Clean, Cheap and Reliable: A Manifesto for the Modern Power System
Electricity is foundational to our economy, comfort and way of life. In this Energy Policy Seminar, former Texas and U.S. energy de-regulator Pat Wood will open with some lessons learned in the past quarter century of industry restructuring and then pivot to how his team at the Hunt Energy Network is paving the way for all of us to win in the looming "Energy Intelligence Era." Professor Joe Aldy will moderate. Q&A to follow. Lunch will be served.
About the Speaker
Pat Wood III has spent his career making energy systems work better for the people who depend on them — cleaner, more resilient, more competitive, and more customer-centric.
Today, Pat and the HEN team are building that future in real-time in Texas, the world's fastest-transitioning power market, through a growing network of energy storage, peaking generation, and demand-responsive customer assets.
At the turn of the millennium, as Chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, Pat helped engineer the restructuring of Texas' utilities into what has become the world's most competitive power market. The results: Texas has gone from the 33rd cheapest state for electricity to the 10th cheapest, while becoming the 6th largest solar, wind, and battery market in the world. Better prices. More capacity. Fewer emissions. The model works.
Pat then took that same market-building philosophy to Washington as Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, where he championed wholesale power and natural gas market formation, grid reliability, and natural gas infrastructure at the national scale.
Since leaving public service, he has remained at the energy frontier — as a director on energy-focused company boards (Dynegy, Quanta Services, SunPower, Memorial Resource Development, First Wind, Texas Genco), and as a developer of projects that shaped the energy expansion: Airtricity, Sharyland Utilities, Xtreme Power, and TPI Composites.
Today Pat chairs Luma, the joint venture rebuilding Puerto Rico's power grid. He co-chairs the Pew Charitable Trusts Distributed Energy Resource Advisory Council, and serves on the boards of Rocky Mountain Institute, Energy Leadership Institute, PowerHouse Texas, and Energy Innovation. Pat recently joined the Communities in Schools national board, focusing on at-risk youth.
He is a civil engineer from Texas A&M and holds a law degree from Harvard. He and his wife Kathleen celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary this year; they have four highly engaged sons.
Registration: RSVP required. A Harvard University ID is required for in-person attendance; all are welcome to attend via Zoom.
Recording: The seminar will be recorded and available to watch on the Belfer Center's YouTube channel.
Accessibility: To request accommodations or for questions about access, please contact Elizabeth Hanlon-Warren (ehanlon@hks.harvard.edu) in advance of the session.