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June 20, 2006 |
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 ELLEN
RUFFPresident, Duke Energy Carolinas By Julius Melton The long ties between the Charlotte Rotary Club and the major local corporation known for years as Duke Power had a chance to be recalled and celebrated with the introduction of today's speaker, Ellen Ruff. With her at the head table were two men with whom she worked in her earlier years with the company, retired Duke leaders (and past Club Presidents) Tom Robertson and Doug Booth. Their kibitzing illustrated the camaraderie that must have prevailed "back then." Current Duke stalwart, Jeff Triplette, also ate lunch "up front," illustrating current staff connections with our club. Some members' thoughts turned to a time when our president, Ruth Shaw, served Duke in a similar presidential role to that of Ms. Ruff-the two working closely together in some recent years in policy and planning for the power giant. Ellen Ruff is a native of Hartford, Connecticut, and graduate of Simmons College in Massachusetts. Coming to law school at Chapel Hill introduced her to Duke Power country-in those days before it stepped up to nation-wide status. She got an early start in Duke Power's legal department, and rose through the ranks, learning more and more about regulatory and other arcane aspects of the power generation and distribution industry. Soon after the new century began, she was made Senior Vice President and General Counsel. Two years later, in 2003, she was Senior Vice President of Power Policy and Planning. Other titles were given her as she took charge of planning and external resources, becoming very familiar with the operations of Duke's numerous plants and the regulations under which they operated. As she made clear, her role centers on Duke's operations in the Carolinas. There is much activity in the areas she oversees, because the passage of time since construction of plants that are household names in this region, means that relicensing and new construction are uppermost items of concern, in the company. In her presentation, she moved adroitly from describing one facility's situation, to another's prospects for upgrading. An example was the Catawba Nuclear Plant, to our south, that came on line 20 years ago, now. She was a junior lawyer on the team that handled the paperwork and negotiations back then. Now she is in the midst of a new cycle of building power generating plants. Some of the "old ways" seem to have been well chosen, such as using a diversity of fuels to fire the generators. The plants now existing, and dating from two decades or more ago, made use of coal, gas, nuclear energy, and water power. Some of these fuel systems are more problematic than others, in today's world, but the principle of diversity needs to be held to. Attention must be paid especially to the "base load" generating plants-those that have to keep running around the clock, while others kick in as demand requires. Ms. Ruff sees, as one of her responsibilities, widening the circle of those who have an understanding of Duke and the crucial role played in our society and economy by the generation of electric power. It is necessary for Duke to lay out the expectations for the next decade or more, so as to try to meet expectations and needs. Some 40,000 to 60,000 customers are added each year to the customer base Duke serves. Reviews of the past, anticipations of the future, and plans for new construction figure into the complex relicensing processes. When Ellen started out with Duke, she explained, the power company had fairly free reign in its planning, and the principle that was primary in relevant legislation called for construction to be done at the least cost. Today's hearers of our speaker were well aware that our governmental bodies, as well as we ourselves, now demand much, much more. She pointed out that recent efforts at relicensing power plants on our Carolinas' lakes often had as many as 160 "stakeholders" involved-municipalities, organizations, and interest groups involved in the areas affected. As one example of the current involvement of herself and her colleagues, she told of Duke's buying a project already being planned at the Cleveland-Rutherford County line. It is a complex of two 800 megawatt "clean" coal plants, anticipated to go on line in the year 2011. As can be imagined, it will affect in a massive way the tax base and employment possibilities in that region of our state. But one can also expect that significant questions of an environmental sort will be raised. Another facility in process is in Cherokee County, SC-a new nuclear plant under consideration, as a joint project between Duke and the Southern Company, which aims at the year 2016 for being ready. The public, and scientists and engineers, bring up strong cases for other energy sources, to generate electricity. Ms. Ruff pointed out how the basic study and planning needs to move with seriousness, if such are to be significant contributors. Ideas are at the very front end of a long cycle of planning, negotiating, and only finally, building. She worries about the "passion" being shown by critics of the power generation industry, while the industry must try to be ready to furnish the power the populace will require. Her talk concluded with a shift to the subject of clean air, and the role of internal combustion engines in pollution. Motor vehicles are a culprit, at least equal to power generation. Incentives are vitally needed to change habits and provide alternatives to gas-burning cars, she pointed out. The Q & A period brought out some additional points: (1) Duke Energy's new CEO has long been involved in promoting environmental efficiency in electricity generation. (2) Vast amounts of human energy and dollar outlay are involved in putting up a new power plant (much more capital is now involved on the front end of the process). (3) Over time, the fuel that produces electricity the cheapest is nuclear. (4) Security has been much enhanced at power plants, since 9/11-especially at nuclear plants, the plats and plans for which are now kept in vaults. (5) New plants won't require the construction of new lakes-the existing lakes, plus "cooling towers" will suffice. (6) Projected life of a nuclear plant (30 years) has been found too short an estimate, and 20 year extensions are being granted. Head Table: Jeff Triplette, Carol Hughes, Herb Harriss, Cecil Durrett, Tom Robertson, Doug Booth; Invocation: Alice Harrison Visitors & Guests: Jeff Triplette, Health & Happiness: Jim Woodward; Song: Alan Barnhardt
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Revised: January 24, 2008.