Puget Sound Energy

The forum will examine the WestTEC process and results, the newly formed Washington Electric Transmission Authority (WETA), and developments involving The Western Transmission Consortium (TWTC). It will consider how these initiatives could accelerate transmission expansion and what transmission decisions are needed to benefit Washington’s economy and population. The program begins with presentations on the three initiatives, followed by a panel discussion on how they can support a thoughtful transmission build-out.

The program spans project execution, nuclear energy, and grids, AI, and infrastructure. Sessions address financing and delivering the U.S. energy buildout; grid capacity, interconnection, transmission, reliability, and cost allocation; and the effects of data-center and industrial demand on power planning. Nuclear topics include power for data centers, first-of-a-kind project cost and delivery, nuclear finance, HALEU and fuel supply, utility choices among large reactors, SMRs, and microreactors, and pathways to SMR deployment. Other sessions cover LNG security, trade, and investment; energy storage and grid-edge technologies; AI in energy operations; and project bankability, permitting, policy, supply-chain, and delivery risks. The program also includes executive roundtables, a project-execution clinic, and an energy startup pitch competition.