Dr. Peter Fox-Penner is a Senior Advisor to The Brattle Group. He is also a Partner and Chief Impact Officer at Energy Impact Partners, a dedicated clean energy financing platform. He was the founding Director of Boston University’s Institute for Sustainable Energy (ISE) – now the Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS) ­– and is now an IGS Senior Fellow.

Between 1997 and 2015, Dr. Fox-Penner served as a Principal at The Brattle Group. During that time, he served in various roles including Office Director, as a member of the Board of Directors and as Chairman of the Board. He has also served as a Senior Official at the US Department of Energy and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and he was a Professor of Practice at BU’s Questrom School of Business. His research and writing interests are in the areas of electric power strategy, regulation, and governance; energy and climate policy; sustainable finance; and the relationships between public and private economic activity.

Dr. Fox-Penner has testified on energy-related expert matters in more than 100 proceedings, including in front of federal courts, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, state courts, arbitrations, and at least 12 state public service commissions. He has also been a regulatory and strategic advisor to boards and executives at many utilities and energy companies. He is also a frequent public speaker on energy topics and the author of numerous published articles and books, including Power after Carbon (Harvard University Press, 2020), Market Power and Market Manipulation in Energy Markets (with co-authors Tayle, Ledgerwood, and Broehm, PUR Press 2015), and the highly acclaimed Smart Power: Climate Change, the Smart Grid, and the Future of Electric Utilities (Island Press, 2010). His research has been widely cited, including in one US Supreme Court decision.

Dr. Fox-Penner is on the global leadership council of the World Resources Institute and the advisory boards for Mobility Impact Partners and the Boston University Impact Measurement and Allocation Program. He is also a Distinguished Associate of the Energy Futures Initiative. Dr. Fox-Penner previously was on the Solar Foundation and the Global Energy Group boards and has served as an advisor to the Center for National Policy, the Aspen Energy Institute, the Hewlett Foundation, and other organizations.

Practices
Education

University of Chicago
PhD

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
MS and BS in Engineering

Personal Interests

Peter serves on a number of boards and has extensive management and advisory experience, including:

  • Board of Directors, the Solar Foundation (2010-Fall 2012)
  • Advisory Board, Enviance, Inc. (provider of greenhouse gas, environmental life cycle cost, and supply chain management software) (2007-present)
  • Advisory Board, Gridpoint, Inc. (smart grid and energy efficiency firm) (2009-2012)
  • Co-founder and Vice Chair, ENpartners LLC (greentech advisory and PE firm)
  • Past Advisor to the Center for National Policy and Progressive Policy Institute (1996-2007)

Testimony

October 7, 2013

Peter Fox-Penner, William Zarakas

Analysis of Benefits: PSE&G’s Energy Strong Program, by Peter Fox-Penner and William P. Zarakas. In the Matter of the Petition of Public Service Electric and Gas Company for Approval of the Energy Strong Program, NJ BPU Docket No. EO13020155 and GO13020156.
September 21, 2012

Prepared Direct Testimony on behalf of the California Parties re: the examination of two aspects of the Respondents’ spot market sales activities to CERS during the CERS Period, before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Docket No. EL01-10-085

August 25, 2011

Prepared Direct Testimony on behalf of the California Parties re: tariff violations affected MCP, before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Docket No. EL00-95-248

September 29, 2010

Peter Fox-Penner, Johannes Pfeifenberger,and Delphine Hou

Before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Docket No. RM10-23-000, Filed Comments re: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on Transmission Planning and Cost Allocation by Transmission Owning and Operating Public Utilities