 2007 to 2020, Mr. Friesen led ATCO’s Sustainability group, which published the company’s first-ever Sustainability Report in 2008, incorporating best practices from the Global Reporting Initiative, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. Mr. Friesen has attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties meetings from 2015 to 2023. His areas of focus include carbon markets, global climate and energy policy, and Indigenous economic reconciliation through the energy transition. Mr. Friesen sits on and oversees various boards and committees; he is the chair of Electricity Canada’s Generation Council and leads their Net Zero initiative, as well as serving as Executive Officer of the Alberta Chamber of Resources Board and an Executive Board Member of the Canadian Council of the Americas. Further, he has served as a member of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) Technical Working Group for Clean Fuel Standards as well as the Technical Working Group for Natural Gas Greenhouse Gas Regulations. A graduate of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta, Mr. Friesen is a member of both the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta and of Engineers Australia.
Steve Puller	Steve Puller is the PERC Professor of Free Enterprise in the Department of Economics at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on industrial organization and public economics, with a particular emphasis on energy markets and environmental policy. He has studied wholesale electricity markets, retail competition, and power reliability in diverse regions, including Texas, California, Ghana, and Ecuador. Steve is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Research Affiliate at the International Growth Centre. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and a PhD in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.
Darren Matsugu	Darren Matsugu is the Director of Markets at the Independent Electricity System Operator. He is responsible for the future evolution of Ontario’s whole electricity market and guiding sector development to enable Ontario’s energy transition. Previously, Darren led the high level and detailed design for the IESO Market Renewal Program and has held other various leadership roles including in Operational Effectiveness supporting real-time system operations. Darren has a master's in economics from McGill, an undergraduate degree in Economics & Financial Management from Laurier and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Johannes (Hannes) Pfeifenberger	Johannes (Hannes) Pfeifenberger, a Principal at The Brattle Group, is an economist with a background in electrical engineering and over twenty-five years of experience in wholesale power market design, renewable energy, electricity storage, and transmission. He also is a Visiting Scholar at MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research (CEEPR), a former Senior Fellow at Boston University’s Institute of Sustainable Energy (BU-ISE), a IEEE Senior Member, and currently serves as an advisor to research initiatives by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Labs, and the Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG). Hannes specializes in wholesale power markets and transmission. He has analyzed transmission needs, transmission benefits and costs, transmission cost allocations, and renewable generation interconnection challenges for independent system operators, transmission companies, generation developers, public power companies, industry groups, and regulatory agencies across North America. He has worked on transmission matters in SPP, MISO, PJM, New York, New England, ERCOT, CAISO, WECC, and Canada and has analyzed offshore-wind transmission challenges in New York, New England, and New Jersey. He received an M.A. in Economics and Finance from Brandeis University’s International Business School and an M.S. and B.S. (“Diplom Ingenieur”) in Power Engineering and Energy Economics from the University of Technology in Vienna, Austria.