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2020 ESIC Summit Keynote Speaker

Keynote Speaker

Ann Rendahl
Commissioner
Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission

Abstract:
The Challenge Ahead: Keeping the lights on while requiring more of the grid
Customer preferences and state requirements for clean energy, distributed energy resources, electric vehicles, and customer energy management, are resulting in changes in demands on the grid, both at the distribution and transmission level. At the same time changes in climate create greater risks for system reliability through fires, hurricanes, and floods, and the connectivity of the Internet allows both the benefits of customer choice and cybersecurity risks. Utilities and regulators are considering changes in regulatory process to enable and address these systemic changes, while ensuring affordable rates and equitably distributed benefits. Commissioner Rendahl will discuss the changing dynamics of the electric grid, and how Washington’s new clean energy law provides guidance for regulators in achieving the goals of a clean, affordable, reliable and equitable electric grid.

 

Bibliography:
Ann Rendahl was appointed to serve as a commissioner of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission by Gov. Inslee in December 2014 for a term ending Jan. 1, 2021.

Ann currently serves as chair of the Electricity Committee and a member of the Critical Infrastructure Committee for the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners (NARUC), and serves on the NARUC Board of Directors.

Ann serves as a member of the Body of State Regulators for the California ISO’s Energy Imbalance Market and as the chair of the Western Electric Coordinating Council’s Western Renewable Energy Generation Information System Committee. Ann has been appointed to serve as a member of the Electric Power Research Institute’s Advisory Council through August 2022. Annhas also been appointed to serve on the Advisory Council of the Center for Public Utilities at New Mexico State University.

Ann previously served as the Director of Policy and Legislation for the UTC. Prior to leading the UTC’s Policy and Legislative Affairs Section, she served as the Director of the Administrative Law Division, as an administrative law judge for the UTC, and as an assistant attorney general representing the Utilities and Transportation Division.

Ann is a graduate of Wellesley College and received a master’s degree in Public Policy from the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. She received her law degree from Hastings College of the Law, University of California, San Francisco.