Spotlight: Energy Resource Economics Group
Aspen’s Energy Resource Economics Group is a specialized group of experts in economics, engineering, and policy analysis that complement the traditional environmental, economic, and engineering expertise that Aspen provides to our clients. The Energy Resource Economics Group performs energy economic and policy analyses using an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to provide decision-makers with the critical insights they need related to conventional and advanced energy supply and infrastructure, natural gas markets and upstream supply economics, greenhouse gas reduction, electrification of transportation, and the future role of utilities. See below to learn more about some of the recent activities in the Energy Resource Economics Group.
Aspen Advises Northern California Cities Before Joining CCA Joint Powers Agency
Aspen is advising the cities of San Leandro, Newark, and Dublin as they consider joining a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) joint powers agency that may be formed by Alameda County. Led by Michael Pretto, Aspen is reviewing the feasibility study prepared for the County and giving an independent assessment to the councils of these individual cities. With his years working for the City of Santa Clara’s municipal electric utility, Pretto is adept at anticipating the kinds of questions council members are likely to ask and at highlighting the financial risks and rewards of offering their citizens access to greener electricity portfolios than offered by investor-owned utilities such as PG&E. CCA’s are seen by many as an extension of the public power model in that they provide local control over the generation mix used to supply energy; most are “greener” than the utility generation portfolio. They avoid the hassle of condemning utility distribution assets yet expose cities to generation price risk for the electricity they will procure.
Aspen Continues to Support Energy Commission on Aliso Canyon
Aspen continues to support the Energy Commission and its sister agencies in developing the Action Plan to ensure reliability in the wake of the Aliso Canyon well leak. Catherine Elder testified before the SCAQMD’s hearing board helping LADWP win an exemption to burn alternate fuel on days that natural gas might not be available. Elder also prepared key portions of the Winter Action Plan and its background analysis that recommended several new mitigation measures to reduce the risk of electricity and gas service interruptions this winter. She continues to provide support to the agencies in making decisions about how much gas to hold at Aliso and will begin looking at long-term alternatives shortly. Aliso Canyon’s inventory remains at 15 Bcf and new injections are not yet permitted. While the threat to electricity outages is smaller in winter than in summer, the Action Plan emphasizes that is only assuming that replacement power is available to LADWP and CAISO via imports and gas-fired generation outside southern California. Those resources have become constrained in previous old snaps across the Southwest; thus, gas conservation and normal weather remain important.
Tom Wilson
Tom Wilson Joins Aspen’s Energy Resource Economics Group
Engineers? Economists? Together? No, not on a stranded island where one invents can openers while the other assumes them, but here — at Aspen! Aspen has always been proud of its interdisciplinary approach to analysis and the way we draw together staff with different skills to tackle large projects. One of our recent hires overcomes the old engineer versus economist joke directly. Tom Wilson joins Aspen as an Engineering Economist in our Energy Economics practice. Tom holds degrees in Agricultural Engineering and in Environmental Economics from Penn State University. He has helped develop successful proposals for energy storage projects bidding into utility solicitations and has worked with large agricultural and industrial customers on energy efficiency projects. Tom is a registered mechanical engineer in California and is a certified carbon reduction manager who understands utility resource procurement.