Jason Chee-Aloy

Jason is a senior energy professional with over 20 years of experience in regulated and competitive energy markets.  Jason is based in the Toronto office and is presently acting for multiple Canadian and non-Canadian clients with business and policy interests across Canada and the United States, within the areas of generation development and investment opportunities, transmission development, energy storage development, market assessment and intelligence, business strategy, wholesale electricity market design, energy policy development, contract negotiations, and regulatory and litigation support.  Prior to joining Power Advisory LLC, Jason was the Director of Generation Procurement at the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) from August 2005 to August 2010.  Prior to joining the OPA, Jason worked for Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) from November 1999 to July 2005 where he was closely involved with restructuring Ontario’s wholesale electricity market through development and implementation of market design and IESO market surveillance initiatives.  Jason has also worked as an Energy Economist, in the public and private sectors, analyzing competitive electricity and natural gas markets, and holds an M.A. in Economics and graduated from York University and the University of Toronto.

Kris Aksomitis

Kris Aksomitis joined Power Advisory LLC’s newly opened Calgary office as a Director in April 2016. He has over 15 years of experience, and his expertise includes electricity price forecasting, market policy development, carbon policy, and electricity market rule development. Prior to joining Power Advisory, Kris was the Manager of Market Analysis at TransAlta where he developed long term market forecasts for a range of jurisdictions, provided due diligence for potential asset acquisitions, supported commercial and regulatory analysis, and provided in depth analysis on the impact of Alberta carbon policy to TransAlta’s fleet.

Prior to TransAlta, Kris was Program Manager in the Market Design group at the AESO. His work included developing wind integration proposals for the Alberta market, altering the structure of the operating reserve market, developing demand response services and examining the market price cap for potential changes. During his time at the AESO he conducted stakeholder consultations, developed demand response products, created ISO market rules, worked with system controllers to implement new rules and was a key resource interfacing between internal and external groups. Prior to the AESO, Kris worked at the Alberta Utilities Commission in the Markets group as a Senior Analyst.

Travis Lusney

Travis is a Professional Engineer with over 10 years of experience in the regulated and commercial electricity sectors. He offers relevant experience in transmission and distribution power system planning, generation procurement strategy, policy development and power purchase agreement negotiations. Travis provides clients with a unique expertise in the integration between generation development and transmission/distribution planning by providing advice on project risk assessment and strategic investment.

Travis is an expert in competitive energy procurement having worked on various procurement initiatives as the independent administrator including Nova Scotia wind RFP in 2012 and Emera’s Atlantic Link Notice of Solicitation for renewables in 2017.  Travis offers clients participating in competitive energy procurements through competition strategy, competitor analysis along with offering detailed knowledge of generation curtailment risk, regional transmission constraints and power system operational restrictions for all electricity market participants.

Prior to Power Advisory, Travis worked as a Senior Business Analyst as the lead on the ongoing evolution of the Feed-In Tariff program for the OPA.  Travis worked as a Transmission Planner at the OPA where he was a lead for connection assessment development as part of the Feed-In Tariff program, reviewing both transmission and distribution impacts.  He was also involved in developing regional integrated system plans with ten to twenty year planning horizons along with assessing bulk system requirements. He was the lead on a study on Distributed Generation impacts in urban centers to understand the barriers and benefits of large scale integration. Previous to his work at the OPA, Travis was a Distribution Engineer at Hydro Ottawa where he was responsible for capital planning, asset management, reliability analysis, regulatory filing support and project management.

Travis has served on the board of the Queen’s University Engineering Society Services Inc. (QUESSI – the Campus Bookstore) and was a University Councillor for Queen’s University. Travis has an MSc in Electrical Engineering and a BSc in Electrical Engineering, both from Queen’s University.

Alison Cumming

Alison is an energy sector professional with over 10 years of experience. Her expertise includes electricity market operations, policy development, resource planning, carbon policy and emissions costing. She has a strong knowledge of electricity generation contracts and market rules.

Alison joined Power Advisory following her role as a Senior Power System Planner at the Ontario Power Authority (OPA), where she developed integrated plans, recommendations and advice for the Ontario electricity sector. During her time at OPA she conducted market analysis, contract analysis, and financial analysis and was a key resource in the contract amendment negotiations associated with integrating renewable generation into the real-time scheduling and dispatch process within the IESO-Administered Markets. While at OPA she also led the development of technical materials to support Ontario’s Long-Term Energy Plan. As part of her tenure at the OPA she was seconded to the Independent Electricity System Operator for one year where she was responsible for complex technical analysis, strategy formulation, and achieving stakeholder buy-in for market development initiatives and Ontario electricity market rules.

Prior to joining the OPA, Alison worked as a consultant for Golder Associates Limited where she managed a diverse portfolio of projects and performed technical analysis to support the compliance of clients’ facilities with environmental regulations. In this role she liaised with public and industry stakeholders, and acted  as a liaison on behalf of clients with the Ontario Ministry of Environment and other regulatory bodies on the applicability and interpretation of environmental guidelines and policies. She also advised and represented the interests of multiple gas-fired generator clients towards developing their generation projects, which included evaluating proposed plant layouts, preparing facility emission inventories, completing air dispersion modeling, and preparing environmental permit applications.

Alison has a BESc in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from the University of Western Ontario.

Sarah Simmons

Sarah has more than 9 years of professional experience in the electricity sector and has worked with large-scale and distributed generators, electricity distributors and transmitters, industrial load customers, and emerging technology providers.

Sarah is well-known for her work at the Ontario Power Authority as a core member of the team that developed and launched of the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) Program in 2009.  She contributed to the development the rules, contract and application processes that governed the FIT program, and she lead the development of the microFIT program.  In addition, she supported consultation efforts working directly with regulators, utilities and other stakeholders on the integration of the FIT and microFIT programs in Ontario’s electricity system.

Prior to joining Power Advisory, Sarah was a member of the Energy and Environment Practice at Sussex Strategy Group.  In this role, she provided expert advice on matters related to government policy, power system planning, impacts of carbon pricing policy, emerging trends in the electricity sector, permitting and approvals, procurement of resources and contract negotiations.  Sarah was also Government Affairs Manager for SunEdison Canada helping to navigate the policy, planning and procurement of solar generation across the country.  While at SunEdison Canada, she was responsible for regulatory affairs, government relations, market protection and market expansion.

Wesley Stevens

Wesley is an economist and financial analyst with 25 years of consulting experience in the electricity sector, specializing in developing complex models. His work has included electricity system planning, price forecasting, market assessment, corporate financial analysis, and project financial analysis of solar, wind, hydro, biomass, tidal, gas, cogeneration, and transmission projects. His analysis has been the basis for plant sales, purchase offers and refinancing.

Wesley’s recent work has included advising the Government of Nova Scotia on the most cost-effective way to meet its ambitious greenhouse gas emission reduction goals; developing electricity price forecasts for Ontario, PJM, ISO New England and ERCOT; modelling gas plant dispatch, including detailed modelling of gas plant operations and of market rules; and identifying hydro investment opportunities across Canada on behalf of a large investment fund. He has in-depth knowledge of the solar industry, having acted as CFO of solar development companies in Ontario and the Caribbean. He advised the Ontario Power Authority on its Integrated Power System Plan, addressing issues in both load forecasting and supply costs, and for several years he was responsible for developing, on behalf of the Ontario Energy Board, the Regulated Price Plan prices paid by residential and small commercial customers. He has advised the Ontario Energy Board and the Ministry of Energy on electricity market policy changes, and has helped the Ontario Electricity Financial Corporation in managing the Non-Utility Generator contracts.

Wesley is a Chartered Financial Analyst, and holds an M.A. in Economics from the University of Toronto and a B.A. in Mathematics from Carleton College.

Carson Robers

Carson is an electricity market analyst and policy consultant with a focus on energy resource procurement, market design, renewable generation development and regulatory compliance. His work has included reviews of transmission and generation investments, regional emissions modeling, evaluation of competitive power solicitations, economic impact studies, market registration and financial and sustainability assessments of companies. Carson is experienced in electricity sector regulations, structures and conditions, as well as climate policies, across North America. He has advised clients on matters in the major organized markets (AESO, CAISO, IESO, ISO-NE, MISO, NYISO, PJM), each Canadian province and various other jurisdictions. He holds a B.A. in Economics and Environmental Policy and an M.A. in Energy and Environmental Analysis from Boston University.

Christine Runge

Christine joined Power Advisory in 2017 after working for the Alberta Utilities Commission in the distribution rates department, where she was involved in all aspects of the regulatory process. Some of the highlights of Christine’s time at the AUC include analyzing the financial performance of utilities during the first generation of Performance Based Regulation to help assess the effectiveness of the PBR plans, taking responsibility for the capital aspect of the second generation of PBR that resulted in the innovative K-bar mechanism, being highly involved in the policy evaluation of the capacity market transition working with other government agencies, and building a cost allocation and rate design model to assess the bill impacts of the capacity market implementation.

Prior to the AUC, Christine worked for the Alberta Electric System Operator in the competitive process department, where she was involved in designing a competitive procurement process and using that process to bid out the Fort McMurray West transmission project. A similar process is currently being used for the Renewable Electricity Program to help reach the government’s target of 30% renewable energy by 2030.

Christine holds an M.A. in Economics and graduated from the University of Calgary. Her capstone project for graduate school studied the effect of wind generation on pool price in Alberta’s electricity market.

Margaret Blagbrough

Margaret Blagbrough is a researcher and analyst specializing in renewable energy. She has completed reviews of regional electricity market activities and energy regulations across North America. She holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from Northeastern University.

Neil Freeman

Neil Freeman, a Power Advisory affiliate, has extensive business development, management and policy experience in the electric industry. He is the Principal and CEO of NBF Group Inc., a consultancy providing business and market development strategies for the utility, energy and municipal sectors. Over his career, he has also worked in senior roles business development and corporate relations at Horizon Utilities, power system planning at the Ontario Power Authority (now IESO), business development at Hydro One Networks, and strategic planning and wires strategy at Ontario Hydro. Neil is a graduate of the University of Waterloo and received his PhD from the University of Toronto. He is the author of The Politics of Power: Ontario Hydro and its Government, 1906-95 (University of Toronto Press, 1996). In 2016, Neil was named the Canadian Electricity Association’s first ever “Individual Sustainability Leadership” award recipient.

John A. Rosenkranz

John is a Power Advisory Executive Advisor with over twenty years of experience in gas supply planning and contracting, pipeline and storage development, and utility regulation.   Clients include developers and operators of electric generation facilities, energy regulators and other public power agencies, and industry associations. John began his career as a market analyst and supply planning consultant to natural gas pipeline and distribution companies.  As a consultant and project manager with J. Makowski Company, he directed gas market studies and participated in the development, marketing, and financing of large pipeline and gas storage projects.  Following the sale of J. Makowski Company to PG&E, he joined PG&E Gas Transmission, where he evaluated LNG peaking opportunities in New England and managed a geologic test program at a potential natural gas storage site in the Pacific Northwest.  John was also a member of the management committees for the two interstate pipeline partnerships in the Northeast.   At Calpine Corporation, John was responsible for developing and implementing gas supply and transportation strategies for large electric generating plants in the U.S. and Canada.   He negotiated new gas supply and pipeline service agreements, and supported litigation and arbitration related to existing contracts.He has participated in pipeline rate cases and other regulatory proceedings, submitted testimony at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and appeared as an expert witness before state and provincial regulatory boards.  John received a BA in economics at George Washington University and completed all course and examination requirements for a doctorate in economics at Northwestern University.

Mitchell Rothman

Mitch has been active in the North American energy industry for over twenty five years.  His specialties are load and price forecasting, electricity market restructuring, economic analysis of energy markets, policy analysis, and environmental economics. He has advised numerous private clients on the future of the Ontario market and its future, including Ontario electricity market price forecasts and assessments of market price volatility, as well as analysis of market and product opportunities.  As Chief Economist of Ontario Hydro, Mitch was responsible for load forecasting and other economic forecasting, including the price forecasting necessary for load forecasting.  He has addressed professional associations, including EPRI and IAEE, on forecasting issues.  He has advised the Governments of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Western Australia, Alberta, and Ontario, the Ontario Power Authority and the Ontario Energy Board on issues related to electricity restructuring.  He has maintained contacts in and knowledge about the New York market on issues of market price determinants, load forecasting, energy conservation, and market design. He is also engaged in international projects, including the first econometric load forecast performed in Ghana and teaching load forecast methodologies in Zimbabwe and Nepal. Mitch has a BA in Economics from Harvard University, and an MS in Industrial Administration (Economics) from Carnegie-Mellon University, where he has also completed the course work for a doctorate.

Mike Cadwalader

Mike has almost twenty years of experience consulting in the electricity industry, applying economic analysis to assist clients who operate competitive wholesale electricity markets, or who participate in those markets.  Mike joins the Power Advisory LLC team as an affiliate consultant.  He was extensively involved in the development of the markets administered by the New York Independent System Operator.  In restructuring efforts in Ontario, the PJM Interconnection, the Midwest U.S., California, and New England, he participated in the development of the energy, ancillary services, and installed capacity markets, and procedures for auctioning financial transmission rights (i.e., transmission congestion contracts).  In the years since those restructured markets first opened, he has participated in the further development of those markets, including the development of more sophisticated energy, ancillary services and installed capacity markets, the incorporation of new resources (such as renewable resources and demand response) into those markets, and the development of detailed procedures for monitoring and mitigating market power.  He holds an A.B. degree in mathematics and economics from Washington University in St. Louis, an M.A. degree in economics from the University of Rochester, and an M.B.A. in finance and strategic management from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Gordon Kaiser

Gordon Kaiser joins Power Advisory LLC’s Toronto office as an affiliate and Executive Advisor. Gordon is an independent arbitrator and mediator in disputes involving energy contracts and projects including construction and project finance. He served as Vice Chair of the Ontario Energy Board for six years. Gordon has appeared in the courts in six provinces as well as the Federal Court of Canada and the Supreme Court of Canada. As Counsel and Mediator, he has negotiated over 70 settlement agreements in the energy sector. As Regulator and Arbitrator, he has written over 100 decisions in domestic and international energy disputes. Gordon has served as a sole Arbitrator, Chairman and Party Nominee in arbitrations on power purchase agreements, gas supply contracts, project finance, the construction of transmission lines and the interconnection of solar and wind generation. He has successfully mediated disputes on multi-year rate plans between a number of public utilities and their major customers. Gordon is a panel member at the London Court of International Arbitration, Energy Arbitration Chambers in Calgary, the Canadian Transportation Agency in Ottawa, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, London England, the JAMS Global Engineering and Construction panel in Washington, DC and the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) in Ontario. He has served as an Adjunct Professor at Queens University, the University of Toronto, and the Osgoode Hall Law School. Gordon is a board member at the Energy Bar Association, Co-Chair of the Canadian Energy Law Forum, and a Managing Editor of the Energy Regulation Quarterly. Gordon was named Energy Lawyer of the Year by the Energy Law Forum in 2011 and was recognized as one of Canada’s leading arbitrators and mediators by Chambers Global 2014.

Ray Coxe

Ray joins the Power Advisory LLC team as an affiliate and Executive Advisor with over twenty five years of experience at the crossroads of electricity markets, economic regulation and project development and evaluation.  His expertise in electric market analysis and advocacy, generation and transmission project development, and contract development and negotiation has been used by many clients, including generation and transmission owners and developers, public policy organizations, and electrical equipment suppliers.

Ray began his career with the New England Electric System as a generation supply planner and wholesale power marketer, with a later focus on developing the intellectual and regulatory framework for market based transmission expansion.  That experience led to Ray’s position as Senior Vice President at TransÉnergie U.S. Ltd. (the US transmission development subsidiary of Hydro-Québec).  At TransÉnergie U.S., Ray was responsible for all market evaluation and economic regulatory activities, including obtaining the first U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorization to charge negotiated transmission rates for the Cross-Sound Cable project.  Ray also spearheaded the financial and commercial evaluations for proposed transmission investments, and the negotiation of large, complex EPC and transmission capacity sales agreements.  Ray’s time at TransÉnergie U.S. culminated in the successful sale of the operating Cross-Sound Cable.

Since that time, Ray has been an independent consultant in the wholesale electric power sector, providing market structure review and advocacy, contract evaluation and negotiation support, and project evaluation to clients in the U.S., Canada and other nations.

Ray holds a B.S and a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Michael Ernst

Michael has 30 years of energy experience as an attorney for a state legislature’s energy committee, state energy facilities siting board, public utility commission, private energy law firm, independent transmission development company and energy consulting firms. He has relevant experience developing and implementing energy policies, participating in competitive energy auctions, conducting due diligence of energy facilities, and siting and permitting energy generation and transmission facilities.  As a Hearing Officer for the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, he presided over the determination of need and approval of sites and routes for various generation and transmission facilities.  As Counsel to the Joint Committee on Energy of the Massachusetts legislature, Michael researched and developed energy policies, drafted 50 energy bills, drafted legislative testimony, and helped develop strategies to enact energy legislation.  He served as General Counsel and legislative liaison for the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities during the restructuring of the electric industry, supervising competitive solicitations, approval of various energy contracts, energy policy orders, rulemaking proceedings, and utility mergers.

As Vice President for Siting and Permitting for TransEnergie U.S., Michael helped develop high voltage direct current submarine cables.  He helped obtain approvals from state and federal environmental agencies and the FERC to operate the Cross Sound Cable from New Haven, CT to Long Island, NY.  Michael helped obtain approvals from environmental agencies, an emergency order from the U.S. Department of Energy, and petition the FERC to operate the cable.  He also drafted and submitted a Presidential Permit Application to the U.S. DOE for a submarine cable from Pennsylvania to Ontario.

Michael helped permit the Deepwater Wind Block Island Wind Farm off Rhode Island and has supported the development of offshore wind projects off Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina and Michigan. He was the policy lead for the team hired by the U.S. DOE to publish three annual “U.S. Offshore Wind Market and Economic Analysis” reports. He also led a U.S. offshore wind market analysis for a European turbine manufacturer.  He is an active member of the American Wind Energy Association Offshore Wind Coalition and was an active member of the Offshore Wind Development Coalition and AWEA Offshore Wind Working Group since 2007.

Michael has a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston and B.S. from Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. He is also a certified mediator from MetroWest Mediation Services.

Jim MacDougall

Jim is a professional electrical engineer with over twenty years’ experience in the energy sector and joins Power Advisory LLC’s team as an affiliate.  Jim leads a consulting practice providing his Feed-in Tariff (FIT) Program expertise to renewable energy developers and investors.  He assists clients in efficiently navigating the Ontario FIT process with: OPA FIT application strategies and due diligence; OPA FIT v1, v2 and v3 contract issues; distributor connection challenges; environmental approvals including the REA and EASR; and, domestic content due diligence and risk management.

Prior professional experience includes almost six years at the Ontario Power Authority developing and launching the Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program and FIT Program, the Ontario Energy Board as Market Compliance Manager, Toronto Hydro Energy Services as Marketing Manager in the development and delivery of energy retailing offers, the Ontario Ministry of Energy as Policy Advisory developing options for market deregulation, and consulting overseas in Eritrea and Sierra Leone.

Jim earned a Bachelor of Science Degree with Honours in Electrical Engineering in 1985 from Queen’s University.