Expanded CERAWeek “Electric Power Conference” Addresses Cost, Fuel, Demand, Environmental & Regulatory Challenges of 2008

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With escalating cost, price, fuel choice, technology, climate change and regulatory pressures defining an increasingly challenging environment for the power industry in North American and globally, Cambridge Energy Research Associates’ (CERA) 27^th annual CERAWeek, Quest for Security: Strategies for a New Energy Future, has expanded the power segment of its agenda to two days, Thursday and Friday, February 14 and 15. This establishes a major two-day electric power conference within the framework of CERAWeek that also highlights renewables and technological innovation.

CERAWeek 2008, which opens in Houston February 12 with sessions focusing on oil and natural gas, will feature more than 50 electric power industry leaders, executives and policymakers in two days of sessions on February 14 and 15 addressing electric power topics ranging from capital cost escalation and the future of coal in the power generation mix, to low-carbon strategies and resolving conservation and efficiency tradeoffs.

“The industry is in a very challenging environment right now,” said CERA Vice President and Senior Advisor Lawrence Makovich. “Critical fuel, technology and investment decisions must be made while the global cost escalation in fuels, people and engineering capabilities plays into price increases for electricity. In addition, there may well be additional charges associated with carbon policy and renewables. The extent to which alternative energy can become part of the solution will depend on whether flexibility and logical pacing can become part of alternative energy mandates and policies.

“CERAWeek 2008 will bring together the foremost thought leaders from the industry, policy and financial communities to analyze the possibilities and options for the electric power future,” Makovich added.

“CERA’s electric power services have established their importance worldwide,” said Dan Yergin, CERA Chairman and IHS Executive Vice President. “In recognition of the critical issues affecting the power industry, we have expanded the traditional electric power focus into a major two-day electric power conference as one of the central parts of CERAWeek.”

Power Segment Speakers

The two-day power segment of CERAWeek 2008 will feature addresses from a number of prominent leaders, including: Dr. Alan Greenspan, former chairman, U.S. Federal Reserve (1987-2006); Joseph T. Kelliher, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; James E. Rogers, chairman and chief executive officer, Duke Energy Corporation; Michael Morris, chairman and CEO of American Electric Power; Hon. Donald L. Evans, chairman, Energy Future Holdings; Philippe Joubert, executive vice president, Alstom Group, and president, Alstom Power Systems, Alstom; and Lars G. Josefsson, president and CEO, Vattenfall AB.

Sessions earlier in the week (February 12 and 13) of CERAWeek will include presentations by Abdallah S. Jum'ah, president and CEO, Saudi Aramco; James Mulva, chairman and CEO, ConocoPhillips; Nobuo Tanaka, executive director, International Energy Agency; Hon. Chakib Khelil, Minister of Energy and Mines, Algeria, and new president of OPEC; Linda Cook, executive director, Gas and Power, Royal Dutch Shell; Nobel Laureate R K Pachauri, director-general, TERI and chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; and Helge Lund, president and CEO, StatoilHydro ASA.

Other power segment speakers include:

• Alfredo Elías Ayub, director general, Comisión Federal de Electricidad
• Jim Barry, CEO, NTR
• Matthieu Bucaille, managing director, Lazard
• Peter L Corsell, CEO and president, GridPoint
• John Deutch, Institute professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Richard Kauffman, CEO and president, Good Energies Inc.
• Deryk I. King, chairman and CEO, Direct Energy, Centrica North America
• Jacob Maroga, chief executive, Eskom
• Ernest J. Moniz, Ph.D., professor of physics and Cecil and Ida Green distinguished professor, MIT Sloan School of Management
• Mike Mudd, CEO, FutureGen Alliance
• George Sakellaris, president and CEO, Ameresco, Inc
• Barry T. Smitherman, chairman, Public Utility Commission of Texas

The CERAWeek conference will be held from Feb. 11-15, 2008 at the Westin Galleria hotel in Houston, Texas. The CERA Electric Power Conference takes place February 14-15, 2008. Further information and delegate registration is available at www.ceraweek.com. The latest conference information, including agenda and speaker updates, is available at the conference website.

Media may register or obtain additional information by contacting Bethany Genier, +1 617 866 5142 or e-mailing bgenier@cera.com.

About CERA (www.cera.com)

Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA), an IHS company (NYSE: IHS), is a leading advisor to energy companies, consumers, financial institutions, technology providers, and governments. CERA (www.cera.com) delivers strategic knowledge and independent analysis on energy markets, geopolitics, industry trends, and strategy. CERA is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and has offices in Beijing, Calgary, Mexico City, Moscow, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

© 2007, IHS is a registered trademark of IHS Inc. CERA is a registered trademark of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Inc. Copyright ©2007 IHS Inc. All rights reserved.