Jeff Ackermann joins Center for New Energy Economy

Jeff Ackermann is joining former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter’s Center for the New Energy Economy as a senior policy advisor. Ackermann had been chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission for four years until replaced in January by Eric Blank, an appointee of Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

Jeffrey Ackermann

“This is a perfect time to have a former regulator of Jeff’s caliber join our staff,” said Ritter. “Jeff’s deep subject matter expertise will prove crucial in our efforts to help Western States and Western utilities improve regional energy system planning and expand renewable energy and storage resources.”

Ackermann will be involved in the Western Interconnect Regional Electricity Dialogue, an ongoing conversation with Western utilities and energy experts to address regional transmission planning, resource adequacy, and state energy and climate policies.

As a PUC commissioner, Ackermann had been co-chair of the National Task Force on Comprehensive Electricity Planning during the last two years. The task force was charged with focusing on how states can better integrate resource, transmission, and distribution system planning.

The task force website points out that utilities nationally spend more than $130 billion on capital expenditures. With growing installation by customers of distributed generation, “electricity planning needs to account for the quantity, location, capabilities, and load shapes of resources added to the distribution system and the bulk power system.”

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