Connecticut’s Energy Future
December 10, 2004
Speaker List
Donald Downes , Chairman, Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control, Vice Chairman of Connecticut Energy Advisory Board. Chairman Downes has an extensive background in public service administration. Prior to his appointment to the DPUC, he held a variety of positions in both state and federal government. Chairman Downes assisted the legislature in its efforts to pass legislation that brought electric competition to Connecticut . In 2001, he was appointed by Governor Rowland to a Task Force studying Connecticut 's future energy infrastructure needs. He is presently a member of the New England Governors’ Conference Power Planning Committee and served as Chairman in 2001. He was President of the New England Conference of Public Utility Commissioners (NECPUC), from 2000-2001, and is currently an active member of the NECPUC Committee.
Bridgett Neely , Senior Consultant, London Economics International LLC; a global economic, financial, and strategic advisory professional services firm specializing in energy and infrastructure, combining a detailed understanding of specific network and commodity industries, such as electricity generation and distribution, with quantitative models to produce reliable and comprehensible results. Ms Neely has worked extensively on competitive energy and energy related services procurement for multinational industrials, regulatory bodies, independent system operators, and utilities.
Kevin Kirby, Vice President Market Operations, ISO New England – ISO New England is the not-for-profit independent system operator (ISO) of New England's electricity supply, responsible for the day-to-day reliable operation of New England's bulk power generation and transmission system with an installed capacity of 32,000 megawatts; oversight and fair administration of the region's wholesale electricity marketplace, comprised of more than 200 market participants; and management of a comprehensive regional bulk power system planning process.
Scott J. Davido, Executive Vice President and President, Northeast Region of NRG Energy, Inc. Mr. Davido joined NRG in October 2002 as Senior Vice President and General Counsel, and played a lead role in NRG’s corporate restructuring efforts and reemergence as an independent public company. In his current position, Mr. Davido oversees NRG’s 7,000 MW portfolio of generating assets located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions. NRG Energy, Inc., a competitive energy provider, has a diversified generation portfolio, distinguished by its range in geography, fuel source and dispatch level.
David Boguslawski, Vice President of Transmission for Connecticut Light and Power Company. CL&P is a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities; a Fortune 500 diversified energy company located in Connecticut with operations throughout the Northeast. Mr. Boguslawski is responsible for NU’s Transmission business and manages over 3,000 circuit miles of lines in New England in a service area that includes Connecticut , Western Massachusetts and New Hampshire .
Mel Jones, President and CEO of Sterling Planet. Sterling Planet is both a developer and marketer of renewable energy. Sterling provides energy that is low impact, sustainable, diverse and domestically generated from renewable sources nationwide, including solar, wind, bioenergy and small hydro. Since 2001, Sterling Planet has sold to homes and businesses nationwide more than 1 billion kilowatt hours of renewable energy, representing enough energy to power 95,000 homes for a full year and offset 720,000 tons of CO 2. Mr. Jones, with 20 years of electric utility experience, has focused much of his energy on developing the infrastructure for this unique partnership-based enterprise.
Gunnar Walmet , Director, Industrial Research and Building Development, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority – NYSERDA’s programs help New York State manufacturers adopt energy efficiency, environmentally friendly technologies, including encouraging the market acceptance and penetration of distributed generation (DG) technology in order to reduce their operating costs. Mr. Walmet’s work includes demonstrating and documenting the performance of DG in Combined Heat and Power (CHP) applications across various sectors of the State’s economy, addressing institutional impediments such as utility interconnection, standby tariffs, siting and permitting.
Richard Cowart , Policy Director, New England Demand Response Initiative (NEDRI) –Mr. Cowart is a Director of the Regulatory Assistance Project, which provides technical and policy assistance on energy and regulatory issues to governments throughout the world. Mr. Cowart was elected President of the New England Conference of Public Utility Commissioners, and Chair of the Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. NEDRI was created to develop a comprehensive, coordinated set of demand response programs for the New England regional power markets. NEDRI’s goal was to outline workable market rules, public policies, and regulatory criteria to incorporate customer-based demand response resources into New England ’s the electricity markets and power systems. The Initiative studied a full range of Demand Response (DR) resource options, including short-term price-responsive load, retail pricing and metering strategies, reliability-driven DR, and longer-term energy efficiency investments.
Jeff Schlegel , Consultant to Connecticut ’s Energy Conservation Management Board (ECMB). The Mission of the Energy Conservation Management Board is to advise and assist the utility distribution companies in the development and implementation of comprehensive and cost-effective energy conservation and market transformation plans. Mr. Schlegel serves as a consultant to the ECMB and has extensive national experience in the effectiveness of efficiency programs to have a positive impact on regional energy use.
Robert Laurita , Senior Program Administrator, ISO – NE Demand Response Programs. ISO New England is the not-for-profit corporation responsible for the day-to-day reliable operation of New England's bulk power generation and transmission system with an installed capacity of 32,000 megawatts; Mr Laurita manages the Demand Response Programs designed to reduce or shift electricity use in response to either high wholesale electricity prices or reliability problems on the electricity grid. ISO New England’s Demand Response Programs offer payments for reducing electricity consumption based on the wholesale market prices.
Anthony Cortiglio , Manager, Strategic Account Services, United Illuminating (UI) a regional distribution utility providing electricity and energy-related services to more than 320,000 customers in the Greater New Haven and Greater Bridgeport areas. Mr. Cortiglio administers large customer time-of-use rates that include both energy and demand cost schedules that vary by the time of day and the time of year the power is consumed. These rates provide pricing signals to customers that most closely track real time market pricing.
Dan Sosland , President and cofounder, Environment Northeast Environment Northeast, a non-profit research and advocacy organization with offices in Hartford and New Haven , Connecticut and Rockport , Maine , dedicated to advancing energy efficiency programs, renewable energy policies and climate change solutions through state legislation and regulatory proceedings. Mr. Sosland directs a professional staff of lawyers and policy experts working on climate change action, energy efficiency, renewable energy, diesel emission and forestry issues in Connecticut , Maine and the New England region.
Thomas Bourgeois , Director of Energy Research, Pace University Law School . Mr. Bourgeois is Principal Economist with the Pace University Energy Project. He has provided economic, financial analysis and database services to the Energy Project for more than 10 years. He is Co-Managing Director of the Northeast Regional CHP Applications Center (NERAC), a project of the U.S. Department of Energy. His work on CHP includes development of an online Guidebook on Codes, Siting & Permitting for Small Distributed Generation, Emission Reduction Credits and small DG, and market assessments of CHP.
Daniel J. Donovan , Founder and Managing Member of Prospero LLC., a merchant bank located in Westport , Connecticut . Mr. Donovan has been actively involved in the financing of energy and technology transactions both in the United States and abroad for over 25 years as a financial and development advisor to renewable energy projects including biomass, fuel cell and biodiesel projects. Mr. Donovan holds a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania , a Master of Engineering from the University of California/Berkeley and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Massachusetts .
William M. Leahy , Chief Operating Officer, the Institute for Sustainable Energy at Eastern Connecticut State University.The Institute was established as a Center for Excellence by the Connecticut State University Board of Trustees to identify, develop and implement a means for achieving a sustainable energy future for Connecticut and the region. The Institute’s work focuses on public policy, energy education, conservation and load management, renewable energy sources and environmental solutions. Mr. Leahy has twenty-five years experience in demand side management, distributed generation, electric distribution and energy commodity sales.
