• The Conference

Panel Descriptions



GENERAL SESSION
Exploring the Position and Trajectory of On-Site Energy
On-Site Energy Management joins leading distributed energy developers, designers and OEMs on one of the biggest stages in clean energy to discuss the changing landscape of regional, national and global on-site energy markets, from CHP and trigeneration to industrials, microgrids and critical facilities. The magazine’s editor will lead a discussion on the state and direction of on-site generation writ large, breaking down key areas of market growth, outlining core market drivers, new technology, financing solutions and more. Panelists will provide broad insight on the state of the marketplace through the lens of their respective offerings and verticals.

Moderator: Tom Bryan, Editor in Chief, On-Site Energy Management
  • Marc Rouse, Director of Sales, U.S. and Canada, Capstone Turbine Corporation
  • Alain Castro, CEO, Ener-Core
  • Mark Fennell, Business Development Manager, UGI Performance Solutions
  • Rich Hepp, Director, Microgrid Program, Schneider Electric
CHP/CCHP
Understanding How Advanced CHP/CCHP Systems are Planned, Built and Commissioned
Marquee CHP projects can appear in all types and sizes, from industrial systems powered by reciprocating engines to mega-scale institutional plants that run on aero-derivative gas turbines. Using several recently completed projects as examples, panelists will explain the various stages of CHP and CCHP project development, including project sizing, fuel supply, infrastructure and utility contracting. Showcasing both indoor and outdoor systems, speakers will share critical design, construction and O&M insight that leads to optimal project value creation.

Moderator: Tom Bryan, Editor-In-Chief, On-Site Energy Management
  • Giles Gomme, Regional Sales Manager, AB Energy USA
    Industrial CHP Case Studies
  • John Langaker, Project Manager, Burns and McDonnell Engineering
    CHP Project Case Study: Thermal Energy Corp
  • Steven Willins, Director, Electric Services, US Energy Services
    CHP Project Design: Don’t Overlook the Details
  • William Steigelmann, Senior Engineering Consultant, Lockheed Martin
    The Dramatic Growth of CHP in Maryland
FINANCE
Outsourcing On-Site Energy: Project Financing Tools that Reduce Customer Cost, Investor Risk and Distributor Hurdles
With fixed-rate leasing and PPA-style project financing now being offered by OEMs and energy service companies across the distributed energy sector, find out how commercial and institutional customers are obtaining on-site energy assets—microturbines, fuel cells, CHP, solar and wind—without any upfront costs. Panelists will also explain the use of tax special assessments to finance on-site energy projects and how insurance can be used as an instrument to mitigate investor risk.

Moderator: Tom Bryan, Editor-In-Chief, On-Site Energy Management
  • Kenda Brown, President, Capstone Energy Finance
    Making On-site Power Production More Affordable: PPA Financing for Microturbine Installations
  • Kyle Andrucyk, Vice President, Finance, United Wind
    Fixed-Rate, Zero-Maintenance Distributed Wind Turbine Leasing
  • Chris Lohmann, Vice President, Alternative Energy Solutions, Energi Insurance Services Inc.
    De-risking Project Finance for Innovative Technologies
  • Scott Ringlein, President, The Energy Alliance Group of North America
    PACE Financing: A Shift in Funding Renewable Energy Projects
BIOMASS CHP
Deploying Combined Heat and Power Biomass Technologies to Deliver Maximum Economic and Environmental Benefit
Deriving two energy products off of one system offers tremendous advantage and operational efficiency. That said, situations where the demand for both produced heat and power are in sync are rare. This panel features case studies where combined heat and power systems, appropriately sized, offer incredible environmental, social and economic benefit. Each case study will help attendees better understand the conditions where combined heat and power systems can flourish.

Moderator: Tom Abbott, Farm Manager, USDA-ARS Sugarcane Field Station
  • W. David Featherman, Principal, Wildephor Consulting Services LLC
    Quantifying the Life-Cycle Value of Small-Scale Bioenergy Projects Using the Triple Bottom Line (TriBL™) Modeling Approach
  • Jeff Hallowell, President, Biomass Controls LLC
    Small Scale Combined Heat and Power
  • Daniel Wilson, Vice President, Wilson Engineering Services PC
    Innovative Policy and Project Implementation Approaches are Driving Broader U.S. Adoption of Community-Scale Biomass Thermal, CHP, and District Energy Systems
  • Dennis St. George, Sr. Biosystems Engineer, Manitoba Hydro, Canada
    Bioenergy Optimization Program Demonstration Project
MICROGRIDS
Microgrid Makers: How New Systems of Intelligence are Producing More Elegant, Flexible and Connected On-Site Energy Solutions
Find out how and why critical, commercial and institutional facilities are coupling on-site energy with microgrid technology. This panel will explore the strengthening business case for microgirds in the context of state-of-the-art software, hardware and control systems designed for them. Panelists will discuss why commercial and institutional energy consumers are now seeking ways to produce their own power—typically with storage—to achieve more stable energy costs, improved reliability and optimized demand-response generation capabilities.

Moderator: Tom Bryan, Editor-In-Chief, On-Site Energy Management
  • Tom Fenimore, Technology Development Manager, Duke Energy
  • Rich Hepp, Director, Microgrid Program, Schneider Electric
  • Steve Schneider, Chief Solutions Architect, Leidos Engineering
  • Travis Simpkins, Principal, Renewable Energy Analytics
    Optimal Battery Dispatching to Maximize Economic Return in Grid-Connected Microgrids
BIOGAS
It’s in the Way that You Use It: Cashing in on Biogas Operations by Producing Energy Products with Real Value
As the biogas industry matures it continues to attract engineers and technology providers hungry to win market share by developing incrementally better approaches to the same problem. With a focus on driving the complexity out of new biogas projects, the presentations featured in this panel promise solutions that are cheaper to deploy, easier to operate and able to generate greater economic return.

Moderator: Joseph Curro, Principal Engineer, CDM Smith
  • Steven Cox, President, GkW Energy Inc.
    Simplifying Biogas-Fueled Power Generation
  • Eric Wilgenbusch, Sales Engineer, Unison Solutions Inc.
    Converting Biogas into Energy and Vehicle Fuel
  • Jin-Yun Wang, Manager, Fuel Processing & Catalysts, FuelCell Energy Inc.
    Biogas and Biomass to Electricity at High Efficiency with Direct FuelCell
  • Shlomi Palas, CEO, Blue Sphere Corporation
    Endless Supply Meets Endless Demand
WASTEWATER
Exploring the Increasing Role Anaerobic Digestion is Playing in Global Wastewater Treatment Assets
Anaerobic and aerobic digestion are widespread approaches being utilized at wastewater treatment facilities around the world. The capture and use of produced biogas is far less common however. So far the economics of upgrading biogas haven’t been attractive enough for the practice to become widespread. This panel is populated with forward looking operators and technology providers who have developed or are developing systems capable of delivering the kind of financial return their industry peers are hoping for.

Moderator: Tim Portz, Executive Editor, Biomass Magazine
  • Mel Kurtz, President, Quasar Energy Group
    There is a Solution to Algal Blooms: How Agriculture and Wastewater Can Solve the Problem Together
  • Gus Simmons, Director of Bioenergy, Cavanaugh & Associates, P.A.
    Money to Burn? How to Capitalize on BioCNG at Your Wastewater Plant
  • Ed Weinberg, President, ESSRE Consulting Inc.
    Beneficial Use of Nutrients for Increased Valorization of Anaerobic Digesters and Digestate
ENERGY STORAGE
Beyond Backup: Understanding the Multifarious Role of Energy Storage in Microgrid Applications
With or without grid synchronization, energy storage is widely considered a vital component of microgrid solutions relying on distributed energy generation, particularly solar PV. No longer just considered a standby power source, storage is now used for smoothing energy intermittence, peak shaving and, in some cases, even regulatory compliance. These and other attributes make modern energy storage solutions especially useful for energy self-sufficient facilities including critical infrastructure and institutional campuses. Panelists will discuss both grid-tied and remote microgrid applications combining inverter technology, control systems and other components with battery energy storage of various makes.

Moderator: Peter Ledford, Regulatory Council, North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association
  • Bill Sproull, Vice President-Business Development & Sales
    Energy Storage Systems
  • Chris Larsen, Senior Sales Engineer, Dynapower Company LLC
  • Ben Edgar, Business Development Manager-Distributed Generation, Power, Black & Veatch
  • Additional speakers TBA
ECONOMIC GENERATION
Strategies for Enhancing Revenues through Smart, Responsive Generation
Presenters will discuss ways to increase revenues by optimizing generation relative to regional transmission organization (RTO) forecasted price signals. Panelists will discuss strategies and tools for gaining additional revenues from RTO real-time markets by adjusting generation output while meeting operational requirements. Find out how economic generators can gain additional revenues in the RT market by moving generator output based on price differentials between the day-ahead DA and real-time market. And discover how, for CHP, utility rate tariff design must also be integrated into cost modeling.

Moderator: Tom Bryan, Editor-In-Chief, On-Site Energy Management
  • Pat Frazier, Vice President, Electricity Markets, US Energy Services
    Revenue Optimization through Economic Dispatch in RTOs
  • Additional Speakers TBA
INDUSTRIAL
Leveraging On-Site Power Generation in a World with Increasing Emissions Standards
The confluence of tougher air emissions standards and loftier production efficiency goals has spurred industries of all manner to explore innovative waste-to-energy solutions. Industrial and manufacturing facilities, along with the oil and gas sector, are under increasing pressure to find practical ways to turn their current waste liabilities into meaningful energy assets. Discover how industrial plants seeking to go beyond flaring and destruction are turning to innovative on-site systems designed to burn low and ultra-low caloric fuels including waste gas, syngas, biogas and more.

Moderator: Tom Bryan, Editor-In-Chief, On-Site Energy Management
  • Brent Voelker, Director, Sales, Kinsley Energy Systems
    Deploying Eco-Friendly Turbine Generating Sets for Commercial, Industrial and Oil and Gas Applications
  • Alain Castro, CEO, Ener-Core Inc.
    Use of Scaled-Up Power Oxidizer-Coupled Turbines for Industrial Waste Gas CHP
  • Additional Speakers TBA
GASIFICATION
Tracing the Efforts to Drive Biomass Gasification towards Economic Feasibility and Greater Marketplace Deployment
Gasification holds incredible promise as a transformative technology in the broad biomass-to-energy landscape. The technology is able to handle a multitude of inputs, of varying qualities while offering output flexibility to project owners. How then should the technology be deployed and which conditions offer the greatest likelihood of economic success and propagation? This panel will offer attendees guidance on where and how the technology is being deployed and where it is having some success.

Moderator: Anna Simet, Managing Editor, Biomass Magazine
  • Chris Koczaja, VP Engineering & Implementation, PHG Energy
    Waste Disposal through Gasification
  • Abolhasan Hashemisohi, Ph.D. Candidate, North Carolina A&T State University
    Hybrid Lagrangian-Eulerian Simulation of Hydrodynamic of Fluidized Bed Gasifier
  • Sreesha Malayil, Indian Institute of Science, India
    Value Added Products from Biomass Gasification
FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGIES
Demonstrating the Potential for Biogas Feedstocks to Produce Renewable Hydrogen for Fuel Cell Vehicles
The potential for fuel cells in a reimagined energy future is enormous. Their efficiency and input diversity continue to attract interest, investment and new approaches for their deployment and use. This panel will walk attendees through a thorough examination of where things stand with regard to their commercialization, how they can add value to biomass-to-energy operations and what the Department of Energy is doing to accelerate this promising technology’s development.

Moderators: Pete Devlin, Market Transformation Manager Fuel Cell Technologies Office, U.S. Department of Energy; Greg Moreland, FCTO Contract Support, CSRA Inc.
  • Pete Devlin, Manager, U.S. Department of Energy
    DOE Overview of Transportation Fuel Cell Technologies and Renewable Hydrogen from Biogas
  • David Edwards, Director of Technology Partnerships, Air Liquide
    Renewable Hydrogen from Biogas: The Perspective from a Major Industrial Gas Producer
  • Pere Margalef, Director Advanced Technology Business Development, Fuel Cell Energy
    Tri-Generation of Wastewater Biogas into Renewable Hydrogen, Power and Thermal Energy Using Carbonate Fuel Cell Technology
  • Tony Lindsay, Director of Research & Development Advanced Energy Systems, Gas Technology Institute
    Demonstrating the Potential of Landfill Biogas and Wastewater Biogas as Feedstocks for Renewable Hydrogen

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