After more than a year of lockdowns and cancellations stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, a major energy conference will have in-person attendance early this summer.

The Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners (MACRUC) announced last week that its 26th annual Education Conference will take place from June 27 to 30 at the Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Western Pennsylvania.

The four-day conference, featuring regulators from PJM and NYISO, will be a hybrid model featuring both live and virtual panels with discussions on FERC Order 2222, PJM’s minimum offer price rule (MOPR), offshore wind and solar power. MACRUC last met in person at the Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Va., in 2019. (See Overheard at MACRUC 2019: The Carbon-free Future.)

Willie Phillips, president of MACRUC and chair of the D.C. Public Service Commission, said members started discussing the possibility of conducting a hybrid conference in January. Phillips said commissioners met to gauge the comfort level of being in person for a conference, going from “almost zero support” at the start of discussions to having a “clear majority” earlier this month.

As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout ramped up and travel and meeting restrictions are being relaxed across the country, Phillips said, commissioners decided to look at best practices from other successful in-person events and began conceptualizing what a hybrid meeting could look like.

“With an intentional focus on safety protocols, our MACRUC members agreed that we should give it a shot,” Phillips said. “It’s like I tell my D.C. PSC staff: ‘Safety is always the priority, and I’ll never ask for anything that I wouldn’t do myself.’ If I didn’t have confidence that MACRUC could host this conference safely, then I wouldn’t support it.”

Education Conference

Phillips will kick off the conference before Virginia State Corporation Commissioner Jehmal Hudson moderates a discussion on several FERC issues, including resource adequacy and the MOPR.

Delaware Public Service Commissioner Kim Drexler will lead a discussion on how RTOs oversee interregional coordination among states with different decarbonization standards and the environmental impacts of new transmission lines.

Green energy takes center stage on the second day of the conference with Delaware PSC Commissioner Harold Gray leading a panel on offshore wind. Attendees will also hear a talk about Pennsylvania’s recent announcement that nearly 50% of the electricity used by the state government will be produced by seven new solar energy arrays comprising 191 MW of capacity. (See Pa. to Source 50% of Govt. Electricity from Solar.)

The conference will close with a discussion between FERC Commissioner Neil Chatterjee and Maryland Public Service Commission Chairman Jason Stanek on ways to strengthen relationships between state and federal regulators.

MACRUC also announced the next two conferences will also be at the Nemacolin. The luxury resort in Farmington, Pa., was originally a hunting lodge built by Pittsburgh businessman Willard F. Rockwell in 1968 before being turned into an upscale hotel and resort in 1987 by 84 Lumber founder Joseph Hardy III.

“I also want to credit the folks at the Nemacolin Woodlands for being flexible as we worked through the decision process,” Phillips said. “Now, people are getting excited to mask-up for MACRUC on June 27.”

Other In-person Events

MACRUC is not the only organization looking to transition back to in-person events.

The Energy Storage Annual Conference and Expo is scheduled to take place in Phoenix from Dec. 1 to 3. Registration to the annual event, which features buyers, sellers, investors and developers in the energy storage industry, hasn’t officially opened but is expected to within a month.

Becca Dietrich, vice president of operations for the Energy Storage Association, said the organization decided to host the conference in person to “provide value to our members who were missing the in-person networking,” along with the business development aspects of the conference. Originally scheduled for April, Dietrich said ESA decided to move the in-person component to December while also retaining a virtual session, which was held last week.

Dietrich said the organization is working with the Phoenix Convention Center to develop safety measures adhering to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. A redesign of the expo floor is being instituted to provide social distancing between booths.

“We believe that there will be continued evolution and innovation when it comes to hosting in-person events before December,” Dietrich said. “We are preparing for this event as if it were taking place now.”

Some RTOs and ISOs are also getting closer to returning to in-person work environments.

SPP CEO Barbara Sugg told committees last week that staff will be returning to its Little Rock, Ark., office on a limited and voluntary basis beginning May 10 if local COVID-19 infection rates don’t worsen. The grid operator’s leadership will determine whether to allow more volunteers to return to the office following the first phase.

Sugg said she hoped that SPP could have a limited number of in-person attendees for its July governance meetings, but she advised members not to make travel plans yet.

Tom Kleckner contributed to this report.