Director
Andrew DeBenedictis

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Andrew DeBenedictis

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Dr. Andrew DeBenedictis rejoined E3 in summer 2018. He works in E3’s Boston office, where he helps clients in New England and elsewhere work towards a cleaner, more efficient energy sector.

A member of E3’s DER team, Andrew has experience developing grid modernization plans, including cost benefit analyses and business cases for investments, to accommodate the challenges of a two-way decarbonized grid. He also uses E3’s extensive modeling capabilities to analyze the potential for and impacts of building electrification, including likely technology uptake given customer economics under a range of policy mechanisms.

Outside of the DER team, he enjoys working with clients to formulate broad decarbonization strategies through many avenues. Examples include Clean Energy Standards (CESs) designed to meet state carbon reduction targets, Performance Incentive Mechanisms (PIMs) to promote cross-sectoral decarbonization, and Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) that balance clean energy, reliability, and affordability goals to plan utility investments.

Andrew originally worked at E3 for five years before attending graduate school. During that time, he contributed to E3’s landmark study, published in the journal Science, that analyzed the technology path to deep decarbonization by 2050. He also helped the California Public Utilities Commission develop a successor to its net energy metering (NEM) tariffs, helped to design a robust resource adequacy modeling platform, and conducted extensive rate design analysis for large commercial and industrial customers.

A sense of urgency for addressing climate change and an appreciation of the complexity of that task animates Andrew’s work. He finds that the breadth of E3’s projects provides both an exceptional education and a bracing awareness of the challenge at hand. In his free time, Andrew enjoys playing in local soccer leagues, organizing bridge games with friends, and playing drums in a Boston-area band.

Education: PhD, physics, Tufts University; MS, physics, Tufts University; BA, physics and astronomy, Bowdoin College

Projects

Energy Storage Market Update and Long Duration Storage Study | Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, 2023

In collaboration with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) and Department of Energy Resources (DOER), E3 conducted a study that assesses the current state of energy storage in the Commonwealth, the market outlook for emerging mid- and long-duration storage (LDES) technologies, and potential applications of mid- and long-duration storage, all in the context of providing benefits to ratepayers and achieving the state’s ambitious decarbonization goals.

The study included several modeling and stakeholder engagement elements. Leveraging E3’s pro forma financial model of storage technology costs and a custom-built storage dispatch model, the project team analyzed several storage use cases to help the state understand impacts of current incentive programs. Assessment of future storage value involved loss-of-load probability modeling of the entire ISO-NE footprint using E3’s RECAP model. E3 engaged stakeholders throughout the study process through interviews with more than 50 key stakeholders and two public stakeholder workshops. In the study, E3 shows that the role of energy storage changes to suit grid needs, but that storage requires well-designed state support to encourage deployment and innovation that targets these needs. In addition to writing a report providing study findings, the team worked with DOER to translate findings into policy recommendations for the state.

Read the detailed project description.

New York City Long-Term Energy Plan | New York City Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice, 2022-2023

E3 led a team completing an inclusive, year-long study to identify the policies and programs needed to achieve the New York City’s decarbonization goals. E3’s analysis involved both examining policies and programs to meet the city’s long-term goals as well as providing specific recommendations for actions to be taken during the current administration. The study included eight research branches focused on the performance and cost of heat pumps in new buildings; the affordability of electrification retrofits in rent-regulated housing; the opportunities for electric school bus managed charging and vehicle-to-grid; the potential for in-city wind energy; a screening of public lands for new clean energy development; an assessment of the electric grid readiness for increasing heat pump and EV charging loads; and an evaluation of how bulk energy storage could reduce reliance on in-city fossil generation. Based on E3’s study, New York City published PowerUp NYC, the city’s first Long-Term Energy Plan, which includes 29 clean energy initiatives focused on the city’s energy grid, its buildings, and its transportation sector. Many aspects of the PowerUp NYC, from research topic selection to recommendations, were developed in collaboration with the public, and with the public’s interest at the forefront of the decision-making process. The recommendations of the LTEP are aligned with long-term energy and equity policy mandates from both the city and state and revolve around the needs of NYC residents.

Read the detailed project description.

Advanced Metering Infrastructure Filing Support | National Grid, 2018 – 2022

E3 supported to National Grid, beginning in 2018, with developing and progressing their Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and Grid Modernization Plan (GMP) filings in New York, Rhode Island, and most recently in Massachusetts. In addition to developing both a detailed business case and benefit-cost analysis for the meter installations, E3 worked with National Grid’s AMI team to engage internal stakeholders in the development of the filings. and to coordinate filing approaches with Eversource Energy’s Massachusetts team. E3 also worked with National Grid to align the proposed Massachusetts AMI implementation timeline with National Grid’s approved New York AMI implementation plan to maximize the cost savings of codeployment. National Grid’s final AMI proposal was approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities in December 2022.


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