california’s distributed energy future 2016

After graduating from UC Irvine with a degree in Environmental Studies, Kevin Barker went to work in the Renewable Energy Office and the Energy Commission. In 2010, he was hired as Chair Weisenmiller’s policy advisor for renewables and distributed generation. In 2012 he was promoted to Chair Weisenmiller’s chief of staff. His areas of focus are renewables, demand forecasting, electricity supply, research and development, and transmission.

Jeff Billinton is the manager of Regional Transmission – North at the California ISO.  He has worked at the California ISO since 2011.  Jeff has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada and over 27 years of experience in the electric utility industry in distribution and transmission system design, construction, operations and planning.

Merrian Borgeson champions clean energy and climate policy as a Senior Scientist in the Energy and Transportation Team at NRDC. Merrian’s work focuses on transforming the energy sector to accelerate the transition to an energy future led by energy efficiency and renewable energy. She provides policy analysis and strategic guidance to policy makers and other stakeholders at the state, regional, and national levels. Merrian was previously a researcher and technical assistance team lead at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, focused on the financing and deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy. She was the first director of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia and the managing director and later the board chair at the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). Merrian currently serves as a Trustee for the Goggio Family Foundation, and on the Advisory Boards of the Schumacher Center for New Economics and the Berkeley Energy & Resources Collaborative (BERC). She has a MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, a Masters from UC Berkeley’s Energy & Resources Group, and a BA in International Relations from Stanford University.

Tony Brunello is the President and Founder of More than Smart, a nonprofit organization that works to upgrade state electricity distribution grids to enable more distributed energy resources (DER) and to move towards network grid architecture. Tony, a former top energy official in California, has worked on energy and climate issues at the state, national, and international level for the past 15 years for industry, government and nonprofit organizations.

Tony co-founded MTS’s distribution grid work in partnership with Caltech and the California’s Governor’s Office. MTS’s distribution grid planning model is based on utility grid engineering fundamentals linked with a unique state stakeholder integration process and the ability to develop politically feasible solutions. Tony also started MTS’s Mission:data program, a national coalition of innovative technology companies that empower consumers with access to their own energy usage data. His work on MTS’s Smart Electronics Initiative has promoted customer-linked efficient electronics to provide efficiency services.

Tony is also a Partner at California Strategies, LLC.  Brunello has a Master’s of Science in Environmental and Resource Economics from University College London and a B.A. in both Environmental Studies and Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.  He lives in Oakland with his wife and two daughters.

Mr. Jorge A. Camacho pronounced (hor-hay), joined the Public Service Commission on April 7, 2014 as an Electrical Engineer in the Office of Infrastructure and System Planning. In 1994, Jorge started his career as an Electrical Engineer working for Entergy, which at the time was part of Louisiana Power and Light. There, he began by assisting technicians in the underground distribution system in the French Quarter of New Orleans, LA., ("NOLA") and this this effort progressed into the design of new circuits relieving overloaded feeders in the downtown region of NOLA. Mr. Camacho also provided electrical engineering support to the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Washington, DC in the area of power transmission and distribution system design suitable for overseas commissioning. He is a senior member of the IEEE and a registered professional engineer and he has taught undergraduate engineering courses in Louisiana and Maryland. Mr. Camacho also has provided consulting services in the field of renewable energy and grid integration to various public and private organizations. Mr. Camacho earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a concentration in electrical engineering from Tulane University, and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering with a concentration in Electromagnetics from University of Central Florida. Currently, he is working on his PhD dissertation in the area of electrical energy entitled, "Hybrid Conversion µIsotopic Power Source tolerant to long term radiation-induced degradation" at Louisiana State University."

Nick Chaset was named as President Picker’s Advisor on energy issues in February 2014, and named Chief of Staff thereafter. Previously he served as Governor Jerry Brown’s Special Advisor for Distributed Energy Resources, focusing on the development and implementation of Distributed Generation, Combined Heat and Power, and Energy Storage Policy. Before entering state service, Nick was the director of new market development and government affairs of Q-Cells NA, where he was responsible for leading its strategic marketing efforts and representation before local, state, and federal government agencies. He received his B.A. in international relations at Tufts University, and his MBA from Georgetown University.

Paul is the technical lead for all MTS programs having developed the original framework for MTS in partnership with Caltech. He brings successful experience in transforming utility operations, building successful energy services firms and growing technology ventures globally. Paul’s work has consistently been recognized by industry including several awards for innovation and industry leadership from DoE, EPRI and several leading trade publications. He has spoken and written extensively on development of an integrated grid, with a focus on distributed energy resource technologies and related business strategies and policy considerations. Paul was Chief Technology & Strategy Officer for Cisco’s global Energy Networks business unit and previously VP, Advanced Technology at Southern California Edison where he led SCE’s $2 billion grid modernization, energy storage and transportation electrification efforts. Prior to SCE, he led ICF International’s Energy Strategy consulting practice. Earlier, he led market development at three leading competitive wholesale and retail energy services firms. He began his career at PG&E in transmission and distribution operations, engineering and construction, and wholesale markets. Paul is an industry advisor to Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital and several prominent cleantech start-ups. Paul is a visiting scholar at the Resnick Sustainability Institute at the California Institute of Technology. He holds an MBA from the University of Southern California and a BS from the University of San Francisco. He is an emeritus member of DOE’s Gridwise Architecture Council and senior member of IEEE.

Mark Esguerra has been with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) over 18 years where he has held various leadership positions within the Company. This includes 13 years in PG&E’s Electric Transmission Planning Department where he was responsible for shaping the transmission planning and generation interconnection processes to support expansion and reinforcement of the transmission grid.  Mark was also the Manager of PG&E’s Generation Interconnection Department where he managed the distributed generation interconnection process, as well as led process improvements to streamline the interconnection of residential and commercial roof top solar, including behind-the-meter energy storage interconnections.  Currently, Mark is the Director in PG&E’s Integrated Grid Planning team in the Grid Integration and Innovation Organization where he leads the development and implementation of various DER integration activities, including the Distribution Resources Plan (DRP) and Integrated Distributed Energy Resources (IDER) proceedings.
Mark Esguerra earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from San Francisco State University.  He also obtained a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Masagung School of Business at the University of San Francisco.  Esguerra is a registered professional Electrical Engineer for the State of California.

James "Jamie" Fine works to reduce the impacts of energy systems used to power buildings, transport and service people, and produce and move goods.

His areas of research and advocacy include design and implementation of market-based policy, modeling the economic, air quality, and health consequences of policy decisions, deploying smart grid for environmental and electricity customer benefits, and facilitating the meaningful involvement of community stakeholders in environmental planning.

Jamie earned his Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Groups.

Ryan Hanley is the Vice President of Grid Engineering Solutions at SolarCity. He leads SolarCity’s efforts to leverage distributed energy resources – including residential and commercial solar, batteries, load management systems, smart inverters and microgrids – to benefit the electric grid and its customers. Ryan and his team work collaboratively with utilities, regulators, vendors, national research laboratories and other industry stakeholders to leverage distributed energy resources to tackle some of the most challenging topics in grid design and operations. Ryan oversees SolarCity’s Power Systems Engineering, Advanced Grid Product Management, and Market Integration teams. Prior to SolarCity, Ryan managed the Pacific Gas & Electric’s emerging technology and smart grid portfolio for electric distribution where he directed $80M in pilot and demonstration projects. Ryan holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, an MS in Civil Engineering from Trinity College Dublin and an MBA from UC Berkeley.

Lorenzo Kristov is Principal, Market and Infrastructure Policy at CAISO. He develops CAISO policy in the areas of market design, transmission planning, new generator interconnection, and integration of distributed energy resources. During the industry restructuring of the 1990s he worked at the California Energy Commission developing the rules for retail direct access, and before that he was a Fulbright Scholar in Indonesia working on a commercial and regulatory framework for direct foreign investment in power generation.

Audrey deploys and aggregates home solar, batteries, and other energy services to serve residential customers, utilities, and grid operators in creating a more affordable, clean, reliable electricity grid. Audrey also serves on the NIST Smart Grid Advisory Committee. Previously, Audrey was VP of Analytics & Design at Advanced Microgrid Solutions, where she built the analytics and operations platform to optimize a 50 MW fleet of customer-sited batteries as a virtual power plant in Southern California after the closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. This resulted in Series A and B corporate funding and a $200 million project finance raise – the largest dedicated energy storage finance vehicle at the time. Prior to that, Audrey led policy and analysis at the CA Public Utilities Commission President’s office, Harvard University, U.S. Department of Energy and the International Energy Agency. She holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Princeton University. At home she builds forts and Snap Circuits with her two children.

Joe Paladino serves as Senior Advisor within the Department of Energy's Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability where he oversees the communications and analysis efforts associated with the smart grid projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Mr. Paladino has worked at DOE for over 19 years in programs involving: a) nuclear waste management, b) energy efficient buildings, and c) electric grid modernization. His particular interest is in the advancement and commercialization of technology. Prior to joining DOE, he worked for over 10 years in the private sector

David Parsons is an economist at the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, where he is responsible for policy analysis and strategic planning for achievement of the state’s aggressive clean energy goals. He oversees the design and implementation of demand-side management programs, renewable energy procurement incentives, and distributed energy resources integration solutions. David also manages financial and economic evaluation of regulated utility investments and operations in the electric, gas, water, telecommunications, and transportation sectors. He holds an A.B. in economics and environmental studies from Bowdoin College and an M.E.M. in energy systems economics and natural resource management from Yale University.

Rudy Stegemoeller is the Special Assistant for Energy Policy at the New York State Department of Public Service, where he has been active in developing all facets of the Commission’s REV initiative.  Rudy began his career with the law firm of LeBouef, Lamb, Leiby and MacCrae and has since worked as a counsel to the New York State Assembly, an administrative law judge for the New York PSC, and principal of a private legal and consulting practice that focused on clean energy and consumer issues.

Raghu Sudhakara is currently with Con Edison’s Energy Efficiency and Demand Management department where he manages a team directing business strategy and regulatory policy in areas related to the use of distributed energy resources (DERs). He also has additional responsibility with the Company’s Utility of the Future team where he works on the newly proposed NY State Clean Energy Standard and research related to markets at the wholesale and retail levels. While focused on the use of DERs in targeted areas to defer major delivery infrastructure investments such as through the BQDM (Brooklyn Queens Demand Management) Program, he is currently also involved in broader policy discussions of DERs’ growth in New York and their integration into the power grid. He originally joined Con Edison’s Energy Policy and Regulatory Affairs group where he advocated on behalf of Con Edison on wholesale electricity market issues at both NYISO and PJM. Previously, Raghu has worked for the consulting firm GP Strategies providing training and other professional services to power generation companies around the world on power plant efficiencies and power purchase agreements. Raghu has also worked in the generation sector for AES where he managed their power plant efficiency program for their facilities in southern California and, provided additional services to their plants. In addition to the energy sector, Raghu has worked for the French government analyzing biotechnology policy. Raghu has also served as an informal advisor to the Indian Consulate in New York on energy issues. Raghu has bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology Karnataka, India, a masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri and, a dual masters degree in Public Affairs/Administration from Columbia University, New York and Sciences Po, Paris.

Jeff is the Chief Architect for Electric Grid Transformation at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. As a member of the Energy and Environment Directorate, he  is responsible for development and articulation of large scale architecture for grid modernization, as well as support of many cross-cutting activities at the Laboratory, including the Future Power Grid Initiative, advanced computing, and the Control of Complex Systems Initiative. He began working in the grid modernization area in 2001 and has held smart grid chief architect roles with Cisco, Accenture, and IBM. Jeff formerly worked for Westinghouse and has participated in several key smart grid projects since he first began to develop sensor architectures and analytics for distribution grids, and then became involved in the larger issues of end-to-end grid integration and control. Jeff earned a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh with a dual specialization in digital signal processing and digital control systems in 1986. He is a member of the IEEE Power and Energy Society, is an emeritus member of the GridWise Architecture Council and is the holder of 30 patents in control systems, signal processing, and grid modernization.

Erik Takayesu is the Director of Electric System Planning for Southern California Edison. The organizations he currently oversees include Grid Modernization, Distribution and Transmission System Planning and Engineering, Distribution Automation, Power Quality, Generation Interconnection Planning and Studies. He has held various roles at SCE, including managing Grid Operations, Reliability Engineering, and Asset Management. As part of modernizing the electric grid, Erik has been instrumental in leading the efforts to develop SCE’s Distribution Resource Plan. His organization is also developing the strategy for enabling the electric grid to integrate Distributed Energy Resources. Erik has a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the California State University at Long Beach, is a licensed PE, and holds his master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University. 
Chris joined the Minnesota PUC in May 2015 as its Director of Policy.  In this role, Chris will provide policy research and assistance to the Commissioners and analyze policy considerations for future and on-going policy development, including on issues such as grid modernization and  cybersecurity.  With the Minnesota PUC, Chris is active in the PUC’s on-going data privacy docket, as well as the e21 Initiative.

Chris is an active participant in many national grid modernization efforts, including NIST Grid 3.0 and the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel.  Chris is on the Board of Directors for the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative, and is also on the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee for the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB).  At NAESB, Chris chairs the Energy Services Provider Interface (ESPI) Task Force which is the standard that supports Green Button. Prior to joining the Minnesota PUC, Chris spent the previous 9 years at the California Public Utilities Commission as a Senior Regulatory Analyst.  At the California PUC, Chris worked on a variety of CPUC proceedings, including on Smart Grid, data privacy and data access, cybersecurity, demand response, and rate design.  Chris also authored several White Papers on topics such as pre-pay, cybersecurity, and microgrids.  Before the CPUC, Chris worked in Washington, D.C. as an energy law paralegal focusing on FERC matters.  Chris has a B.A. in History from Baylor University.

Don Von Dollen is a program manager for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). He is responsible for the IntelliGridSM research program focused on accelerating the transformation of the present power delivery infrastructure into a Smart Grid through a unique collaboration of public and private stakeholders.
Von Dollen leads a team of 11 technical experts in communications and data integration for transmission, distribution and consumer applications. Von Dollen is a leader in industry Smart Grid activities. He serves as the Chairman of the IEEE PES Intelligent Grid Coordinating Committee. He is also a Peer Reviewer for the DOE GridWise Program, a member of the GridWeek organizing committee and a liaison member of the GridWise Architecture Council. He coordinates EPRI’s Smart Grid activities with DOE, EEI, NIST, NEMA, NARUC, NCSL, and other organizations. Von Dollen has worked with utilities on their AMI implementations as well as on utility-specific Smart Grid roadmaps. Von Dollen joined EPRI in 1991 and has held a variety of positions since then including power delivery and markets application manager and underground transmission program manager. He has also managed EPRI’s superconductivity research program including wire and cable development and research projects relating to transmission cable systems. Before joining EPRI, Von Dollen was a research engineer with the Pacific Gas & Electric Company. Von Dollen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the California State University, Sacramento.

Stephanie Wang is the Senior Policy Attorney at the Center for Sustainable Energy, a nonprofit organization with offices in California and Massachusetts.  She advances energy system transformation and distributed resource policies and programs.  She previously served as the policy director for the Clean Coalition.  She earned her JD and BA from the University of Michigan.