DEED Webinar: Modeling How Public Power Can Create Net Zero Energy Communities

Belmont Light is committed to supporting the community of Belmont, MA’s ambitious climate goals. The utility has prepared to meet an 80% emissions reduction goal by 2050 via strategic planning, annual targets for electric vehicles and heat pump adoption through 2026, progress toward a fully renewable power supply by 2022, and more. 

These preparations have been shaped by real data on Belmont’s community and their energy needs. Belmont Light and Ventana Systems used a DEED grant to transform their customer data into a planning model the utility can use to create an ideal mix of initiatives and action items to maximize goal achievement. This tool, unlike others available on the market, has inputs customizable to Belmont Light’s unique planning needs as a public power utility. 

During this webinar, Belmont Light and Ventana Systems will share how they used the model to investigate detailed, complex questions about how Belmont Light’s particular decisions on program offerings, power supply mix, rate structures, and more will interact to shape both the community’s path toward net zero emissions and Belmont Light’s financial stability. Representatives will also share how their work may be adapted for utilities contemplating similar resource planning questions.

DEED Members can read Belmont's Climate Roadmap, Model Data documentation, and more in the DEED Project Library. 

Recommended For:

Public utilities interested in using data to anticipate how they might encounter changes to the electric industry

Speakers:

Ben Thivierge, Energy Specialist at Belmont Municipal Light Department

Ben Thivierge has served as Belmont Light’s Energy Specialist for over two years and leads Belmont Light’s Demand Side Management programming and initiatives. Additionally, Ben educates and energizes Belmont’s residents to make informed energy decisions for their households and their families. Prior to his current position, Ben was still in public power at Reading and Next Step Living, a clean tech company. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Natural System Science.

Tom Fiddaman, Chief Technology Officer at Ventana Systems, Inc. 

Ph.D. System Dynamics /Operations Management, MIT Sloan School of Management; B.A. Engineering Sciences, Dartmouth 
Tom Fiddaman joined Ventana in 1997 and has twenty years of experience in dynamic modeling. He has applied models to management and public policy issues, including the economic implications of global climate change, strategic electricity sector models for testing pollution reduction strategies, and natural gas supply and demand. Tom is currently lead modeler on Ventana’s city/region Zero Net Energy project, original developer of En-ROADS, and co-lead on the Energy Futures model for North Dakota.