Cliburn and Associates, LLC

Energy REvisioned

In less than two decades, this century has staked its claim as a new age of synergy—defined by diversity and economy and a call for solutions that are worth more than the sum of their parts. At Cliburn and Associates, LLC, we focus on the challenges of this time for the utility industry, its clean energy partners and stakeholders. As founder, Jill K. Cliburn, brings decades of experience in market research, policy and trend analysis, program design and evaluation. We have expertise in specific resource areas, from solar and wind, to storage and demand response, and a new range of emerging strategies.

One of the greatest lessons learned, after years of experience in distributed energy resources (DERs) is that broader and more effective adoption is, above all, a “people problem.” With targeted support, utilities and community leaders confidently can tackle technical challenges together. But getting organized around these challenges and quickly crossing departmental or stakeholder barriers (aka, silos) is a different matter—and one that we know how to address. We welcome your inquiries and your comments.

To springtime visitors: We apologize that this Cliburn and Associates website is still a bit in process, while we tend to new pressing projects in the field! For an April blog and schedule updates, please see the Community Solar Value Project website. There, you will also find sections for Solutions, webinar recordings and resources. Or use our Contact page for a quick call-back.

Research

Review our outstanding record in research services, from market assessments to business and marketing plans… to program evaluations, energy program benchmarking and best practices guides… to policy assessments and support, and find out how we can help you. See sample reports and project reviews.

Engagement

Synergistic solutions require balancing different interests as well as different technologies. We support client needs for strategy, collaboration, and communications, from policy work to detailed guidance for community solar development. Learn more about our engagement in project and policy work, training, and facilitation.

Imagination

Energy REvisioning means taking a fresh perspective, not once but over and over again. That’s because renewable energy technologies are evolving in a market and political environment that is also constantly changing. Check out our Resources section and Blog for noteworthy news and observations on the task of transforming our energy systems

Jill is a frequent presenter at industry conferences and an active participant in innovation networks. She is also on the board of the American Solar Energy Society and chaired the ASES National Solar Conference for 2018. That event featured a summit on three crucial topics, including clean electrification, resilience and addressing energy/equity solutions.

Blog Post: While I Have Your Attention...

The blog post offered below was cross-posted with the Community Solar Value Project site last year. Jill maintains the CSVP site for an audience of utility professionals, solar industry leaders and stakeholders. There are several new blogs on that site and on this site, as well. We share the one below, because it proved to be a good conversation starter.

While I Have Your Attention...
by Jill Cliburn

Not so long ago, I was presenting about the benefits of offering community solar together with other energy options, as one way to engage with utility customers in reinventing utility service for the age of renewables. Understand that I was addressing the Peak Load Management Alliance, so my audience already had experience pushing the energy-information rock uphill. Some in the audience wished that their favored solutions, from new rate designs to smart thermostats to ice energy storage systems, were as popular as solar panels. They were ready to consider working with utility solar managers and solar developers on new, packaged solutions.

Their viewpoint—which I share—was that if (in fact) the utility is engaging less than 15 minutes per year, either personally or digitally, with the average customer, then they’d better make it relevant, and (I mean this in the healthiest way) they’d better make it viral.

Of course I know that not every utility is going to offer community solar packaged with other options; our CSVP Solutions Toolkit is specifically designed for customization, so you can meet whatever your immediate and long-term program needs might be. But I also know it is time for customer engagement to be about much more than real-time outage reports and paperless bills. And I will tell you why.

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Telling the Story