Please join us for a presentation and expert panel that includes:
- Daniel Shawhan
- Karen Palmer (RFF)
- McKenna Peplinski (RFF)
- Zach Zimmerman (Grid Strategies)
They will present and discuss the following topic:
The development times for transmission and generation investments have recently lengthened dramatically in the U.S. There are proposals for measures to reduce those development times. Using the Engineering, Economic, and Environmental Electricity Simulation Tool (E4ST), Daniel Shawhan and colleagues at Resources for the Future have produced an exceptionally realistic simulation study of the effects of lengthy transmission and generation development times.
This webinar, open to NCAC members and non-members alike, will summarize the study, including the estimated effects on electricity and natural gas bills, supplier profits, emissions, air quality, premature deaths, and incidence by demographic group. The results have major implications for current concerns about affordability, emissions, equity, and reliability, and for proposed remedies.
The speakers will cover insights from two recent RFF studies: here and here
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Speaker Bios:
Daniel Shawhan is an independent consultant specializing in analysis and design of electric sector policies, investments, and markets. He has 25 years of experience working on these topics, in addition to earning a Ph.D. in applied economics and management from Cornell University. A major part of Dr. Shawhan’s work is the application of the Engineering, Economic, and Environmental Electricity Simulation Tool (E4ST), which he manages. E4ST is a uniquely realistic and versatile simulation model of the U.S. and Canadian electric power sector, used for studies with a range of funders such as agencies, companies, and philanthropies. E4ST answers questions about the effects, benefits, and costs of policy options, infrastructure investments, and other potential power sector changes. In addition to being a consultant, Dr. Shawhan is a non-resident fellow at Resources for the Future and a non-resident faculty member at Cornell University.
Karen Palmer is a senior fellow at RFF and an expert on the economics of environmental, climate and public utility regulation of the electric power sector. Her work seeks to improve the design of environmental and technology regulations in the sector and the development of new institutions to help guide the ongoing transition of the electricity sector. To these ends, she explores climate policy design, analyzes efficient ways to promote use of renewable and other clean sources of electricity, and investigates new market designs, new approaches to electricity pricing and regulatory reforms to pave the way for long-term decarbonization of electricity supply and electrification of the energy economy.
McKenna Peplinski is a senior research associate at RFF. She works on the E4ST team to simulate the power sector and project how it will respond to policy, regulation, and infrastructure changes. She graduated from the University of St. Thomas in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Peace Engineering minor. In 2024, she received her PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Southern California, where she built frameworks to better understand and predict residential electricity consumption and cooling needs.
Zach Zimmerman is the Research and Policy Manager for Grid Strategies. His work is focused on economic and regulatory research, analysis, and policy development related to power markets and the transmission system. He also helps facilitate the Advancing Modern Powerlines (AMP) Coalition which works to further the deployment of High Performance Conductors on the grid and supports the Working for Advanced Transmission Technologies (WATT) Coalition’s policy and advocacy work. Zach previously worked as a Committee Legislative Assistant for the Minnesota House Energy and Climate Committee. Zach has a Master of Public Policy from the University of California Berkeley Goldman School and graduated with a degree in Biochemistry from Goshen College.
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This event is free for NCAC-USAEE members. The Zoom link will be at the very bottom of the confirmation email from NCAC-USAEE, after you register. Non-members, we encourage you to become NCAC members for only $45 at this link https://www.ncac-usaee.org/membership (and then sign-up for the event for free on the website calendar). For those who would prefer to join the webinar without becoming members, you can pay $10 for the event.