IPU ONLINE

IPUOnline provides accessible and affordable e.learning programs with a focus on analytical skills and contemporary topics of interest to the regulatory policy community. IPUOnline events are archived for your convenience.

Recent Programs

• RTO Capacity Market Fundamentals

  December 7.2011 | 1:00 to 2:30PM EST
  Capacity markets are intended to encourage building new capacity, retaining existing capacity, and permitting other resources, such as demand-response programs, to participate in the market. Discussion will be based on the recent paper “An Examination of RTO Capacity Markets,” by Dr. Kenneth Rose.

Webinars of Interest

Programs listed here are not sponsored or organized by IPU. For more information about any of these programs, please contact the organization presenting the webinar.

• Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA) Webinar with State and Local Governments

  May 2.2012 | 12:30 to 4:00PM EST
  The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA) is staffing a special series of interactive web events. These outreach webinars are designed to share vital information about Commission actions and priorities and improve federal/state dialogue and information sharing.
  More Information

• MSU Environmental Science and Policy Program: Distinguished Lecture Series

  Archived Video
  World class researchers and practitioners will engage with the MSU community on cutting-edge environmental topics. Topics include: A New Era in Global Change Science, Inclusive Governance, Climate Change: The Role of Behavior, Ecosystem Services, The National Climate Assessment, and China and Climate Change.
  More Information

IPU Archived Programs

For access to these archived programs, please call us at 517.355.1876

• Workshop: Regulatory Approval and Certification

  July 27.2011 | Presentation Materials and Audio Available
  The workshop will provide critical knowledge that will enable participants to more effectively and efficiently respond to requests for approval or certification of projects in regulatory proceedings.

• Workshop: Smart Grid and Energy Assurance Planning

  June 29.2011 | Presentation Materials and Audio Available
  This workshop will educate participants on the potential energy assurance benefits of smart grid implementation and the interdependencies between Smart Grid and potential cyber security threats

• Smart Grid Q&A for Commissioners and Staff Members

  March 30.2011 and May 4.2011 | Presentation Materials and Audio Available
  This unique and highly interactive forum between regulators and technical experts in support of more effective and efficient review of smart grid proposals now coming before regulators.

• Workshop: Cyber-Security and Interoperability Standards for the Smart Grid

  February 22.2011 | Presentation Materials and Audio Available
  The workshop will enable participants to better understand why cyber-security and interoperability are essential elements to the reliability and protection of the electric system with the modernization of the electricity grid.

• Workshop: A Systems Perspective on Smart Grid Communications

  February 8.2011 | Presentation Materials and Audio Available
  The workshop will provide participants with a comprehensive communications perspective on the modernized electricity grid, from provider to consumer, with an emphasis on emerging platforms and technologies.

• Discussion Forum: Regulatory Treatment of ARRA-Funded Infrastructure Projects

  January 24.2011 | Presentation Materials and Audio Available
  This program will provide a discussion of key regulatory issues related to regulatory treatment of ARRA-funded projects. Participants will be better prepared to effectively and efficiently respond to these questions as they inevitably arise in regulatory proceedings.

• From Coal to Clean: The Poetential Role of Biomass in Utility Resrouce Portfolios

  December 3.2010 | Audio Recordings from In-Person Workshop
  The purpose of the workshop is to advance knowledge about the potential use of biomass by utilities, identify opportunities and challenges, and promote dialog between utilities and potential providers of biomass materials.

• Workshop: Lessons Learned from State Renewable Portfolio Standards and Implications for Federal RECs

  December 2.2010 | Presentation Materials Available
  The workshop will provide comprehensive and comparative analysis of RPS programs to date. Achieving the goal of larger share of renewables in a reliable and cost-efficient manner depends on understanding the lessons from these programs.

• District Energy and Combined Heat and Power: Local Solution, Global Benefits

  July 7.2010 | Presentation Materials and Video Available
  This discussion includes: (1) an overview of the industry; (2) a basic discussion of the technology; (3) some of the challenges faced by CHP; (4) some of the recent interesting ruling impacting the CHP providers; and (5) some illustrations of how CHP is being utilized abroad.

• Urban Adaptation to Climate: The Case of New York City

  April 15.2010 | Presentation Materials and Video Available
  This talk focuses on New York City. Environmental conditions as experienced today will shift, exposing the City and its residents to new hazards and heightened risks.

• Project Management for Regulatory Commissions

  February 26.2010 and March 5.2010 | Presentation Materials and Audio Available
  The workshop will enable participants to understand established project-management principles and skills, to develop sound and accountable processes, practices, and strategies for project and risk management, and to apply project-management techniques to ongoing ARRA and other regulatory projects.

• Schmalensee Lecture on Renewable Energy in the United States

  March 4.2010 | Presentation Materials and Video Available
  This talk provides an overview of the use of renewable energy sources in recent years, with a focus on the US, and a critical evaluation of the main policies that have been employed in the US and abroad to promote the use of renewable energy.

• Climate Change Policies and Technological Innovation

  November 12.2009 | Presentation Materials Available
  Technological innovation is the biggest factor determining how easy it will be to achieve steep reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions. Analyses suggest that the total cost of limiting climate change would be only 1-2 % reduction in future GDP. But are these assumptions correct? How do we tell? And, what must be done to make such innovation actually happen?

• The Financial Effects of Energy Efficiency on Utilities: A Closer Look at Decoupling

  October 28.2009 | Video Available
  Many energy efficiency advocates believe that revenue decoupling consistently removes the disincentive for utilities to promote energy efficiency. Finance principles suggest a more nuanced conclusion.

• Metering the Unmetered Resource

  February 28.2008 | Presentation Materials and Audio Available
  This session is appropriate for program administrators who are new to energy efficiency program evaluation and for regulators assessing the role of efficiency in today’s utility energy portfolios.

• Facility Siting Workshop 2004

  February 5.2004 | Audio Available
  Today’s best methods for siting tomorrow’s critical utility infrastructure facilities Electricity plants and transmission lines, natural gas and water pipelines, and cellular telephone towers all play vital roles in the nation’s critical utility infrastructures.

• FCC Commissioner Abernathy and Panelists Discuss Internet Telephony

  February 19.2004 | Presentation Materials and Audio Available
  The Quello Center and the Institute of Public Utilities of Michigan State University jointly present this special event, “Internet Telephony (VOIP): Business, Regulatory, and Policy Challenges.”

• Discussion of the 2003 Annual Performance Review of Electric Power Markets

  October 9.2003 | Audio Available
  In this presentation, IPU Senior Fellow Dr. Kenneth Rose discusses his recently completed Annual Performance Review of Electric Power Markets.

• FCC and Expert Panel Discuss the Triennial Review Order

  September 11.2003 | Audio Available
  A panel of officials including state utility commissioners, analysts and academics discuss the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Triennial Review Order.

• FERC Standard Market Design Briefing

  August 15.2002 | Audio Available
  At a special CAMP NARUC 2002 session, senior staff members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) discuss the recent proposed changes to the agency’s policy on market based rate contracts for wholesale of electric energy by public utilities.