Utility Industry Basics for Federal Agency Carbon Pollution-Free Electricity (CFE) Procurement  

Supervisor Project Procurement and Distributed Generation Services at the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), within the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office of the Department of Energy. FEMP assists federal agencies in their efforts to achieve high levels of energy and cost efficiency and resiliency in their facilities. Mr. Schell leads the FEMP Program relating to DOE's Energy Savings Performance Contracts, Utility Energy Services Contracts, Distributed Energy Project and Procurement support, DOE Utility Contract Oversight, and other initiatives. Before coming to the DOE in 2001, Mr. Schell served in a variety of capacities at a leading housing finance Government Sponsored Enterprise. Earlier in his career, Mr. Schell was Vice President for Secondary Marketing and Product Development for a Dallas based Mortgage Company and was an economist and the Director of Government Agency Relations for a trade association in Washington. He has an undergraduate degree in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany, and a Master of Planning Degree from the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia.

Tracy Niro is the Utility Program manager at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP). Tracy is a recognized expert in energy policy, federal utility service contracting, and utility energy service contracts. She also oversees electric and natural gas utility acquisitions for DOE sites nationwide and serves as the chair of the Federal Utility Partnership Working Group. Tracy was a 2009 Presidential Management Fellow, has completed detail assignments to the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the International Energy Agency, and was awarded a Fulbright Professional Scholarship to conduct energy research in Australia. Tracy began her career as a staff accountant for an investor-owned utility and has 17 years of experience in the energy industry including past experience leading the DOE FEMP Power Purchase Agreement Program and serving as coordinator for floating offshore wind regulation in Hawaii at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, earned her Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law and is a licensed attorney in the State of California (inactive).

Dr. Liebov has expertise in federal distributed energy project planning and implementation, federal distributed energy procurement, and performance contracting and leads the interagency Renewable Energy Working Group. Dr. Liebov was a 2020-2022 AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at DOE and holds a B.S. in Chemistry and a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry.

Michele Zemplenyi is a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) where she supports multiple efforts, including electric vehicle supply equipment site assessments, deployment of energy storage at federal sites, and the development of a government-wide carbon pollution-free electricity procurement strategy. Dr. Zemplenyi holds a BA in Statistics and a PhD in Biostatistics from Harvard University.

Elisabeth McClure is a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at FEMP where she supports sites in meeting net-zero requirements, facilitates equitable energy planning, and coordinates a decarbonization webinar series for federal agencies. Dr. McClure holds a B.S. in Physics and a Ph.D. in Microsystems Engineering.