Meet Our Experts
GridLab relies on a network of independent experts and consultants to support its modeling and technical reports, and provide credible expert testimony in contested dockets. Since 2017, GridLab has developed relationships with over 70 experts, and continues to expand its network. GridLab experts are versed in a variety of clean energy topics, including power systems modeling, grid reliability, distribution system planning, resource planning, transmission planning, and more.
GridLab currently recognizes the need for additional expertise in reliability planning, transmission planning, gas distribution analysis, and general power systems engineering, and is actively engaging new experts on these topics. We encourage those interested in joining our expert network to reach out to our team here.
EXPERTS
Curt Volkmann
Curt Volkmann
EXPERT
Curt Volkmann, President of New Energy Advisors, has over 35 years of international experience with electricity, natural gas and water utilities. Curt previously held engineering and consulting roles for Pacific Gas and Electric, UMS Group, and Accenture. He has managed multi-client benchmarking programs for electric transmission, distribution and fleet management, and analyzed impacts to the distribution grid from distributed generation and demand-side management programs. Curt has also led a variety of consulting projects including smart grid planning, organization optimization and cost reduction, asset management, merger integration, benchmarking, and process improvements.
Curt now serves as an expert witness and technical advisor in distribution planning and grid modernization proceedings, advising non-profits and local governments on a variety of clean energy opportunities.
Curt has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering (Power Systems) from the University of Illinois and an M.B.A. (Finance) from the University of California, Berkeley. He held a Registered Professional Electrical Engineer license in the State of California from 1987 to 1995.
Dr. Michael Milligan
Dr. Michael Milligan
EXPERT
Dr. Michael Milligan recently retired as Principal Researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He has more than 30 years’ experience in analysis and modeling the bulk power system, and more than 25 years focusing on the impacts of wind and solar generation integration into the bulk system. He has authored/coauthored more than 220 articles and reports, and has led/participated in numerous North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), and IEEE Power and Energy Society working groups and committees. Michael’s work was influential in starting the Energy Imbalance Market in the Western Interconnection, and he was a key contributor to the International Energy Agency Task 25 research group, focusing on wind power integration to the bulk power system. He is now an independent power system consultant.
Anna Sommer
Anna Sommer
EXPERT
Anna Sommer is based in Canton, NY and is a Principal of Energy Futures Group. She has more than 15 years of experience working on a wide variety of issues including energy planning, energy efficiency, renewable energy, carbon capture and sequestration, and energy-water issues. Her primary focus is on all aspects of integrated resource planning (IRP) including capacity expansion and production costing simulation, scenario and sensitivity construction, modeling of supply and demand side resources, and review and critique of forecast inputs such as fuel prices, wholesale market prices, load forecasts, etc. Additionally, she has experience with various aspects of DSM planning including construction of avoided costs and connecting IRPs to subsequent DSM plans. Anna is trained to run the Strategist and EnCompass models and has reviewed modeling performed using numerous models including AURORA, Capacity Expansion Model, Plexos, PowerSimm, PROSYM, PROMOD, SERVM, and System Optimizer. She has provided expert testimony in front of utility commissions in Indiana, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and South Dakota.
Ms. Sommer holds a BS in Economics and Environmental Studies from Tufts University and an MS in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley.
Michael Goggin
Michael Goggin
EXPERT
Michael Goggin has been working on clean energy integration and transmission solutions his entire career, and is currently the Vice President of Grid Strategies LLC. For the last decade he held multiple positions at the American Wind Energy Association, including Electric Industry Analyst, Manager of Transmission Policy, and Senior Director of Research. Prior to that he served as a research analyst covering solar, geothermal, and storage technologies for a DOE consulting firm, a renewable policy analyst for the state Public Interest Research Groups, and as the clean energy intern for the Union of Concerned Scientists. Michael has written nearly one hundred filings to FERC, been elected to various NERC committees, testified before state Public Utility Commissions over a dozen times, and has been quoted in hundreds of press articles and had dozens of letters to the editor published, including in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Michael holds a BA with Honors in Social Studies from Harvard University.
Elaine Hart
Elaine Hart
EXPERT
Elaine Hart is Founding Principal at Moment Energy Insights LLC, a consulting firm committed to accelerating the clean energy transition through improved analytics and planning. Dr. Hart brings experience in resource planning, flexible resource valuation, decarbonization policy analysis, and resource adequacy analysis. She specializes in designing optimization-based models to inform electricity sector decisions in increasingly renewable systems. Prior to founding Moment Energy Insights, Hart was the Manager of Integrated Resource Planning at Portland General Electric (PGE), where she focused on resource planning, energy storage evaluation, and decarbonization strategy. Prior to joining PGE, Hart was a Managing Consultant at Energy & Environmental Economics, where she advised utilities, regulators, and developers on the opportunities and challenges associated with expanding clean energy in the Western US. Hart holds a BS in Chemistry from Harvey Mudd College, and an MS in Materials Science & Engineering and PhD in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Stanford University.
Dr. Fredrich Kahrl
Dr. Fredrich (Fritz) Kahrl
EXPERT
Dr. Fredrich (Fritz) Kahrl is managing partner at 3rdRail Inc., an affiliate at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Electricity Markets & Policy (EMP) department, a research fellow at the California-China Climate Institute (CCCI), a senior advisor with the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP), and intermittent faculty in UC Berkeley’s Master of Development Practice (MDP) Program and the University of San Francisco’s Energy Systems Management (ESM) Program.
Previously, Dr. Kahrl was a director at Energy and Environmental Economics (E3) and worked at environmental think tanks and as a consultant to multilateral organizations. He has more than 15 years of experience in the energy sector, providing strategy and analytical support to government agencies, energy regulators, research institutes, system operators, utilities, and energy producers in North America, China, India, and Europe. His expertise covers electricity markets, renewable integration, utility resource planning, regulatory economics, transmission pricing, distributed energy resources, rate design, transportation energy, energy system modeling, and environmental economics. Dr. Kahrl received PhD and MS degrees from the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley and a BA in philosophy from the College of William & Mary.
Dr. Nancy E. Ryan
DR. Nancy E. Ryan
EXPERT
Partner, eMobility Advisors
Dr. Nancy E. Ryan has spent her career working for effective, data-driven regulatory solutions in the electricity, transportation and water industries. She brings a 360-degree perspective to her work, grounded in her experience as a regulator, consultant, environmental advocate and academic. At eMobility Advisors she helps businesses devise and execute regulatory strategies to enter and thrive in the dynamic markets for electric-drive vehicles, charging services, and vehicle-grid-integration solutions. Her clients range from technology start-ups to established global enterprises.
Previously Nancy was a partner at Energy + Environmental Economics (E3), where she built an international transportation electrification practice that provided custom analytics and advisory services for public agencies, utilities, automakers and environmental advocacy groups. From 2006-13 Nancy served at the California Public Utilities Commission in several roles, including Commissioner, Deputy Executive Director and energy advisor to the CPUC President. At the CPUC Nancy became intimately familiar with regulatory processes and how businesses succeed—and fail—in influencing them. She directed staff teams and oversaw stakeholder processes for dockets on transportation electrification, smart meters, energy storage, long-term resource planning, and implementation of California’s Cap and Trade and the Low Carbon Fuel Standard programs in the electric sector. Nancy also led energy, water and climate policy initiatives in the California Office of Environmental Defense Fund from 2000-2005.
Nancy earned a Ph.D. in Economics from UC Berkeley, where she also taught applied economics at the Goldman School of Public Policy for a dozen years. A nationally recognized thought-leader, Nancy speaks frequently on the economics and public policy of the low carbon transition.
Justin Sharp
Justin Sharp
EXPERT
Dr. Sharp is the principal and owner of Sharply Focused LLC, a consultancy specializing in the intersection of atmospheric sciences and the electric utility sector. Justin began work in the utility business in 2004 and shortly afterwards joined the rapidly growing renewable energy developer and operator, PPM Energy (now Avangrid). There he built and directed Avangrid’s renewable energy meteorology forecasting and operational analysis function from the ground up including: the first 24/7 wind energy forecasting group for operations and trading; analysis support for Avangrid’s portfolio of operational wind farms; technical and policy support for rate cases and other regulatory arenas; and liaison with research labs and academia. Dr. Sharp founded Sharply Focused in 20112 with the objective of helping clients utilize weather and climate intelligence in the utility sector. His work includes research with labs and DOE; technical reports and research with entities like EPRI; legal, technical, and policy help for entities like GridLab and the Energy Foundation; strategic support for utilities and energy meteorology companies; and training for system operators.
Dr. Sharp holds a Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 2005. His dissertation used Numerical Weather Prediction to understanding Columbia Gorge gap flow, a location that is now home to several gigawatts of wind capacity. Justin was a recent chair of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Renewable Energy Committee and is an active member of the AMS and the Energy Systems Integration Group.
Brendan Kirby
Brendan Kirby
EXPERT
Brendan Kirby is a private consultant with numerous clients including the Hawaii PUC, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, UVIG, EPRI, AWEA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and others. He served on the NERC Standards Committee and the NERC Essential Reliability Services Task Force. He retired from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Power Systems Research Program. He has 44 years of electric utility experience and has published over 180 papers, articles, book chapters, and reports on ancillary services, wind integration, restructuring, the use of demand response as a bulk system reliability resource, and power system reliability. He coauthored a pro bono amicus brief cited by the Supreme Court in their January 2016 ruling confirming FERC demand response authority. He has a patent for responsive loads providing real-power regulation and is the author of a NERC certified course on Introduction to Bulk Power Systems: Physics / Economics / Regulatory Policy. Brendan is a licensed Professional Engineer with a M.S degree in Electrical Engineering (Power Option) from Carnegie-Mellon University and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University. Publications are available at www.consultkirby.com, e-mail kirbybj@ieee.org
Nicholas W. Miller
Nicholas W. Miller
EXPERT
Mr. Miller is a Principal with HickoryLedge LLC, a consultancy providing technical services. Nick is an internationally known power system engineer, with specialty in integration of wind and solar power to bulk power systems. Mr. Miller spent 3/8 of a century with GE, finishing his final decade of practice in the role of Senior Technical Director for GE Energy Consulting. In the last 16 years at GE, he led analytical developments for system integration of GE Wind Turbine-Generators into power systems, leading efforts on applications, controls and systems for large-scale coordination of wind and solar generation with other system resources. He lectured and provided consultation on wind and solar power integration to governments and institutions in more than three dozen countries. He worked with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) on Essential Reliability Services. Nick is an IEEE Fellow, a Licensed Professional Engineer in NY, and a CIGRE member. He authored 20 US patents, published over 160 papers and articles. He has received a number of industry awards and is the 2017 recipient of the prestigious GE Edison Award for advancements in Renewable Energy. He was awarded IEEE’s highest renewable energy honor, the Ramakumar Family Renewable Energy Award in 2018. He was the recipient of the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Energy Systems Integration Group.
Paul Alvarez
Paul Alvarez
EXPERT
Paul Alvarez leads the Wired Group, a collection of experts who are the leading providers of grid modernization expertise to US consumer, business, and environmental advocates in state utility proceedings. He is the co-author of several GridLab whitepapers designed to reduce the cost and maximize the benefits of grid investment. Paul has testified in dozens of state utility proceedings on grid modernization, from California to Massachusetts. He has been active in the electric utility industry for almost 20 years, beginning as a developer of demand-side management and renewable energy programs for leading utility Xcel Energy. Paul is also the author of “Smart Grid Hype & Reality – A Systems Approach to Maximizing Customer Return on Utility Investment”, and the developer of the Utility EvaluatorTM, an internet-based application for benchmarking investor-owned utility performance and value creation. He is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Colorado’s Global Energy Management program and Michigan State University’s Institute for Public Utilities. He graduated from Indiana University with a bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing, and from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business with a master’s degree in management.
Warren Lasher
Warren Lasher
EXPERT
Warren Lasher is President of Lasher Energy Consulting, a firm he founded in October, 2021, focused on providing specialized analysis and insight designed to help clients meet their strategic energy goals. Prior to this role, Mr. Lasher spent seventeen years in the System Planning organization at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, serving as Director and then Senior Director of System Planning from 2012 to 2021. Prior to his work at ERCOT, Mr. Lasher was employed by the Southern Company in Birmingham, Alabama, where he worked in the Engineering and the Generation Planning organizations. Mr. Lasher has a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, and graduate degrees in Environmental Management and Computer Science.
Nick Pappas
Nick Pappas
Nick Pappas is an energy industry consultant focused on policy and market design for the electric sector. His consulting practice provides strategy, market intelligence, and advocacy for clean energy industry and stakeholder clients. Prior to establishing his consulting firm, Nick held leadership roles in regulatory and legislative policy at the California Community Choice Association, Southern California Edison, and the California State Assembly. Nick holds a MS in Energy Systems and BA in Economics from the University of California, Davis.
ORGANIZATIONS
Cadeo
Cadeo is a clean energy consulting firm working at every level of the distributed energy resource industry. They support strategies to deliver energy solutions at the local, regional, and national levels for a diverse set of clients including policy makers, utilities, investors, and solution providers. This broad view enables Cadeo to offer clients recommendations to optimize market transformation toward a just, clean transition. Cadeo specializes in market characterization, technology assessments, distribution resource planning, program evaluation, and policy analysis with cross-cutting engineering and data science teams. They value candid feedback and actionable insights, working with clients to identify key leverage points in the rapidly transforming decarbonization industry.
Energy Strategies
Energy Strategies, a Salt Lake City-based consultancy, has been engaged by GridLab on multiple occasions, providing technical support on integrated resource planning processes and developing custom models to evaluate the US power system under high penetrations of renewables. The firm has worked in electric venues across North America for over three decades and has developed a deep understanding of the technical, economic, and policy drivers of power markets. Energy Strategies has a diverse client list, working in both the electric and natural gas sectors while serving generation developers/owners, transmission companies, utilities, large energy consumers, EV infrastructure companies, data centers, and non-governmental organizations. The economists, engineers, data scientists, and policy experts at Energy Strategies offer a wide breadth of skill, allowing the firm to engage in all aspects of the industry, from rate design in state regulatory proceedings to detailed evaluations of power system reliability. While the work Energy Strategies takes on is complex, the firm’s approach to engagements is simple: focus on the clients most critical questions and needs, identify or develop the best data and tools to apply, perform precise analysis, and finally, develop technically-supported and innovative insights that are concise and actionable
Evolved Energy
Evolved Energy Research was founded to address key energy sector questions accelerated by policy goals and new technology development:
- • What are the costs and challenges to transform the energy system to meet policy driven carbon-reduction goals?
- • What does a rational infrastructure investment strategy look like given uncertain policy targets and technology development?
- • Where are the business opportunities and what impact will energy system change have on people’s lives?
Answering these and other related questions requires a fundamentally new approach to examining our energy systems. It means analyses that explicitly acknowledge the connectedness of the new energy economy, leverage technology in the pursuit of understanding, and embrace complexity as a means to confront uncertainty. It means analyses that are evolved to meet the needs of the modern world.
Evolved Energy’s clients include consulting companies, government and regulating bodies, large technology and manufacturing companies, utilities, and NGOs. They help organizations understand the near-term business and policy implications that stem from a rapidly changing energy-economy. Through training and support on software developed in-house and through direct consulting engagements, they help clients drive change.
Telos
As a premier power systems analytics and engineering firm, Telos Energy specializes in wind, solar, batteries, and high renewable power grids. Using highly detailed grid models and technology, Telos helps clients navigate a fast-changing, complex industry in order to accelerate their clean energy and emerging technology goals. Telos combines their expertise in energy economics, electrical engineering, and grid simulation with an extensive network to deliver a comprehensive analysis of the impact of new technologies, markets, and policies on power systems.
Grid Strategies
Grid Strategies LLC is a power sector consulting firm helping clients understand the opportunities and barriers to integrating clean energy into the electric grid. Drawing on extensive experience in transmission and wholesale markets, Grid Strategies analyzes and helps advance grid integration solutions. Based in the Washington DC area, the firm is actively engaged with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Department of Energy, state Public Utility Commissions, Regional Transmission Organizations, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), Congressional committees, the administration, and various stakeholders.
Energy Strategies
Synapse Energy Economics is a research and consulting firm specializing in energy, economic, and environmental topics. Since its inception in 1996, Synapse has grown to become a leader in providing rigorous analysis of the electric power and natural gas sectors for public interest and governmental clients.
Synapse’s services include economic and technical analyses, regulatory support, research and report writing, policy analysis and development, representation in stakeholder committees, facilitation, trainings, development of analytical tools, and expert witness services.