Energy Seminar: Resilient and Renewable Power for California High-Speed Rail

California High-Speed Rail will serve as the backbone for a modern, integrated statewide passenger rail network that will connect California’s urban, suburban and rural communities with fast, frequent service. It will be the first rail system in the world to run on 100% renewable energy and is setting up a model for energy generation and demand. At full operation, California High-Speed Rail will be the largest single user of electricity in the state of California. Guided by the agency’s Sustainability Policy, the California High-Speed Rail Authority explored several avenues to determine the best renewable energy strategy for the agency. In this presentation, you will learn how the Authority modeled high-speed rail’s energy use profile in order to understand the needs and options for energy procurement. You will then hear about how those findings inform the Authority’s next steps for energizing high-speed rail.

Bios

Margaret Cederoth, Director of Planning and Sustainability, California High-Speed Rail Authority

Margaret Cederoth was appointed by Governor Newsom in 2019 to be the Director of Planning and Sustainability for the California High-Speed Rail Authority. Her duties include policy development and implementation, station and station area planning, greenhouse gas emissions inventory, tracking, and offsets, renewable energy planning, sustainable design, and district-scale sustainability approaches. Cederoth earned a Master of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Ali Chehrehsaz, Chief Executive Officer, TerraVerde Energy

Ali Chehrehsaz is a founding partner at TerraVerde Energy and serves as the Chief Executive Officer. Over his years at TerraVerde, Ali has spent much of his time leading the development of TerraVerde’s approach to project analysis, engineering, development, and implementation. Prior to joining TerraVerde, Ali managed development and implementation of utility scale solar projects at Tessera Solar. Ali earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Calgary.