CPES hosted our Holiday Celebration and Annual Awards Ceremony on December 7 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm to celebrate our 2022 annual award winners. Special guests included Josh Geballe, Senior Associate Provost for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Yale University, who provided the keynote and Robert Klee, Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School and Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and former Commissioner of CT DEEP. We recognized four outstanding professionals who have greatly contributed to advancing Connecticut’s energy landscape.
Join the Connecticut Power and Energy Society (CPES) and New England Women in Energy and the Environment (NEWIEE) for our eighth annual event on Thursday, September 22! This panel discussion will surround peaker plants and their role as Connecticut works towards a carbon-free future.
Peaker plants serve a unique role in our current grid by providing key reliability services. However, many peakers emit pollutants at a higher rate than baseload plants. The majority are located in communities with a higher percentage of low-income households, and peakers disproportionately impact communities of color. As Connecticut acts on its commitment to a decarbonized energy future, what are our alternatives for filling the role currently played by fossil peakers? What are the business, policy, infrastructure, market and equity pieces that need to fall into place to make this transition? Our panelists are all regional leaders who have been actively tackling these questions.
Tracy Babbidge, Chief of the Bureau of Air Management at the CT DEEP
Alicia Barton, Chief Executive Officer at FirstLight Power
Sharon Lewis, Executive Director at the CT Coalition on Environmental & Economic Justice
Katherine Rougeux, Business Development Manager at the New York Power Authority
Anne George, VP of External Affairs at ISO New England and former Connecticut DPUC Commissioner (Moderator)
Join the Connecticut Power and Energy Society (CPES) and the Northeast Energy and Commerce Association (NECA) on September 14 for a boat tour and networking lunch! We will depart promptly at 11:30 AM from the Cross Sound Ferry in New London, Connecticut and gain a firsthand look at the improvements made to transform the pier into a heavy-lift port facility that will accommodate a variety of cargoes, including wind turbine generator staging and assembly. A presentation by Revolution Wind and a networking lunch will follow at the Mystic Marriott Hotel from 12:30 to 2:00 PM.
The Connecticut Policy and Energy Society is excited to announce its 2021 Fall Conference “The Future of Energy: What’s the Deal?,” which will take place virtually on October 21st. This year, The Future of Energy will highlight emerging trends within the energy industry focused on equity and inclusion. Throughout this day-long event, we will spotlight the ways the energy industry can be a continued driver towards representing underserved populations while providing attendees with important and substantive energy industry updates.
Conference Agenda:
10:00am: Welcoming Remarks
10:15-10:45am: Morning Keynote: Andrew Wishnia, Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) for Climate Policy, U.S. Department of Transportation
10:45-11:15am: Sustainability for All – Moving CT’s Municipalities Towards an Inclusive Energy Future Municipalities across the state are grappling with the best strategies and solutions to welcome energy projects in underserved portions of their community. This conversational panel, led by Lynn Stoddard, Executive Director of SustainableCT, includes leaders from the City of Hartford and the Town of Coventry who will share their ongoing initiatives and insightful ideas on how other municipalities can equitably host new energy projects in their towns. Whether the town is large or small, rural or urban, this is a must see panel!
Panelist: Shubhada Kambli, Sustainability Director, City of Hartford
Panelist: John Elsesser, Town Manager, Town of Coventry
11:15-11:30am: Break
11:30-12:00pm: How Diverse Voices are Incorporated in Renewable Energy Development This panel will highlight renewable energy development on tribal land and discuss how indigenous tribes are charting their own energy future.
2:00-2:30pm: Connecticut’s Cannabis Industry: The Equity and Energy Nexus This panel will focus on the emerging cannabis industry, and discuss whether there are energy/equity lessons that may prove illustrative to the energy industry.
Moderator: Andréa Comer, DCP Deputy Commissioner and Chair of the Social Equity Council
Panelist: Fran Boucher, Energy Efficiency Program Manager, National Grid
2:30-3:30pm: A Look Into CA and NY Energy Equity Policies The California Energy Commission manages data known as Energy Equity Indicators to help identify opportunities to improve access to clean energy technologies for low-income customers and disadvantaged communities, increase clean energy investment in those communities, and improve community resilience to grid outages and extreme events. NYSERDA has developed a Solar Energy Equity Framework to increase clean energy investments in disadvantaged communities.
Moderator: Bryan Garcia, President & CEO of the CT Green Bank
Panelist: Katrina Leni-Konig, Energy Research and Development Supervisor at the California Energy Commission
Panelist: Christopher Coll, Director at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)
