The UT Energy Symposium welcomes David Hurlbut, Senior Analyst at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, to give a talk titled “Creative Destruction and the Electric Utility of the Future." The talk will be followed by a book signing opportunity with the speaker.
Speaker bio: David Hurlbut is a senior analyst with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Strategic Energy Analysis Center. He specializes in wholesale market design and renewable energy policy. Dr. Hurlbut is currently advising energy officials in China, Colombia, and South Asia on grid-based strategies for increased use of renewable resources. He is also leading technical support to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona, the largest coal-fired generating plant in the Western United States and currently the main source of electricity for bringing water from the Colorado River to Phoenix and Tucson via the Central Arizona Project.
Prior to joining the lab in January 2007, Dr. Hurlbut was a senior economist with the Texas Public Utilities Commission, conducting oversight over the competitive wholesale power market in ERCOT and policing against market abuse. While at the Texas PUC, he also oversaw the state’s highly successful renewable portfolio standard, during which time Texas surpassed California as the state with the most installed wind capacity. He also developed the Competitive Renewable Energy Zone concept in Texas, which has since been used as a model for renewable energy transmission planning in various parts of the country.
Dr. Hurlbut is the author of Creative Destruction and the Electric Utility of the Future, which explores the socioeconomic drivers that are transforming the power sector. He received his doctorate and master’s degrees from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin.
Abstract: The electricity business is changing so fast and so radically that what you think you know about it is probably wrong. A deep evolution is at work, never apparent in headlines or social media unless you know how the clues fit together. The old world is quietly giving way to a new one—disrupting the traditional utility culture, creating greater choices for customers, even affecting the industry’s response to global warming. In this talk, Dr. David Hurlbut will share his insights into this change, drawn from six years as a senior economist at the Texas Public Utilities Commission and nearly 11 years as a senior analyst at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and detailed in his new book Creative Destruction and the Electric Utility of the Future.
The UT Energy Symposium meets every Thursday during the long semesters. Come early to attend a networking session before the talk: refreshments will be served at 4:45 p.m. in the POB Connector Lobby outside the auditorium. After this week's talk, David Hurlbut will be available for a book signing in the POB Connector Lobby.