And it was a whirlwind, no pun intended... Wednesday at the State House,  the Indiana General Assembly was enlightened (really, this is too easy) by a group of local and national experts on topics ranging from photovoltaic opportunities, the Energy Systems Network and lithium batteries to a utilities take on where energy is headed.  One common theme - in these tight capital markets regulation is necessary to jump-start the innovation and, if companies (and/or ratepayers, as the case may be) are going to be asked to foot the bill. The providers want cost recovery and the ratepayers are going to want to make sure that they are not disproportionally impacted.  The AEP representative stated that the time to act in support of low/non-carbon technologies is now.  He stated that AEP believes that the evaluation of a new nuclear power plant (1600 MW unit) is favorable in relation to continued use of fossil fuels, but caveated that any development on the issue would require a favorable regulatory environment (including cost recovery).  Jesse Kharbanda of the Hoosier Environmental Council noted that a core weakness on renewables in Indiana right now is that there is no renewable energy policy at the state level. He provided that Indiana is the only state in the Industrial Midwest without a renewable energy standard.   A second common theme was the discussion of "zero-carbon emitting technologies" and innovation that is growing around these areas. The presenters noted that these are key market opportunities.  According to the presenters, the lack of a Renewable Energy Standard (RES) means that Indiana is losing out.  Go to http://www.in.gov/legislative/session/video.html to see a recording of the days events.