Best of the Week of June 20, 2011

The California Energy Commission’s PIER program conducted three workshops seeking input on program direction. Use the following links to view the program overview presentations and related files.

• Program overview presentations
• Related documents (Charter for Advisory Groups and Research Initiatives Report)

PIER has reorganized its eight or so programs under three offices: 1) Smart Infrastructure, 2) Renewable Energy, and 3) Efficiency. There are no major directional changes to report but of course the Governor’s Clean Energy and Jobs Plan is driving adjustments in emphasis, including an emphasis on timely results in support of 2020 goals. What is completely new is the formation of “sub-advisory” groups under PIER’s standing Advisory Board. These groups were convened to hear and comment on PIER’s forward plans. They will serve as gatekeepers for funding decisions going forward.

I had time to attend two of the three workshops. I agree with the many advisory group members who applauded PIER staff presentations and efforts to organize the workshops. Staff accomplished this while also carrying the normal workload of managing large project portfolios. The new office structure will encourage closer collaboration among PIER’s programs and staff. For example, environmental assessment projects related to renewable energy are now under the same overall leadership as renewable energy RD&D projects.

It was gratifying to hear PIER’s plans to fund a California Renewable Energy Research Center to focus on assessments and analysis enabling renewable energy deployment from building to utility scale. It was also gratifying to note that one of Cal-IRES’ efforts this year was referenced in relation to the Renewable Energy Program, i.e. the RESCO Symposium we organized in February for PIER.

Gerry Braun
Director, Cal-IRES
June 28, 2011

Complete Keywords: Smart Infrastructure, Smart Grid, Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, PIER, California Renewable Energy Research Center, CREC, Energy Policy Drivers, Hybrid Energy Generation, Combined Heat and Power (CHP), Distributed Generation (DG), RESCO, Community Scale Renewable Energy