Presenters:

Ken Morrison,Vice President of
Utilities and Sustainable Energy at Corix Utilities

Mark Henry, City of Yellowknife
Energy Coordinator

Brian Newman,Director of Campus Planning, Development and Real Estate at Oregon
Health and Science University (OHSU) 

Moderator:

Trent Berry, Economics Advisor, B.C. Utilities Commission

Attendees will understand the social, political and financial complexities of developing new district utility systems, learn about some of the regulatory/contractual complexities inherent in putting together a successful district utility project, and how governments can help accelerate these projects, and understand the importance of establishing trust between various stakeholders in putting together a successful new district utility development project.

Presenter Bios

Ken Morrison
Ken Morrison is Vice President of Utilities and Sustainable Energy at Corix Utilities. Prior to joining Corix, he was a consulting engineer on a variety of water and wastewater projects and was the practice leader for water and wastewater at Dillon Consulting. He also worked in various roles at Trojan Technologies as the leader in UV disinfection for water and wastewater.  Ken is responsible for the growth and success of the sustainable energy sector within Corix and all aspects of Operations in eastern North America including water, wastewater and sustainable energy.  He is a board member for Regent Park Energy Incorporated, a sustainable thermal energy utility for Regent Park in Toronto.

Mark Henry
Mark Henry was hired by the City of Yellowknife in 2006 to implement its Community Energy Plan, a systematic plan to build a more sustainable Yellowknife. The Plan’s holistic approach to community energy management has supported a number of progressive policy and project oriented initiatives that are moving Yellowknife from a mining town, to a more dynamic and diverse community. One of these exciting initiatives is a proposed $60 million district heating system that will service the downtown core. The project, which is in development stage, will use biomass and geothermal heat from a decommissioned gold mine. Mark has been intimately involved with the project from inception, through feasibility and now development. Mark holds a business degree from Mount Allison University.

Brian Newman
Potential “Anchor Customer” for a new District Energy System: Brian Newman is the Director of Campus Planning, Development and Real Estate at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), which is considering a commitment to connect to, and thereby catalyze the development of, a new district energy system to serve its future Schnitzer Campus in Portland’s South Waterfront neighborhood. Brian works to achieve the university’s strategic goals through overall management of planning and development efforts including campus master plans, facility plans, and implementation of the Marquam Hill and Schnitzer Campus plans; as well as relations with federal, state and local governments concerning planning policies and projects.

Trent Berry
Trent Berry has led more than a dozen large feasibility studies for district energy systems in the Pacific Northwest, including a system serving Vancouver’s Olympic Village. He has also advised on business models, financing and rate design for implementation of numerous systems. Trent is a regular economics advisor to the B.C. Utilities Commission, where he has worked on regulatory reviews of more than $15 billion in generation and infrastructure projects, rate applications, market structure reviews and long-term acquisition plans. Trent was part of the external team that advised the BC provincial government in the development of the 2007 BC Energy Plan, including policies for green power and distributed generation.