PNNL

Twenty years ago, Jeremy Twitchell was a newspaper reporter working on a story about Utah’s first wind turbine project. He interviewed a couple of National Renewable Energy Laboratory researchers.

They talked about the work they were doing to make wind energy more reliable and productive.

“I got off the phone with them,” Twitchell recalled, “and I just thought, wow, those guys have a really cool job.”

Twitchell was ready for a career change. He returned to graduate school and then worked five years as a Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission energy analyst and advisor before arriving at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in 2018. 

As a senior energy analyst at PNNL, he leads the equitable regulatory environment area of the Laboratory’s energy storage program and assists in various other projects related to grid planning and energy system equity. In those roles, he works with state government officials to analyze energy storage, develop energy resources, and incorporate them into utility planning and procurement. 

“At PNNL, we have scientists doing fundamental research like putting together new chemicals and materials that are capable of storing energy,” Twitchell said. “We have engineers that are translating that work, creating systems that can store electricity for the grid. We have economists and computer scientists building models to understand the value of energy storage on the grid. We have safety experts at the forefront of developing the codes and standards that govern how storage systems are built and operated and connected to the grid and who are participating on committees that create those standards. 

“My team thinks about how we align policies and regulations with the potential for energy storage. We explore how we can unleash its potential on the grid. We have experts thinking about how we match energy storage to energy justice goals.

Also, Twitchell and his team work with community and municipal regulators who must make decisions about permitting for new proposed energy storage facilities. 

More Information

PNNL Staff Biography

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