Renewable energy roundtable.

Utah Business partnered with Holland & Hart to host a roundtable event featuring Utah's renewable energy leaders. Moderated by Christine Watson Mikell of Enyo Renewable Energy, they discussed the outlook for renewable energy and the environment in Utah, the challenges their industries face, and the significant opportunities that lie ahead. Here are a few highlights from the event.

When it comes to renewable energy in Utah, where have we been and where are we going?

Richard Walje | CEO | RAW-Energy

One exciting change that's happened is in information technology and how it's deployed. We have the opportunity to run the grid more efficiently with more resilience, and we're moving to more of that. Customers want to have more choice in the electricity that's provided to them, and all of those things require a shift in how you think about things, like Rocky Mountain Power's commitment to going to zero carbon. I wish I were starting [my career] instead of ending, just because there are so many different things, opportunities, and aspects that weren't available in the past.

Nick Goodman | CEO | Cyrq Energy

We're thrilled to see the amount of interest here in Utah. When we started 10 years ago, the focus was to take advantage of the resources here in the state but export to California. That was the market back then. As we fast forward 10 years to today, we already have 17 communities that are actively in discussions with us on our project in Southern Utah. The level of interest across the state--from industries as well as communities--is really heartening. I'm thrilled that we're going to have the opportunity to not only generate some electricity here but consume it here as well.

What are the challenges to reaching our renewable energy goals?

Luke Cartin | Environmental Sustainability Manager | Park City Municipal Corporation

Any time you try to do something new, it's always a challenge. I think from the customer side, you get very overwhelmed very quickly. And on the community renewable energy side, it's going to get even more complex. There are 23 communities. That's over 115 elected officials. To keep everyone informed of something complex that's never been tried before and make them feel comfortable with it requires a pretty big leap of faith. The nice thing in Utah is that we can usually identify the barriers we're going to run into, and we can have these open conversations. It's a really long slog, but it's great to see that--in what people...