120 participants from around the country attended the Holyoke Clean Energy Innovation Workshop intended to lay the groundwork for collaborative approaches to test bed development for next generation, smart energy technology.

The workshop featured municipal, state, and federal perspectives on issues that impact development of an effective test-bed environment. From left to right: Kathleen Anderson (Director of Planning and Economic Development, City of Holyoke), Mayor Elaine Pluta (City of Holyoke), James Lavelle (Workshop Co-chair, Manager, Holyoke Gas & Electric), Patricia Hoffman (Assistant Secretary, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Richard Sullivan (Secretary, Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs), and Jim Kurose (Workshop Co-chair, Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, University of Massachusetts) – Image: masstech.org

Holyoke has many of the attributes and assets it needs to become a national test bed city  for the next generation of smart energy technology — the topic that drew more than 120 participants from around the country – including CEOs of battery storage firms, venture capital investors, university computer science researchers, engineers from national research laboratories, utility executives, and managers from demand-side firms offering smart online software –  to the Holyoke Clean Energy Innovation Workshop on November 9 and 10. read more