WATT Coalition Announces New Chair and Executive Director
January 18, 2023, WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, the WATT Coalition announced a new Chair of the Board: Hilary Pearson, Vice President of Policy and External Affairs at LineVision Inc., and a new Executive Director: Julia Selker, Director of Policy and Strategy at Grid Strategies LLC.
Hilary Pearson, Chair of the WATT Coalition, said:
“The WATT Coalition is a vital voice in electricity policy, with a mission to enable customer savings and renewable resource development through better grid utilization. Our research, official filings, and outreach are helping modernize U.S. grid policy to bring the transmission system closer to optimal operation and an estimated $5 billion in yearly production cost savings. I am honored to lead this coalition in its next phase of work.”
Julia Selker, Executive Director of the WATT Coalition, said:
“The WATT Coalition is working on the most urgent, widespread and actionable issue in the electricity sector: ensuring that the U.S. expands transmission capacity as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. Integrating Grid Enhancing Technologies into utility and RTO planning and operations is a surefire way to save customers money and advance clean energy goals. As Executive Director, I look forward to working with the WATT membership and stakeholders across the country to achieve these goals.”
Former Board Chair Ted Bloch-Rubin, Director of Business Development at Smart Wires Inc., said:
“I am very proud of the growth and effectiveness of the WATT Coalition. The U.S. transmission grid is poised to transform from a static, underutilized resource to a dynamic and efficient system. Smart Wires will continue to support the WATT Coalition’s expanding work under the direction of Hilary Pearson and Julia Selker.”
Former Executive Director, Rob Gramlich, President of Grid Strategies LLC, said:
“Over the past four years, Grid Enhancing Technologies have emerged from relative policy obscurity to a focus for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and multiple Department of Energy programs. The WATT Coalition put these issues on the map, and now policymakers are building the roads.”
Biographies:
Hilary Pearson is Chair of the WATT Coalition and Vice President of Policy and External Affairs at LineVision Inc. She has been working on clean energy policy for nearly two decades. Passionate about the technology and policy solutions needed to accelerate the clean energy transition, she has served in key roles in the utility sector, the solar industry, and the US Senate, starting her career working for the former Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works committee, where she held a variety of legislative and field-based roles. Hilary holds a BA in Political Science from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo as well as a Program Certificate from U.C. Berkeley in Corporate Social Responsibility. Hilary lives in Chicago and is the mom to two young sons, who share their moms love for the outdoors and motivate her to make the world a better place.
Julia Selker is Executive Director of the WATT Coalition and Director of Policy and Strategy and Chief Operating Officer for Grid Strategies. She previously worked for the Business Council on Sustainable Energy, the technology startup Faraday Grid, and interned with Congressman Peter DeFazio focused on energy and climate policy. Prior to coming to Washington, DC, Julia worked on the launch of Monterey Bay Community Power through the public relations agency Miller Maxfield, Inc., in Santa Cruz, California. Julia previously worked for the Bulleit Group, a San Francisco public relations agency. She has a bachelor’s degree in physics from Reed College.
About the WATT Coalition:
The Working for Advanced Transmission Technologies (WATT) Coalition advocates for policy that supports wide deployment of Grid-Enhancing Technologies (GETs), to accelerate the clean energy transition and lower energy costs. Dynamic Line Ratings determine the true, real-time capacity of power lines. Advanced Power Flow Control allows operators to reroute power to lines with available capacity. Topology Optimization identifies the best grid reconfigurations to reroute flow around bottlenecks. In operations, these technologies reduce congestion costs and improve economic dispatch, situational awareness and reliability. In planning, they reduce the time, cost and complexity of integrating new generation and load. WATT members include Actenum, Ampacimon, EDF Renewables North America, Engie, Hannon Armstrong, Heimdall Power, Invenergy, LineVision, Lindsey Systems, NewGrid, Pine Gate Renewables, Smart Wires, VELCO and WindSim Power. Learn about unlocking more value from the grid at watt-transmission.org.