Rich Barone

Rich Barone recently joined TRC as Vice President, Advanced Energy Transformation to help utilities, municipalities, large C&I customers and investors navigate and succeed in today’s evolving energy markets. Now with the emergence of COVID-19, many energy providers are further accelerating their transformation efforts and seeking to make reliable, clean power one source of stability for communities.

Rich’s professional experience as a utility leader (and long-time energy expert) makes him an excellent resource for energy providers looking to re-envision their energy future. Rich spent the last five years at Hawaiian Electric Companies (HECO), steeped in the challenges of grid modernization and distributed energy resource management.

Issues like customer asset integration, non-wires alternatives, new market creation and long-term operational and business model reliability and resiliency were some of his top priorities. Rich explains: “Business-as-usual is not likely to continue to serve either utilities or their customers well. So, utilities are evolving their approach – by integrating technology and business model and process innovations that work best together, while better serving customers wherever they are.”

Rich was central in HECO’s drive to bring together formerly siloed areas of its business. He supported the utility’s integrated grid planning and created and implemented a new Customer Energy Resources department that unified traditional demand response with distributed energy resources (DER). He also developed the financial tools to back this functional organization transition, from grid service purchase agreements with customers to a 15-year horizon model to value DER programs and services.

At TRC, Rich is applying his intrapreneurial skills to help our clients connect the energy transformation dots to better see – and solve for – a holistic vision of the energy landscape. He shares how he plans to support utilities in his new role: “TRC’s advanced energy services, coupled with TRC Digital, holds all of the fundamental building blocks to pave the way for the future of the energy delivery paradigm. I aim to be a value-add to an already deeply knowledgeable and impressive team by helping both TRC and our clients by bringing experience and insights to round out this emerging roadmap.”

Prior to HECO, Rich spent 10 years in clean energy consulting, entrepreneurial business development, technology, and finance—and another decade in technology development across other industries. For his work at HECO, Rich was recognized with a Peak Load Management Alliance (PLMA) 2018 Technology Pioneer Award and as a Top Innovator of 2018 by the Public Utilities Fortnightly Magazine. Rich is currently Vice Chair of PLMA’s Board of Directors, and he holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship and MS in Energy Technologies, Policy & Economics from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Contact Rich for more information or find him on LinkedIn.