2023 NYC Solar + Storage Summit
Tuesday, June 20, 2023, 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
John Jay College Gerald W. Lynch Theater
524 W 59th St, New York, NY 10019
Full Agenda
_______
8:30 AM - Breakfast and Networking
9:15 AM - Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:30 AM - NYC's Clean Energy Transformation
Join this morning conversation to gain insights into how NYSERDA and Con Edison are approaching the ambitious project of decarbonizing America’s largest City. There is no silver bullet, but rather a number of critically important initiatives that will ensure progress. This discussion will focus on how New York is advancing parallel efforts to reduce building emissions, electrify our buildings, prepare our grid for large-scale renewables and scale up local solar + storage deployment.
-
Tria Case, Executive Director, Sustainable CUNY (Moderator)
-
Anthony Fiore, Chief Program Officer, NYSERDA
-
Matthew Ketschke, President, Con Edison
10:00 AM - City Leadership to Accelerate Solar + Storage
New York City has ambitious climate and clean energy goals, but it also has a complex built environment and significant barriers to realizing its solar and storage potential. Join this panel to hear leaders at the NYC Mayor’s office and key City agencies discuss NYC’s local laws, pending zoning/permitting improvements, and other initiatives to accelerate solar and storage deployment.
-
Emily Sweeney, Solar Ombudsman, CUNY (moderator)
-
Julia Casagrande, Deputy Director, Clean Energy, NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice
-
Gus Sirakis, Deputy Commissioner, NYC Department of Buildings
-
Julian Bazel, Counsel, Fire Department of New York (FDNY)
-
Steven Caputo, Assistant Commissioner, DCAS Division of Energy Management
11:00 AM - Industry Innovation to Scale up Solar in the City
Nearly 40,000 NYC buildings have installed solar to date, but in a City with one million buildings; we are just getting started. The Inflation Reduction Act creates a ten year runway of federal support for the City to rapidly scale up solar adoption, helping building owners lower their electricity costs while complying with Local Laws 97, 92 and 94. Join this panel discussion with leaders from real estate and the solar industry to learn how companies are innovating to scale up solar in the City.
-
Luke Forster, Senior Business Analyst, DER, NYSERDA
-
Noah Ginsburg, Executive Director, NYSEIA (moderator)
-
Laura Humphrey, Director of Sustainability, L+M Development Partners
-
T.R. Ludwig, Founder and CEO, Brooklyn SolarWorks
-
Lincoln Xia, CEO, Accord Power
-
Noam Bar-Zemer, Northeast Policy and Strategy Manager, SunPower
12:00 PM - Lunch and Networking
12:30 PM - Distributed Conversations
These conversations bring stakeholders and decision-makers together to discuss important issues related to solar and energy storage; identify the key challenges in those areas; and propose solutions to address those challenges. Summit attendees may select the issue of their choice and sign up for seats at the dining room table dedicated to that issue.
1:30 PM - Afternoon Keynote: Lisa Garcia, EPA Region 2 Administrator
The EPA will play a major role in our clean energy transition, including regulating fossil fuel emissions and deploying the $27B Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, including $7B earmarked for solar. Learn more about these efforts from Lisa Flavia Garcia, Regional Administrator for EPA’s Region 2 office covering New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and eight federally recognized Indian Nations.
2:00 PM - NYC Mayor Eric Adams: City of YES Zoning for Carbon Neutrality
2:10 PM - Financing Solutions to Accelerate Solar + Storage
Between expanded federal tax incentives and the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, the Inflation Reduction Act has unleashed billions of dollars in public and private capital that are flowing into the solar and storage industry as we speak. At the same time, interest rates are reaching record highs, creating a moment of immense challenges and opportunities for financing in the solar and storage industry. Join us for a dynamic panel discussion about how leading public, private and nonprofit clean energy financiers are navigating these challenges and harnessing these opportunities to accelerate solar + storage deployment in NYC and across the nation.
-
Louise Yeung, Chief Climate Officer, NYC Comptroller (moderator)
-
Gregory Randolph, Managing Director, New York Green Bank
-
Winston Chen, Director, Capital Markets, CleanCapital
-
Jay Merves, Director, Business Development, NYCEEC
-
Adam Gilbert, Head of Sales, Greentech Finance Solutions
3:00 PM - Expanding Access: Workforce, Housing and Community Solar
Ensuring equitable access to the benefits of clean energy is critically important, and there are unique challenges to overcome to bring solar, jobs and bill savings to low-income New Yorkers. Recent Federal, State and Local policy developments are accelerating progress on efforts to overcome these barriers and expand access. Join this panel to learn how leaders in affordable housing, community solar and workforce development are harnessing the Climate Leadership and Communities Protection Act, NYSERDA funding, and bonus tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act to bring the benefits of solar and storage to New York City’s low-income communities.
-
Gaspar Caro, CUNY (moderator)
-
Anika Wistar-Jones, Director, Here Comes Solar, Solar One
-
Jason Kaplan, COO and General Counsel, PowerMarket
-
Charles Callaway, Director of Workforce Development and Founder, WE ACT for Environmental Justice / SUNS
-
Siobhan Watson, Deputy Director, Sustainability Programs, NYCHA
4:00 PM - NYC Storage: Mission Possible
Energy storage is a cornerstone of New York City’s clean energy transition, promising to provide resilience, reduced grid congestion, and the flexibility needed to replace in-City fossil fuel peaker plants with intermittent renewables. However, permitting, constructing and operating energy storage systems in NYC presents unique challenges. Join this panel to hear how companies are getting it done and how the City and State are providing incentives and reforming permitting/zoning to catalyze more in-City storage deployment.
-
Daniella Leifer, DG Ombudsman, CUNY (moderator)
-
Jon Carbajal, Director of Product Development, NineDot Energy
-
Bill Oberkehr, Senior Project Manager, NYSERDA
-
Nilus Klingel, Senior Planner, NYC Department of City Planning
-
Paul Rogers, Co-Founder and Principal, Energy Safety Response Group
-
Kelly Sarber, CEO, Strategic Management Group
5:00 PM - Happy Hour (Sponsored by Brooklyn SolarWorks)
_______
Exhibitor area open from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM
_______
Event Sponsors
_____________________
Headline Sponsors
Gigawatt Sponsors
Megawatt Sponsors
Kilowatt Sponsors
Speakers
_________________
Hear from key leaders in NYC's clean energy transition from public and private sectors, including: NYSERDA, Con Edison, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NYC Mayor's Office of Climate and Environmental Justice, the Department of City Planning, and Special Guest, NYC Mayor Eric Adams, who is scheduled to receive a "Solar Champion" award from NYSEIA in the afternoon for the City’s leadership with Zoning for Carbon Neutrality.
Afternoon Keynote
___________
.jpeg)
Lisa Garcia
EPA Region 2 Administrator
____
Lisa Flavia Garcia serves as Regional Administrator for EPA’s Region 2 office covering New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and eight federally recognized Indian Nations. Garcia is an environmental lawyer who has advocated for environmental and climate justice for 20 years as a community lawyer representing grassroots groups and as a public servant at all levels of government.
In 2019, Garcia joined Grist Magazine to run an innovative new program called Fix, a climate solutions lab focused on amplifying the voices of climate leaders and accelerating equitable climate solutions. Prior to that, Garcia was Vice President for Litigation for Healthy Communities at the nonprofit law organization Earthjustice, where she launched programs including Sustainable Food and Farming, Puerto Rico initiative, and Community Partnerships.
Under the Obama administration, Garcia lead the EPA’s environmental justice work, serving as Associate Administrator and Senior Advisor to EPA Administrators Lisa P. Jackson and Gina McCarthy. Garcia helped create and implement Plan EJ 2014, the first strategic plan for weaving EJ into all of the EPA’s work. She led the design team for EJSCREEN, EPA’s first nationwide EJ mapping tool to assess overburdened communities, which has been used widely by states and communities and is the foundation for President Biden's Climate and Economic mapping tool.
Prior to 2009, Garcia was Director of Environmental Justice and Indian Affairs at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and she was an Assistant Attorney General in the Environmental Protection Bureau of the NYS Attorney General’s Office and an Associate Professor at Rutgers Law School in Newark, NJ. She also worked for Senator Robert Torricelli and NJ State Senator Byron Baer.
Garcia has served on the boards of El Puente, The Fund for NJ, Eastern Environmental Law Center, the David Rockefeller Fund, Governors Island Trust, Palisades Interstate Park Commission, and the Nature Conservancy. Garcia is a proud graduate of Teaneck High School in NJ, Stony Brook University (SUNY), and Brooklyn Law School. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband and son.
Headline Speakers
___________
Anthony J. Fiore
Chief Program Officer
NYSERDA
___
Anthony J. Fiore was appointed Chief Program Officer for the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) on January 25, 2023. In this position, Mr. Fiore will lead NYSERDA’s cross cutting programmatic strategy, leveraging program and market assessments to optimize sector-specific interventions and economywide strategies to meet the climate goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and execute on New York’s Climate Action Council Scoping Plan – the framework for how New York will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve net-zero emissions, increase renewable energy use, and ensure all communities equitably benefit in the clean energy transition.
Matthew Ketschke
President
Con Edison
___
Matthew Ketschke is president of Con Edison of New York, with responsibility for the safety, construction, planning, design, and reliability of Con Edison’s energy systems serving more than 9 million New Yorkers with electricity, natural gas, and steam. Mr. Ketschke previously served as senior vice president of Customer Energy Solutions with areas of responsibility that included energy efficiency, electric transportation, and grid modernization. Before becoming a senior vice president, Mr. Ketschke served in a series of positions of increasing responsibility at Con Edison including vice president of Distributed Resource Integration, vice president of Manhattan ElectricOperations, and vice president of Staten Island Electric Operations. He joined Con Edison in 1995. Mr. Ketschke holds a Masters’ of Business Administration from Columbia University. He also holds a master’s degree in management and bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology. He currently serves on the board of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and is a Rockefeller Fellow.
Panelists
___________
