Now available! View Microgrid California on demand

Couldn’t make it to Microgrid California in October? We captured it on video and it’s now available for you to view on demand.

Each of the panel discussions — along with Congressman Jimmy Panetta’s keynote address — can be accessed via the links below.

If you find these discussions helpful, register for our next event, Microgrid 2022: Microgrids as Climate Heroes, to be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 1-2, 2022. We urge you to register soon — we ran out of seats for Microgrid California.

Microgrid California On Demand Video

Welcome and Opening Remarks

• Ken Horne, Conference Moderator, Director of Portfolio Operations at Spring Lane Capital.
• Kevin Normandeau, Publisher, Microgrid Knowledge.
• Elisa Wood, Editor-in-Chief, Microgrid Knowledge.

Microgrids for Businesses and Utilities

Concern about electric reliability has heightened for utilities and their business customers as wildfires escalate in California and public safety power shutoffs become the norm. Here we look at the microgrid innovations they are pursuing, the obstacles they face, and the solutions they’ve found.

• Michael Robinson, Director – Strategic Market Development & Microgrids at PowerFlex, an EDF Renewables company.
• Stacey Ellis, Capital Projects Manager, Domaine Carneros Winery.

• Angelo Campus, CEO and Co-Founder of BoxPower.
• Lindsay Maruncic, Senior Manager, Renewable Energy Assets at Liberty Utilities.
• Chris Johnson, CEO of Blue Planet Energy.
• Scott Laskey, Founder, Sandbar Solar & Electric.

Keynote address: Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel Valley)

Rep. Panetta discusses his bill, the Making Imperiled Communities Resistant to Outages with Generation that is Resilient, Islandable, and Distributed Act, better known as the MICROGRID Act (H.R. 2482). Key elements of the bill were included in the Build Back Better bill, which was before Congress in late 2021.

Microgrids & Government

• Cameron Brooks, Executive Director, Think Microgrid.
• Peter Asmus, Research Director, Guidehouse.
• Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel Valley).

Microgrids for Agriculture/Food Industry

California produces over one-third of US vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts. So anything that gets in the way of its ability to grow, harvest, produce and distribute food creates repercussions far beyond its borders — making reliable energy paramount for agriculture. This panel offers examples of successful microgrids used in the food industry and looks at how to make it easier for agriculture to adopt them more widely.

Moderated by A.J. Perkins, President of Instant ON

• Brian Brogan, Sales Director, GreenStruxure.
• John Larrea, Director, Governmental Affairs, California League of Food Producers.
• Rob Fox, Vice President of Business Development, Endurant Energy.
• Ari Kashani, CEO and Founder, Bluehouse Greenhouse.
• Brian Curtis, CEO of Concentric Power.
• Dennis Donohue, Director, Western Growers Center for Innovation & Technology.

Microgrids for Education/Campuses

California’s higher education institutions are renowned worldwide. They also are leaders in microgrids. Learn from those schools that now operate microgrids and those soon to join them. 

• Sally McGarrahan, Associate Vice Chancellor – Facilities Capital Renewal Program, University of California, Berkeley.
• Kira Stoll, Chief Sustainability & Carbon Solutions Officer, University of California, Berkeley.
• David Liebman, Energy & Sustainability Specialist, Sonoma County Junior College District.
• Alok Singhania, Partner/Business Growth, Gridscape.
• Matthew Kritscher, Chabot Community College, Vice President Student Services.
• Tom Poteet, Vice President, Corporate Development, Mesa Solutions.
• Ed Bludnicki, Senior Project Developer, Ameresco.

Microgrids for Government, Communities and CCAs

When climate disasters strike, the public counts on a quick response from government. But power outages undercut vital government services, such as water treatment, public safety and mass transit. That is why so many communities, cities and even the military are turning to microgrids. What can be done to speed the transition?

• Michael Coskun, Director of Business Development, S&C Electric.
• Candice Yu, Business Development Advisor, Shell.
• Lindsey Hawes, Municipal Energy Program Manager, City of San Diego, California.
• Mehdi Ganji, Smart City Vice President, Willdan.
• Laurie Sucgang, Assistant Public Works Director/City Engineer, City of Dublin, California.
• J.P. Ross, Vice President of Local Development, Electrification and Innovation, East Bay Community Energy.

Interactive Leadership Session

Keying in on discussions of the day, panelists and audience members discuss takeaways and questions from the event. 

• Eric Dupont, Chief Commercial Officer, PowerSecure.
• Scott Manson, Technology Director, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories.
• Erik Svanholm, VP, Non-Wires Alternatives, S&C Electric.
• Elisa Wood, Editor-in-Chief, Microgrid Knowledge.

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