FARGO, N.D. – Energy companies have three priorities when it comes to electricity – make it affordable, clean and reliable. According to North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (NERC) Camilo Serna, those priorities should work in balance together like three legs on a stool. Serna is the vice president of strategy and external engagement at NERC, which was formally established in 2005 by Congress to ensure a highly reliable and secure bulk power system.He provided an insight into the state of energy reliability in North America during the Midwest Energy Summit held in Fargo Nov. 7. The Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber hosted the event.Camilo Serna, vice president of strategy and external engagement at NERC (North American Electric Reliability Corporation) gave an insight into the state of energy reliability in North America during the Midwest Energy Summit, held Nov. 7 in Fargo. Image taken from livestream of event./ Carrie McDermott
“We are there to effectively reduce the risk to the reliability and security of the grid and we do that working with multiple stakeholders, multiple companies,” he told the audience. “We’re an industry-based organization that gets input from all of you to develop the work that we do and how we do it.”NERC develops and enforces mandatory reliability standards for all the transmission companies, the generation companies that are connected to the bulk power system which is done by working with regional entities, he explained. Those entities help NERC audit the implementation of those standards and ensure that the industry maintains a safe, highly secure, reliable grid.Two expert panels at the summit discussed the future of traditional fuels and renewables. Paul Jordan, CEO of Corval Group, Inc., moderated the renewables panel, where experts discussed how the sector is navigating rising market demand, workforce shortages, changing state and federal policies and other key indicators shaping the future of energy.Energy demands are complex and growing, thanks to an increase in data centers, semiconductor manufacturing and expanding populations. The opportunity for renewables in this space is huge, according to Bria Shea, regional vice president of regulatory for the Upper Midwest at Xcel Energy. After no to little load growth for 10 or 15 years, electrification has increased the electric vehicle adoption rates and growing data centers are creating increased power load demands, she shared.“We’re having conversations now around gigawatts, not megawatts. We’re talking about the opportunity to double or triple the current system,” she said. “One nice thing about data centers is that, by and large, a lot of their goals are in line with the sustainability efforts that a lot of us are working towards so they do want to be as clean as possible. Renewables fit really nicely in there.”The challenge is that renewables are intermittent and data centers require consistent power, as they run non-stop.
