Benjamin Barkley
Chief Executive and Public Counsel at Office of Public Utility Counsel (OPUC)
About
Benjamin Barkley leads the Office of Public Utility Counsel, which represents residential and small commercial utility consumers in Texas and advocates for them in utility matters before regulatory agencies and courts. Barkley previously held legal and policy roles with the Texas Governor’s Office, a Texas state senator, and the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office.
Upcoming events (1)
JAN
25
MON
–
JAN
27
WED
The program examines Texas power policy, market design, infrastructure development, project investment, and operations. Shared plenary sessions address the 90th Legislative Session and SB 6, PUCT rulemaking, ERCOT’s Batch Zero large-load interconnection process, load growth, data-center power supply, 765-kV transmission, siting and permitting, and local engagement. Headline speakers include State Representative Todd Hunter of the Texas House of Representatives (District 32) and Commissioner Courtney Hjaltman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas. Day Two has concurrent ERCOT Market Reforms and Investment & Asset Optimization tracks. Topics include resource adequacy, transmission cost allocation beyond 4CP, data-center development, battery state-of-charge rules, cybersecurity and energy security, renewable project strategy, dispatchable generation, electricity affordability, demand response, distributed energy resources and ADER, and inverter-based resource ride-through requirements. Other sessions examine battery project economics, powered-land siting factors such as water and cooling, and strategies for optimizing assets in changing market conditions. The closing plenaries cover advanced nuclear, geothermal and other low-emission dispatchable generation; project finance amid tax-credit, FEOC/PFE, procurement, interest-rate, EPC-cost and tariff risks; and energy-asset M&A and deal trends.
Past events (0)
No past events are listed for this speaker.