Launching Plug & Play DER Into The Future

Christine is focused on ensuring that state regulatory processes enable timely and effective deployment of technologies, partnerships and business models that help move the electric industry to a clean and modern grid. Christine joined SEPA in 2015 and previously she advised utilities on strategic and operational plans for programs, products and services that will drive integration of clean energy resources into utility resource portfolios and business operations. She also managed SEPA’s 51st State Initiative, a collaborative platform as an alternative to the contentious debates surrounding market and rate reform occurring jurisdictions across the US.

Prior to SEPA, Christine has had a variety of rewarding work experiences ranging from startups to working at a global sustainability think tank, to building an analytic program for a $3 billion operating organization. Christine presents on energy, sustainability, technology, climate and risk topics. Christine earned both a MBA and a M.Sc. from Columbia University and her BS from Babson College where she majored in Management Information Systems.

Christine has a love of travel, a taste for pancakes, an aptitude for technology, an itch to run and a desire to connect with others,

Steve Widergren contributes to new solutions for reliable operation of electric power systems. Common throughout his career is the application of information technology to power engineering problems including, simulation, control, and system integration. He is a principal engineer at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory where he directs electric power projects and supports the U.S. Department of Energy. He is a past member of the board and Plenary Chair for the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel and was also the founding administrator for the GridWise® Architecture Council – both groups formed with the mission to enable interoperability of automated systems related to the electric system. Prior to joining the Laboratory, Mr. Widergren worked in industry for an electricity control center supplier, and electric utility service providers. In these positions, he engineered and managed energy management systems products for electric power operations and supported power system computer applications, including information modeling, SCADA systems, and power system reliability assessment tools. He received his BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and is actively involved in the IEEE Power & Energy Society and participates in standards efforts that bridge power engineering with information technology.

Siva Sankaranarayanan currently serves as Senior Technical Leader, Energy Utilization at EPRI in Palo Alto, CA. In his role, he is responsible for data infrastructure, governance, and analytics for a portfolio of projects in the Advanced Buildings Program covering Building Decarbonization, Connected Ecosystems, and Buildings-to-grid areas. Siva is also serving as the principal technical architect for the open Demand-Side Resources Integration Platform, a framework for enabling flexible grid operations by integrating demand-side (behind-the-meter) Distributed Energy Resources under a common data and control model. Prior to joining EPRI, Siva worked in several top-tier companies spanning multiple industry verticals and has also significantly contributed to the development of international standards related to telecommunication protocols for high-speed broadband networks.

With an education in mathematics, physics and computer science, Philip’s career has spanned both technical and team leadership roles in industrial process control, mobile device and business computing solutions through to technology development for electric vehicles and distributed energy systems. His current focus is helping to accelerate humanities transition to distributed renewable energy while leveraging Open Source infrastructure and Agile development processes to speed this process.

Raymond Kaiser is the Director of Energy Management Systems for Amzur Technologies, a 200-person software development firm based in Tampa Florida. Amzur is developing a suite of open source DER Communication and Control services based on industry standard protocols. For the past 15 years, Raymond has provided energy and environmental consulting to local, state and federal agencies, major developers, engineering firms, and national and international architectural firms. Prior to his work in energy and the environment, Mr. Kaiser had a 20-year history in the IT industry that included sales and marketing, technical support for Large Accounts, and software development. In his last assignment, he was Business Products Manager in Corporate Strategy and Worldwide Business Development for Lexmark International, an IBM spinoff.

Bruce Nordman is a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who works on energy use and efficiency in buildings, with a focus on electronics and networks.