Distributed Generation

Solar Power International & Energy Storage International

Improving Grid Flexibility Through Advanced Siting and Operations of Solar and Other DERs

Wednesday, September 26
2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: 207AB

This panel discussion gathers expertise from diverse stakeholder perspectives representing a variety of geographical contexts. Speakers will represent real-world, multi-stakeholder project teams working to design and implement solar projects and policies. They will provide emerging, cutting-edge analysis on improving grid flexibility and resilience; insights gleaned from participating stakeholder-team driven initiatives, and implications for the broader solar market.

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Kristen Ardani

Program Lead and Analyst, Solar Technology and Market Research
National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Kristen Ardani manages the Solar Data and Analysis sub-program at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Her areas of expertise include photovoltaic systems cost analysis, renewable energy market trends, and solar balance of systems. Ms Ardani has a Master's degree in economics and energy policy, from the school of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California San Diego.

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Woody Hastings

Energy Program Manager
Center for Climate Protection

Woody Hastings is the Energy Program Manager for the Center for Climate Protection (Center), a California 505(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2001 and based in Santa Rosa, CA. Woody is an energy and environmental policy analyst, strategic planner, and community organizer with over thirty years of experience in the non-profit, governmental, and private sectors. Woody specializes in Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), a state policy that fosters energy democracy by empowering communities to establish their own not-for-profit electricity service, thereby taking control over decision-making about energy sources for electricity generation.

In May 2018 the Center and its project team was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to participate in the "GridFlex" cohort of a collaborative Solar Energy Innovation Network research effort to explore new ways that solar, integrated with other distributed energy technologies, can improve the affordability, reliability, and resiliency of the nation’s electric grid.

The project will deliver a web-based tool that can be used by CCAs and/or any load serving entity to produce advanced rate structures that incentivize deployment of integrated distributed energy resources (IDER) in a technologically agnostic way, provide a transparent methodology for valuing benefits of IDER installations that can also be adapted to technological advances and customized to conditions in electricity provider service territories, and that provide a consistent approach that enables electricity service providers to focus their resources on grid-resilient IDER development.

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Nate Hausman

Project Director
Clean Energy States Alliance

Nate Hausman is a Project Director for the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA), where he works on solar policy issues. At CESA, Nate coordinates a multistate initiative to develop solar in locations that provide benefits to the grid. Nate has also managed CESA projects focused on reducing solar soft costs and helping states and municipalities ensure that distributed solar electricity remains consumer friendly and benefits low- and moderate-income households. He authored CESA’s A Homeowner’s Guide to Solar Financing: Leases, Loans, and PPAs and co-authored CESA’s Consumer Protection for Community Solar: A Guide for States. Nate currently sits on the board of several nonprofit organizations, including the Catamount Trail Association and Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund. Nate previously served as a visiting attorney for the Environmental Law Institute. Nate is a lawyer licensed to practice in California and Vermont and holds a J.D. with a certificate in Environmental & Natural Resources Law from Lewis & Clark Law School and a B.A. from Colorado College.

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Luis A. Reyes

Chief Executive Officer
Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, Inc.

Luis A. Reyes, Jr. - Biography

Mr. Luis Reyes has been Chief Executive Officer and General Manager at Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, Inc. (KCEC) since 1993. KCEC has undertaken constructing a Solar Deployment Plan in 2017. KCEC’s goal is to be able to build to approximately 100% of KCEC’s daily electrical energy needs by 2023 by utilizing solar electric generation capacity in approximately 1 MW facilities located in various locations around KCEC’s service territory.

Kit Carson was awarded American Recovery and Reinvestment (ARRA) stimulus funding to build approximately 3,000 square miles of high speed fiber in Northern New Mexico. The installation of the fiber network facilitates smart grid technology for the renewable energy network.

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Brian Ross

Senior Program Director
Great Plains Institute

Brian Ross joined the Great Plains Institute in 2015. He leads the Institute’s work to accelerate the development of solar energy as a self-sustaining energy industry, managing technical and policy programs to help local governments, institutions, and businesses implement sustainable practices for renewable energy. Brian currently works in four Midwestern states to transform local government policies and regulatory standards to accommodate solar energy development. He also manages Minnesota's Solar Energy Innovation Network project focusing on enabling the use of electric vehicle charging with distributed solar to achieve new end-user and grid benefits. Previous to joining the Great Plains Institute, he was a Principal at CR Planning, facilitating local and regional decision-making and implementation efforts for sustainable development outcomes. He managed the Minneapolis Saint Paul Solar Cities Program and helped cities across the State incorporate sustainable energy practices into zoning and local programs through the Minnesota Solar Challenge program. Brian has also worked extensively in energy and utility regulation, serving as an expert witness in cost of service and rate design, energy efficiency and renewables, fuel cost reconciliations, and integrated resource planning.

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