Ryan Cheney’s line of work and interests focus on transportation electrification, but that wasn’t always the case. In his previous role, he found himself in an uncomfortable position- witnessing the effects of climate change without feeling like he could make a difference.
“Ironically, from 2017-2020 I worked on teams at PG&E to shut off power to millions of people to prevent fires, all the while climate-fueled catastrophic wildfires burned across northern California,” Cheney said. “This was undoubtedly the hardest time in my career.”
Cheney is a climate leader. With experience at GE Renewable Energy and PG&E, he is currently a DOE Innovation Fellow focused on grid planning for transportation electrification, conducting research and providing policy support to public utility commissions across the U.S. Cheney graduated from Duke in 2003 with a degree in Environmental Policy and earned an MBA from George Washington in 2009.
As the lead for electric vehicle charging for the North Carolina Utility Commission (NCUC), Cheney’s role involves analyzing Duke Energy’s EV pilots and programs, supporting Commission decision-making, and shaping NC’s overall electric transportation strategy. Cheney also serves as commission staff lead on the NARUC EV State Working Group and has contributed to research on integrated distribution system planning, managed charging, and the Federal NEVI program.
Cheney is motivated by “the premise that electrifying transportation is key to reaching net zero, that the transition to EVs needs to happen fast, that EVs will affect all layers of the power system, and that regulators need to be ensuring that utilities have a strategy.”
As for the biggest change utilities are facing over the next several years?
“The pace at which renewables will be built, customers will electrify, and the how utility integrated distribution planning processes will need to evolve to manage it all,” Cheney said.
The transportation electrification sector is certainly still feeling some growing pains.
In Connecticut, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) recently approved a plan that allows United Illuminating and Eversource to apply to recoup costs associated with the state’s Electric Vehicle Charging Program, the Hartford Courant reports.
Earlier this year, both utilities “paused” their participation in the state’s EV charging program, arguing that regulations were harming their ability to perform grid improvements, per the Courant. After months of negotiations and threats of fines, it seems the parties have come to an agreement, and ratepayers will pay an additional $3 per month in “public benefit” charges beginning this September until April 2025 to recover about $80 million that the utilities say they’ve spent on the program.
The biggest challenges utilities are facing when implementing transportation electrification initiatives are financial constraints, followed by regulatory and policy barriers, technical and infrastructure challenges, customer engagement and demand issues, and operational and organizational limitations, according to a recent survey from the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA).
On the other hand, utilities are emphasizing enhancing charging infrastructure, developing effective financial strategies, and increasing customer interest in EVs. They hope to achieve their electrification goals by creating public and workplace charging stations, offering financial incentives, and implementing time-of-use (TOU) rates.
“Climate has always underpinned my career,” Cheney said. “My dad was a climate scientist a NOAA who pioneered measuring sea level rise using satellite altimetry. I followed him in going to Duke to study climate change for my undergraduate degree 20 years ago. The early part of my career revolved around decarbonizing the grid via the renewables industry, first as part of the product team that designed the early 1.5MW onshore and 2.5MW offshore GE turbines and then developing wind projects for PG&E.”
Cheney joined dozens of utility leaders and technology innovators in pursuit of those solutions at a recent conference planning meeting in Florida for DISTRIBUTECH, North America’s largest transmission and distribution utility event, which he has served for the past 2 years as an advisory committee member. Committee members assessed 961 content submissions, the most in DISTRIBUTECH’s history, in what will become the technical education program for DISTRIBUTECH 2025 in Dallas next year.
“I’ve learned a lot as an attendee of DTECH over the years and even more so as a transportation electrification committee member,” Cheney said. “The best part of being a committee member has been building relationships with a diverse group of thought leaders in the ET community that I can reach out to throughout the year to share perspectives and collaborate.”
Cheney says so far he’s most proud of developing the strategic framework that public utility commissions are using to drive transportation electrification decision-making, a framework that also helped shape DISTRIBUTECH‘sagenda.
DISTRIBUTECH recently announced its 2025 Advisory Committee members, an impressive collection of industry experts with valuable insights on transmission and distribution. POWERGRID International will highlight some of these committee members for their dedication and hard work in shaping next year’s DISTRIBUTECH event.
