Keeping the Power On Energy Resilience in San Mateo County

Extreme weather events this winter have repeatedly caused long-lasting blackouts in many San Mateo County communities, leading to health risks for medically energy-dependent residents, interruptions to daily life, prolonged lack of heating, and spoiled food. The susceptibility of our electricity delivery infrastructure to natural hazards is evident, yet public conversations on power outages have so far tended to focus only on the impacts of the blackouts rather than the root cause. Promoting policies and practices that build the resilience of electricity delivery systems is key to preventing future outages and avoiding adverse impacts on our communities altogether.

With the help of speakers from the academic and public sectors, we will explore why our electricity infrastructure is susceptible to failure and why it is challenging to develop concrete policy solutions to reduce the likelihood of future outages. Most importantly, we will map out potential strategies that will reduce the incidence of outages as well as the impacts on residents when they do occur.

Our guest experts will include:

Irma Rodriguez Mitton, South Coast Sustainable, Executive Director and Pescadero resident
State Senator Josh Becker
Cristina Crespo Montañés, UC Berkeley: Energy and Resources Group, Research Affiliate
Liang Min, Stanford: Bits & Watts Initiative, Managing Director

Note: This event is free to attend, but registration is required. Spanish translations via Zoom. Light refreshments will be provided during the group discussion.

Location: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Community Space, 801 Jefferson Avenue, Redwood City

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Josh Becker, California State Senate District 13, State Senator

Senator Josh Becker is a public policy innovator representing California’s 13th Senate District. He has authored several bills that focus on clean energy, voter access, justice reforms, and technology for economic mobility. He chairs two subcommittees in the State Senate - the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Resources, Environmental Protection, and Energy, and the Senate Subcommittee on the Clean Energy Future. Becker is a champion for socially responsible businesses and co-founded New Cycle Capital, a legal tech accelerator, and Lex Machina, a platform for transparency in the law. He earned a JD/MBA from Stanford University, where he also cofounded the Stanford Board Fellows program.

Irma Rodriguez Mitton, South Coast Sustainable, Executive Director

Irma Rodriguez Mitton is the Executive Director of South Coast Sustainable and Chief Resiliency Practitioner at Fruition Sustainability Solutions. Fruition helps companies and communities design and implement planet-positive systems to achieve zero-carbon, zero-waste goals while increasing shared prosperity. She helped develop community-based initiatives for increasing resiliency, equity, and prosperity while protecting our planet. Her expertise includes corporate communications, innovation/growth strategy development, and product marketing management. A strong advocate for sustainable placemaking and local living economies, Irma is an EcoDistricts Accredited Professional and a graduate of Stanford University.

Cristina Crespo Montañés, Berkeley: Energy and Resources Group, Research Affiliate

Cristina Crespo Montañés is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Energy and Resources Group from UC Berkeley. Her dissertation projects study inequities in urban energy transitions, focusing on household electrification, power outages, and solar adoption policies. As a Graduate Student Researcher in the Electricity Markets and Policy Department at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, she works on quantifying the value of hybrid energy plants in electricity markets across the US. She holds a Dual Master of Science in Industrial Engineering in Universidad Politécnica de Valencia and École Centrale Paris. Prior to her graduate studies, she worked as an engineer in wind and solar power projects in Denmark and Spain. Cristina has received a Link Energy Foundation Fellowship 2022-2024 and a Fulbright Spain scholarship 2019-2021 .

Liang Min, Stanford: Bits & Watts Initiative, Managing Director

Dr. Liang Min is the Managing Director of the Bits & Watts Initiative and the Net-Zero Alliance at Stanford University. He has a background in improving the electric grid's reliability and security, resulting in the award of multiple patents. He has also held leadership positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the California Energy System for the 21st Century. Dr. Min's current focus is on driving the digital transformation of the electric grid and achieving a net-zero future through research and education with global companies.

Thursday, April 27, 2:30 - 4:00 pm, Hybrid

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