Thursday, June 22, 2023

9:00AM – 9:30AM	Arrivals & Breakfast
9:30AM – 10:00AM	Opening Remarks & Keynote Peter Godt-Larsen (Energy Island Development Lead, Energinet)
10:00AM – 11:15AM	Session 1: Connections Carrie Cullen Hitt (Senior Director of Grid Policy and Transmission, Vineyard Offshore) Kelly Smith (Onshore Package Manager, Ocean Winds) Bob Snook (Transmission Program Coordinator, CT DEEP)
11:15AM – 11:30AM	Break
11:30AM – 12:45PM	Session 2: 85 GW Study Johan Enslin (Duke Energy SmartGrid Chair and Director, Clemson University at Charleston) Jim McCalley (Harpole Professor in Electrical Engineering, Iowa State) Cornelis Plet (Head of Power System Advisory group, DNV)
12:45PM – 1:30PM	Lunch
1:30PM – 3:30PM	Breakout Session: (i) Power Systems, (ii) Policy
3:30PM – 4:00PM	Closing and Next Steps

Session Descriptions:

Keynote

Session 1: Connections: Landings, POIs, and Meshed Grid

Integrating offshore wind energy into the existing onshore transmission grid involves multiple steps and stakeholders. We are currently at an early stage of addressing the technical, market and governance requirements of such an infrastructure build out. But the framework we establish, and the decisions made today will influence the future. In this session, we will ask a set of stakeholders to share their current approaches to this challenge and to identify critical next steps integrating landings, POIs and ultimately the development of a meshed offshore grid. There are also learnings from Europe which can be helpful in US deliberations. Our panelists in this session will provide insights based on their current experience and their longer-term planning.

Session 2: 85 GW Study

This session will feature a new proposal for an East Coast Offshore Transmission Backbone and land-based upgrades for 85 GW of offshore wind. This design features both landside upgrades and the multi-terminal HVDC technology that will make up the offshore backbone. Panelists will discuss the design and its potential to connect with the ISOs.

Breakout Sessions: Deep Discussion on Policy and Technical Challenges of Grid Integration

Having set the stage in our early sessions, the goal of the breakouts is an academic setting for stakeholders to delve more deeply into the integration of offshore wind into the grid of the future. Our sessions will be idea-driven — less constrained by current obstacles and more focused on optimal solutions and approaches. How do we get from today to the 85 GW scenario? What are the power and policy requirements to achieve our 2050 goals? These simultaneous breakout sessions will build on the morning topics. We encourage attendees to bring questions and comments from the morning panels for more in-depth discussion. The Power Systems session will be led by Professor James McCalley of Iowa State. The Policy session will be led by Professor Barbara Kates-Garnick of Tufts University. At the conclusion of the breakouts, we will reconvene in a larger group to share the discussions and suggest next steps for integration of policy and engineering.