This general meeting as a discussion of the power grid in Texas. The meeting will be via Zoom only due to participants being in Austin during the legislative session. All are welcome, but registration is required and there is no fee. The zoom link is available upon registration.
Alison Silverstein is an independent consultant, strategist and researcher on electric system reliability, resilience, market design, transmission, energy efficiency and technology adoption issues. Her work on major federal electricity efforts includes the U.S. DOE’s Staff Report on Electric Markets and Reliability, three national transmission congestion studies, the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative framework, and the industry-wide advancement of synchrophasor technology. Silverstein has advised states, utilities, ISOs, and non-governmental entities since 2004.
Silverstein worked as a senior advisor to Chairman Pat Wood, III, at FERC from 2001 through 2004, co-chairing the 2003 U.S.-Canada blackout investigation, at the Public Utility Commission of Texas from 1995-2001, and previously at PG&E and as a consultant in Washington DC. She serves on the Boards of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy and the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.
Cyrus Reed has worked since 2007 as the Conservation Director for the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, serving as Sierra Club's main energy and air quality advocate at the Texas legislature and state agencies like the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Texas Railroad Commission and Public Utility Commission. Cyrus is also a member of ERCOT (the Electric Reliability Council of Texas) and of the City of Austin's Electric Utility Commission. Cyrushas a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Texas at Austin, with a focus on water policy and the dispute over the Rio Grande water with Mexico. Prior to becoming conservation director, he directed the Texas Center for Policy Studies, an environmental policy and advocacy organization based in Austin, for five years. He is presently working on energy issues and their impacts. Cyrus has also worked as a journalist and has spent considerable time in Mexico, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Married with three kids, two of them who have fled the nest.