2024 Agenda
8:00 AM – 9:00 AM
Check-in, Breakfast and Networking
9 AM – 9:45 AM
Welcome and Opening Plenary
Pankaj Lal, Director, Clean Energy and Sustainability Analytics Center
Message from United States Senator Cory Booker
Lora Billings, Dean, College of Science and Mathematics
Upendra Chivukula, Senior Advisor CESAC and Commissioner Emeritus
Keynote Address: Senator Bob Smith, Chair, Senate Energy and Environment
9:45 AM – 11:00 PM
Session 1: Offshore Wind Economy: Transition and Deployment
Moderator: Upendra Chivukula, Senior Advisor CESAC and Commissioner Emeritus
Presenters:
Ahmed Chaudry, Director of the Wind Institute of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA)
Damian Bednarz, Managing Director, Attentive Energy Two
Michael Porto, Senior Director, Senior Director, External Engagement, Offshore Development, Invenergy
Paulina O’Connor, Executive Director, New Jersey Offshore Wind Alliance
Offshore wind (OSW) is gaining momentum off the coasts of New Jersey and New York reflected in recent approval of Leading Light Wind and Attentive Energy Two projects with a combined capacity of 3,742-megawatts (MW). This session will explore recent developments in area of OSW, learnings from industry’s early journey on OSW, stakeholder engagement to foster collaboration, balancing the development of OSW with all ecosystems involved in traditional ocean uses, grid interconnection, and workforce development.
11:00 AM – 11:15 AM
Networking Break
11:15 AM – 12:30 PM
Session 2: Energy Security and Resilience for an Evolving Energy Grid
Moderator: Benjamin Witherell, Chief Economist, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
Presenters:
James Bruncati, Bureau Chief, Emergency Management & Security, NJ Board of Public Utilities
Chris Beck, Chief Scientist & Vice President Electric Infrastructure Security Council
Shucheng Yu, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology
Matthew Bernstein, Senior Policy Advisor, Governmental Services, PJM Interconnection
The security and resilience of our energy transmission network is vital to our way of life. The characteristics of how we generate and consume energy are changing rapidly. With greater reliance on energy-intensive technologies, challenges around fuel switching, evolving weather patterns, supply chain disruptions, and increasing levels of distributed energy, there is a critical need to balance energy-sector aspirations against the reality of threats to today’s energy infrastructure. This session explores pathways towards a more secure and resilient energy future, including interconnected issues of grid security and resilience, workforce needs, software and hardware vulnerability, technology modernization, data and digital transformation, and operational excellence.
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM
Lunch
12:30 PM – 12:50 PM
“Keep our Planet Green” K-12 Artwork Contest
We’ve invited K-12 teachers across NJ schools to submit their students’ artwork based on a future based on clean and sustainable energy.
1:00 PM – 1:20 PM
Luncheon Keynote
Keynote Address: President Christine Guhl Sadovy, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
1:30 PM – 2:45 PM
Session 3: Energy Efficiency Innovation for Equitable Decarbonization
Moderator: Kevin Monte de Ramos, Bureau Chief – Energy Efficiency and Building Decarbonization, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
Presenters:
Tim Fagan, Manager Planning & Evaluation, Public Services Electric & Gas Company
Anne-Marie Peracchio, Managing Director Marketing and Energy Efficiency, New Jersey Natural Gas
Sirajuddin Shaikh, Senior Engineer, Jersey Central Power & Light Company
Deleted:
Nathanael Gillespie, Atlantic City Electric’s Director, Customer Solutions
Frank Vetri, Energy Efficiency Manager, Elizabethtown Gas
New Jersey has a robust ecosystem for highly effective efficiency (EE) programs. The session will highlight the learnings from Triennium 1 EE framework, whereby utilities established EE and peak demand reduction programs that reduced customer electricity and natural gas usage within their territories. This panel will feature a discussion with utilities, state agencies and other stakeholders to accelerate current and future energy efficiency programs, lessons about how to improve these programs, and the need for creative, innovative, and scalable technology, practices, and solutions for equitable decarbonization.
2:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Networking Break
3:00 PM – 4:15 PM
Session 4: Geothermal Energy Development & Deployment
Moderator: Zenon Christodolou, Commissioner, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
Presenters:
Anthony Bevacqua, Climate Change, Clean Energy & Sustainability, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Meghann Smith, Clean Energy and Sustainability Analytics Center
Brett Pevear, Project Manager TRC Companies
Heather Deese, Senior Director Policy & Regulatory Affairs, Dandelion Energy
New Jersey has recently launched efforts to develop geothermal projects and integrate the energy source into the state’s renewables portfolio. Recent endeavors such as state agencies partnerships for pilot projects have revitalized the importance of geothermal in the energy mix, not just in electricity generation, but also in direct use of heat for district heating and industrial applications, and geothermal heat pumps in residential and commercial buildings. This panel session will discuss the role of geothermal energy in the state’s energy goals, emerging technologies, market challenges and opportunities, and environmental issues associated with this transition.
4:15 PM – 4:30 PM
Networking Break
4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Session 5: Catalyzing Clean Technology Development
Moderator
Judith Sheft, Executive Director, Commission of Science Innovation & Technology
Presenters:
William Jiang, CEO, PineGem Technologies
Sevdalin Semov, CEO, SWIND POWER
Frank Jackson, CEO Shutterbug Exchange
Abhay Pande, Senior Advisor and Co-lead of Transition Finance Advisory, Pollination Group
How are startups and investors looking at the landscape ahead for energy and sustainability? In this panel speakers will share their thoughts on startup opportunities, experience, accelerating high-impact clean energy technology development and ultimately deploying those technologies into the private sector for use by consumers and businesses. The focus will be how can academic partnerships facilitate technology evolution and analytics needs.
5:30 PM – 5:45 PM
K-12 Keep Our Planet Green Competition Winners Announcement & Closing Remarks
Meghann Smith & Pankaj Lal, Clean Energy and Sustainability Analytics Center
5:45 PM – 7:45 PM
Reception