Director, Economic and Pricing Analysis
BrightSource Energy
1999 Harrison Street
Suite 2150
Oakland
CAUSA
94612
Biographical Sketch: Udi Helman leads analysis of market valuation at BrightSource Energy, a leading developer of large-scale solar power plants. Prior to joining BrightSource in January 2011, he was a Principal focused on market design and policy analysis in the Market & Infrastructure Development division of the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). At CAISO, his emphasis was on renewable integration, including determining operational requirements and cost impacts, and scenario methodologies and policy issues associated with transmission planning to interconnect renewables on a large scale as well as support for long-term procurement planning. He worked extensively on the ISO’s study of operational requirements under a 20% RPS.
Prior to joining CAISO in August 2007, he worked as an economist at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in Washington, D.C. In that capacity, he worked extensively on electricity market design issues, including wholesale energy, ancillary service and installed capacity markets, transmission usage pricing and transmission property rights. Upon joining FERC in 1998, he worked initially on the Northeastern ISO markets, notably the start-up of the ISO-New England market and its subsequent re-design in 2003. He worked on the proposed Standard Market Design (SMD) in 2002 and subsequently on the start-up and development of the Midwest ISO markets (2003-05). Before leaving FERC, he was lead for the Long-Term Transmission Rights team. He has presented on market design and market modeling at, among other venues, conferences and workshops organized by the Department of Energy (DOE), Energy Modeling Forum (EMF), NARUC, IEEE, and INFORMS as well as before audiences at California ISO, California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), FERC, EIA, EPRI, NSF, EUCI, and elsewhere.