The rapidly evolving energy landscape presents significant challenges in cultivating a skilled and future-oriented workforce.
Christian Lopez, Director- Engineering, AES, will discuss this challenge from the utility perspective at DTECH (formerly known as DISTRIBUTECH) convening from March 24-27, 2025 in Dallas, Texas.
Lopez will participate in the session, Utility workforce development challenges and solutions, taking place March 26 from 1:00 PM-1:50 PM.
This panel discussion brings together distinguished experts from academia, power utilities, and corporate engineering and consulting firms to share their unique insights, perspectives, and strategies for addressing workforce development and training obstacles.
This panel will explore how these sectors can collaborate, share best practices, and foster a synergistic approach to holistically tackle workforce challenges. Through interactive discussions, attendees will gain valuable perspectives on building a resilient, future-proof workforce capable of driving innovation and sustainable growth within the power industry.
Key Takeaways:
- Addressing skills shortages across the energy sector and exploring strategies for universities to collaborate with utilities and industry to revamp academic programs, producing graduates with relevant skill sets.
- Exploring approaches by utilities and companies to attract younger talent and promote workforce engagement and retention for the current workforce.
- Examining potential partnerships, knowledge-sharing, and collaborative platforms between academia, utilities, and industry stakeholders to facilitate comprehensive workforce development.
In this session, Lopez will be joined by:
- Panel moderator: Morteza Talebi, Chief of Workforce Development – TRC
- Panel chairperson: Gina McCann, Director, Design and Engineering – GeoSpatial Innovations, Inc.
- Jason Hostetter, Senior Vice President- Field Operations – TRC
- Laticia Holbert, Sr. Manager of Workforce Development – ComEd
- Brent Barbee, Executive Vice President & CFO – Richmond Community College
Lopez is an engineering leader with over 15 years of experience in delivering 15GW+ of power systems, including High Voltage and SCADA systems for renewables like solar, battery storage, and wind. He specializes in building high-performing engineering teams and managing projects from conceptual design through commissioning.
Lopez holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from John Brown University, an M.S. in Renewable Energy Sciences from the University of Oldenburg, Germany, and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering & Power Systems from Kansas State University.
Currently, he is the Senior Director of Engineering for Performance, Commissioning, and SCADA Controls at the AES Corporation, where he has developed a strong engineering program for grid integration of renewables.
Attending DTECH this year? Don’t miss these other great sessions!
- Itron’s Amanda Dixon on the future of municipal energy management
- Dominion Energy’s Aaron Winter on meeting cloud computing demands
- National Grid’s Jon Malaver on utility talent acquisition retention amid rapid industry changes
- Eversource Energy’s John Nachilly on leveraging eSIM tech for SCADA resiliency
- National Grid’s Bridget Powers Beggs on ‘right-sizing’ distribution systems and the economic, societal value of DERMS
- UConn Eversource Energy Center’s Dr. Diego Cerrai on AI for storm and damage prediction
- Evergy’s JJ Stutler on what utilities actually do with all of their private LTE data
- Alectra Utilities’ Vivek Somasundaram on building the control room of the future
- PPL’s Shelby Linton-Keddie on tackling rapid load growth
- Xcel Energy’s Marcus Johansson on building digital twins for the future grid
- Evergy’s Chad Carsten on communications networks for utility unity
- Duke Energy’s Jason Handley on utility policy impacts, grid edge investments, and more
- Liberty Utilities’ Sam McGarrah on improving utility asset management
- Southern California Edison’s Jerome Marr on long-term distribution planning and modern grid challenges
- AES’ Christian Lopez on the challenges of cultivating a skilled utility workforce
- National Grid’s Jesse Harvey on harnessing the next wave of smart meters: AMI 2.0
- Duke Energy’s John Pressley on how AI is reshaping utility work
This list will be updated as more sessions are previewed.
