Under the title of “Transformation Underway,” the annual conference of Ontario’s power producers is trying out new techniques for audience participation while also offering an impressive line-up of speakers including top business leaders and senior technology experts.
“We know there are challenging issues coming up and we wanted to face them in a direct way,” said Jake Brooks, Executive Director of the Association of Power Producers of Ontario (APPrO). “The electricity sector is changing. New generation options, the spread of smart technology, microgrids, demand response and customer engagement are forces to be reckoned with, even while we strive to manage the existing system in a responsible way. The Canadian Power Conference had to try some different techniques to deal with new issues like these.”
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APPrO announces significant new speakers and participation options to enrich the conference experience and help to grapple with unprecedented challenges being faced by the power industry.
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The APPrO conference is co-presented this year with the first Ontario Energy Storage Symposium. Together they have announced an impressive lineup of speakers as well as innovative new conference processes designed to foster participation in what has become for many the top annual event in the Canadian power industry.
The 26th Annual Canadian Power Conference features an exceptional combination of authoritative power industry experts including:
* Bob Chiarelli, the Ontario Minister of Energy
* Bruce Campbell, CEO of the IESO, who was recently appointed to head up the new combined IESO-OPA agency
* Francois Poirier, President of the Energy East Pipeline
* David Hay, Managing Director and Vice Chair Investment Banking, CIBC World Markets
* Rosemarie Leclair, Chair of the Ontario Energy Board
* Ian Potter, Vice President of the National Research Council of Canada
* Colin Andersen, CEO of the Ontario Power Authority
* Preston Swafford, CEO of Candu Energy Inc.
* John Gorman, President & CEO of CanSIA (Canadian Solar Industries Association)
* Peter MacLeod, MASS LBP, public engagement expert
* Brad Lavigne, H&K Strategies, former Principal Secretary to Jack Layton
* Jonathan Dogterom, Manager, Cleantech, MaRS
* Ben Kaun, Senior Project Engineer, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
* James J. Greenberger, National Alliance for Advanced Technology Batteries
* Cam Carver, CEO, Temporal Power
* Curtis VanWalleghem, CEO Hydrostor
and nearly 100 experts speaking on all aspects of the power industry landscape.
Co-located with the inaugural Energy Storage Symposium, delegates will have one of the first comprehensive opportunities for full scale interaction between the generation industry and the emerging Canadian power storage industry.
This year for the first time delegates will be able to post questions for speakers through an online “engagement app” and see their queries positioned along with others in real time. Also offered in the event for the first time will be “Speed Networking,” a structured process designed to maximize the potential for participants to make useful business contacts in a short period of time.
Of particular interest to the renewable energy industry, Shawn Cronkwright, the Director of Renewables Procurement at the OPA, will provide an update on the government’s new Large Renewable Procurement process on November 19. Since the official draft documents defining the process are expected to be released in November, the APPrO conference will likely be one of the first opportunities for industry review and discussion of the OPA’s latest procurement plans.
This year’s program contains a range of never-before-assembled panels and will be for many market participants the single best opportunity to gain insights and make connections in key parts of the power industry.
For more information readers may visit https://www.appro2014.com