Cross-border collaborations: ISO-NE staff share expertise at November events

Collaboration, expertise, and innovation are three of ISO New England’s core values. Staff embody these values by presenting their work at electricity industry conferences and events around the region, the country, and the world. Here’s a selection of their November speaking engagements.

President and CEO Gordon van Welie took part in a CEO panel with the leaders of other independent system operators and reliability coordinators at the New England-Canada Business Council’s energy conference in Boston on Nov. 19. The panel discussed emerging challenges, recent successes, strategies for addressing demand, and the role of cross-border collaboration in maintaining a reliable power supply.

He also appeared on a Nov. 13 episode of the Energy Solutions podcast produced by the Electric Power Supply Association. Ahead of his retirement at the end of the year, van Welie reflected on his more than two decades guiding ISO New England.

Anne George, vice president, chief external affairs and communications officer, participated in the Hartford Business Journal’s “Politics & Policy Forum: The Business of Energy” on Nov. 13. She was part of a panel focused on the future of energy in Connecticut, discussing takeaways from the 2025 Regional System Plan and the Capacity Auction Reforms key project.

Eric Johnson, executive director, External Affairs, discussed the ISO’s functions and key projects in several speaking engagements throughout the month. These included the Maine State Chamber of Commerce Energy Summit in Portland, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners annual meeting in Seattle, and a New England Environmental Business Council webinar.

Two other members of the External Affairs team — Kerry Schlichting, state policy supervisor, and Ruben Flores-Marzan, environmental and community affairs policy advisor — presented an ISO-NE overview in Newport, Rhode Island, on Nov. 12. The audience included municipal leaders participating in the Newport County Community of Practice for Energy Resources and the Blue Economy Steering Committee organized by the University of Rhode Island’s Coastal Resources Center & Sea Grant Program.

Marianne Perben, director, Planning Services, gave a presentation on New England’s Evolving Grid, the ISO’s 2024 economic study, in Boston on Nov. 14. The occasion was the Boston University Center for Information & Systems Engineering’s fall workshop, titled, “A Roadmap for Intelligence and Resilience in Power Grids.”