Meeting Energy Needs in a Changing Climate

The electric power system is being transformed from one based primarily on fossil fuels to one based primarily on “weather-fuels”, wind and solar power. In this panel, invited speakers will discuss challenges that our community will face as we move toward the new energy economy. The first two speakers, Melinda Marquis (NOAA) and Justin Sharp (Sharply Focused), will coordinate to give an overview of the current use of meteorology in the energy industry, identify the most significant gaps, and provide insight into what the atmospheric science community can offer to support the changing energy system. Kristen Averyt (CIRES/University of Colorado) will outline the challenges of an energy sector grappling with the compounded impacts of serving a growing population while also adapting to the impacts of climate change.

The next three speakers in the panel will focus on specific challenges related to the changing energy economy. Skip Dise (Clean Power Research) will discuss new meteorological tools and technologies needed for the shift toward more distributed energy generation. Tassos Golnas (U.S. Department of Energy) will consider the challenges of funding solar forecasting on a national level, as well as the cost-effective integration of solar power. Finally, Bryan Hannegan (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) will speak about the integration of increasingly renewable energy sources into the electric grid and highlight ongoing efforts to develop a capability to forecast grid state with skill.

The last part of the panel session will be dedicated to open discussion with the audience and questions for the panelists. The goal of the session is to bring together people from different areas of the meteorological and climate science communities to discuss the big-picture energy issues our country will face over the next several decades.