Monthly archive

USEA Power Sector Podcast Episode 4: Reliability with High Variable Renewables Penetrations

November 22nd, 2023

Jill Capotosto

Job Title: 
Energy Justice Liaison
Organization: 
Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations 

Jill Capotosto serves as an Energy Justice Liaison in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED). In this role, she supports OCED’s efforts related to Justice40 and Community Benefits Plans. Prior to joining the civil service, Jill worked with nonprofits, humanitarian organizations, and academic institutions to advance environmental and social justice domestically and abroad. Jill holds a Master of Environmental Management and a Master of Arts in Global Affairs from Yale University. 

USEA Briefing on Hydrogen

December 14th, 2023

Samuel Herbert

Job Title: 
Senior Energy & Environmental Justice Policy Advisor
Organization: 
US DOE
Samuel Herbert is a Senior Energy & Environmental Justice Policy Advisor within the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity with the U.S. Department of Energy where he serves as coordinator of the Research, Development, & Deployment Portfolio. In his role, Mr. Herbert serves as a Justice40 champion and advisor, ensuring federal investments, government policies and programs promote equity, justice, and sustainability to disadvantage communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburden by pollution. Prior to joining Department of Energy, Samuel lived in Montana and Colorado where he served nearly 15 years working for the U.S. Department of Interior with the Office of Natural Resources Revenue and Bureau of Land Management in a range of capacities administering, regulating, and safeguarding natural resources on Federal and tribal lands. Samuel holds an Executive Master of Public Administration from the University of Colorado, Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Communications from Montana State University, and Certificate of Mastery in Federal Diversity & Inclusion from Georgetown University.

Barbara McBride

Job Title: 
Senior Director of Strategic Origination and Development
Organization: 
Calpine Corporation
Barbara McBride is a senior Director of Strategic Origination and Development at Calpine Corporation (Calpine), which operates the largest fleet of natural gas-fired power plants in the United States and is the largest producer of electricity from geothermal resources. Ms. McBride has over 35 years of experience as an environmental professional and is responsible for permitting over 6,000 megawatts of natural gas-fired generation in the western United States. She has been working on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) projects for nearly two decades and is currently leading development of two pilot-scale CCUS projects at a combined heat and power facility in Pittsburg, California. She is also currently leading the development of a DOE-funded front-end engineering and design study to deploy CCUS at-scale for natural gas-fired generation and another full-scale CCUS retrofit of an existing gas-fired power plant in California. Ms. McBride has an established record of working with federal, state and local regulators to design projects that achieve the project objectives, while adhering to the strong environmental and labor standards, often in the face of significant opposition. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Carbon Capture Coalition and the California Council for Environment and Economic Balance and regularly participates in legislative and regulatory advocacy for the role that CCUS projects can play in achieving federal and state decarbonization objectives.

USEA Power Sector Podcast Episode 3: The Challenge of EV Charger Deployment and the Utility Role

November 15th, 2023

Lon Huber

Job Title: 
Senior Vice President for Pricing and Customer Solutions
Organization: 
Duke Energy
Lon is a leader focused on making transformational impacts. Currently SVP of Pricing & Customer Solutions and President of Duke Energy One. Scope spans distributed energy resources, lighting, customer load analytics, regulatory solutions, demand side management, clean transportation, and customer linked renewables (e.g. community solar).

He values intellectual curiosity, practices confident humility, and has a passion for inspiring people to realize their potential. Broad and deep exposure to a number of sectors including economic development, start-ups, financial services, governmental affairs, IT, sales, and manufacturing. Past awards include:

2022 SEPA Transformational Utility Program Award
Thought Leadership Award Winner - Peak Load Management Association
2021 Environment+Energy Leader
Fortnightly Under Forty 2019
Top Innovator Honor Roll - Public Utilities Fortnightly
The Phil Symons Award - Energy Storage Association
40 under 40 – Arizona Daily Star
Young Alumni Award – UofA Honors College
Congressional Recognition Award – US House

Philip Jones

Job Title: 
Executive Director
Organization: 
Alliance for Transportation Electrification
Serves as Executive Director of the Alliance for Transportation Electrification (ATE), a recently established industry-funded non-profit association that seeks to promote the acceleration of transportation electrification deployments, a robust utility role, and interoperability and open standards.

Served two terms as an appointed Commissioner (by Governor Christine Gregoire) for the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission from 2005 to 2017, and oversaw the critical infrastructure sectors in Washington state and the Pacific Northwest. Rose into several national leadership positions in the energy and telecommunications sectors involving overall regulatory and policy, cybersecurity, and research and development issues. Served as President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and on its Board of Directors for several years, as well as serving on several key committees.

After leaving the Commission and NARUC, continues to be a thought leader and frequent speakers on the subjects of energy and transportation policies and utility regulation nationally and in states around the country. Serves on several advisory boards and councils, such as the Advisory Council of EPRI, the advisory council of Dragos Inc., the energy and environment Directorate advisory council (DAC) for the PNNL (a DOE national laboratory), and is a board advisor to Energy Impact Partners (EIP).

Derek Benson

Job Title: 
Chief Operating Officer
Organization: 
EnergySource Minerals, LLC
Over 25 years of experience in project development, focused on mineral extraction and renewable energy industries.  Currently oversees EnergySource Minerals’ Project ATLiS development team in Southern California.  Led the start and execution of ESM's ILiAD technology platform into global deployments. Formerly renewable project lead for Reliant Energy and Catalyst Renewables.

 

Katie Sweeney

Job Title: 
Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer
Organization: 
National Mining Association

Katie Sweeney is Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer for the National Mining Association.  She practices environmental, mining, public land, administrative and corporate law.  Katie is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day functions of the association as well as critical NMA program platforms.  Ms. Sweeney has been with NMA for over 30 years and most recently served as general counsel.  Additionally, she is a trustee of the Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law.

She is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and the George Mason School of Law.

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