Transforming Path to Innovation
Dan Bradley is a managing director in Navigant’s energy practice, where he focuses on developing and operationalizing strategies for investments, business initiatives, products and development, and professional services across the utility, investor, and manufacturing sectors. Currently, he is director in charge of the REV Connect program, where Navigant has partnered with NYSERDA to accelerate innovative energy partnerships in New York State. H.
Christine Richards is a managing consultant in Navigant’s energy practice.
Reforming the Energy Vision, commonly known as REV, set bold goals for New York's energy future to build a cleaner, more resilient, and affordable energy system for all state citizens. These goals include reducing greenhouse gas emissions by eighty percent by 2050 and ensuring fifty percent of New York's electricity will come from renewable sources in 2030.
REV envisions a foundational network platform for the electric grid, the Distributed System Platform, that will enable market-friendly connections among providers of distributed energy resources, large-scale power generators, customers, and other energy system stakeholders.
Bold goals in energy transformation need new approaches to reach them. Across the industry, the needs of the energy transformation — agile, flexible solutions — are often in direct conflict with the years-long regulatory approval processes and the conventional utility-supplier relationship.
"We do not view innovation as a nice to have. We view it as a need to have," Janet Joseph, senior vice president of strategy and market development at New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, said. "We cannot continue to do business the same way we have been and transform the energy system to the degree it needs to be changed."