Stroock & Stroock & Lavan Hosts 2011 Evolving Energy Industry Directions Event
Former FERC Commissioner Nora Mead Brownell delivers keynote address
NEW YORK, Sept. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Former Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioner Nora Mead Brownell delivered the keynote address at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan's annual energy conference, held yesterday at the law firm's New York offices.
The day-long seminar, "2011 Evolving Energy Industry Directions," focused on a range of issues impacting the power sector, including challenges in project financing; mergers & acquisitions; the potential effect of new and proposed rules to implement Dodd Frank; and the future of the smart grid.
Stroock partner Jeffrey W. Meyers, who chairs the firm's Energy and Project Finance Practice, introduced Ms. Brownell, noting that the former FERC Commissioner, one of more than 20 industry experts participating in the event, was a champion of fostering competitive markets to serve the public interest. "Nora Brownell has a unique understanding of the energy markets today, bringing a background in public service, energy and environmental issues, banking, government and the private sector to the fore as an advocate for advancing the way the country uses and can optimize its resources."
Ms. Brownell, who founded ESPY Energy Services in 2009, served as a FERC commissioner from 2001 – 2006.
Ms. Brownell has championed the development of independent transmission organizations for wholesale power, which now represent the electricity market structure serving two-thirds of the U.S. $10 trillion economy. She is a strong proponent of FERC policies that promote investment in national energy infrastructure development. Notably, during her 1997-2001 tenure at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, Ms. Brownell established the framework for one of the most successful retail electric markets in the country.
Her keynote presentation addressed the challenges and opportunities of using public and private resources to create and manage the efficient delivery of energy to informed consumers. "Private investors should take risks, rather the ratepayers," Ms. Brownell said, adding that creation of infrastructure banks is a model that works.
"Public-private partnerships should include partnership roles for government, venture capital and private equity funding as well as university-based innovation. We need to optimize aging assets while introducing new, more efficient, smarter, cleaner solutions. Energy policy and environmental policy are interrelated and both are really about economic development."
Panelists also included representatives from Standard & Poor's, RBC Capital Markets, Gamesa Energy, Whitehall & Co., Tangent Energy Solutions, Barclay's Capital, JPMorgan Asset Management, SteelRiver Infrastructure Partners, Blackstone Group, IPR-GDF SUEZ Energy North America, Inc., Goldman Sachs, NRG Energy, the Environmental Defense Fund, the NYS Smart Grid Consortium, OPower, EnerTech Capital, and several attorneys from Stroock.
Stroock's energy and project finance group represents sponsors in their development and project financing activities, bidders, buyers and sellers of electric generating facilities of all kinds located across the United States, and lenders to the energy industry. Stroock has one of the premiere derivatives, commodities, and hedging practices, and its litigation group has achieved national and international recognition on energy-related matters.
SOURCE Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
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