Dr. Kajal Kapur

Synopsis  

Dr. Kapur, Principal  of KEEE received a Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University in 1990 and has served as a specialist on energy and environment issues for more than twenty years.  She has supported the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Air Quality and Planning Standards (OAQPS) with economic analyses of air pollution control regulations since 2011.  In 2017 and 2018, she helped develop Energy and Water Evaluation and Recommendations Reports for four Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) “Covered” Facilities located at three National Forests (Inyo, Sequoia and Eldorado) for USDA.  She assisted with the development of a Sustainability Implementation Plan and five Utility Invoice Analysis reports for the Army National Guard.  The reports analyzed the electrical usage and costs of State National Guards (NGs) in Missouri, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia and California.

She has helped Virginia localities and federal agencies with sustainability planning processes and energy conservation options for local climate action plans.  She has analyzed favorable utility policies and programs that have resulted in the installation of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems for EPA’s CHP partnership.  She has provided expert advice on economic and financial issues related to small hydroelectric power plants and the carbon emission reduction potential of these plants for Kenya Tea Development Agency’s (KTDA) feasibility study.   Dr. Kapur has analyzed the benefits of energy efficiency, renewable energy, distributed generation and other green programs in the restructured electric industry.  She has presented testimony on utility demand side management, integrated resource planning, clean air compliance and rate issues before state regulatory commissions and directed settlement processes for the approval of utility conservation and environmental compliance plans.  These processes included the planning, design, implementation and evaluation of utility demand side management programs.  She has examined and testified on municipal utilities power purchase arrangements, special incentive rates and gas cost adjustment issues.   In addition to these responsibilities, she has served as a reviewer for a prestigious international energy journal on energy conservation issues and helped EPA's, Climate Protection Partnerships Division with reviewer comments on Clean Energy-Environment Guide to Action.   She compiled comments on the institutional, regulatory and market barriers that prevent the adoption of energy efficiency, renewable energy and combined heat and power resources and best practices to overcome these barriers at the state level. 

Dr. Kapur served as the Chair of the Virginia State Air Pollution Control Board (SAPCB) and member of its Public Engagement Committee.  She is currently serving as a Board Member for the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project, Inc. (SERCAP).

Dissertation
Ph.D. Dissertation, Cornell University, 1990:  "Are Market Adjustments Fast or Slow?  An empirical study of profit adjustments."  An econometric analysis of profit adjustments using data on one hundred six US manufacturing industries. 

Research Publications, Panels
1. Kapur, B. Kajal, “New York Deregulation model: Characteristics and success”, EnergyPulse, June 2004. 

2. Kapur, B. Kajal, “Energy Service Companies: New York Commission actions and market growth”, EnergyPulse, November 2005. 

3.  Panel Participant, "Sustainability and Resilience:  Capturing Missed Synergies in Program and Infrastructure Development", American Society for Public Administration Annual Conference, Governance and Sustainability:  Local Concerns, Global Challenges, March 2013.

4.  Kapur, B. Kajal, "Sustainable Financial Management through Citizen Engagement", American Society for Public Administration Annual Conference, Governance and Sustainability:  Local Concerns, Global Challenges, March 2013.

Dr. Kapur's projects, skills, professional participation   

Projects                                                                                  
Provided support to CHPP for meetings, workshops and conferences as subcontractor under EPA's Program Support Activities for Global Climate Change for the Energy Supply and Industry Branch contract.  Identified conferences to publicize CHPP and its utility sector work, evaluated interest in CHP and refined CHPP strategies to promote CHP in the sector.  Helped CHPP develop reports and technical papers to reach target audiences in the utilities sector.

Analyzed favorable utility policies and programs that have resulted in the installation of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) systems by utility customers for EPA's CHP Partnership. Researched utility actions for the promotion of CHP systems and case studies of successful utility support of CHP technologies.  Recommended tools, services, and resources that CHPP can develop to help utilities with the promotion of CHP systems.

Provided economics and financial expertise for an Integrated Energy Management Feasibility Study funded by United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).  Used state-of-the-art models to conduct economic assessments of small hydro power plants. Estimated emisssions reductions from the KTDA hydro projects by modeling carbon emissions from base case and proposed hydro options.  Used spreadsheet models to evaluate emission reductions and carbon credit potential of these options.   

Provided support to District of Columbia, Office of People's Counsel (OPC) in development of the case against Potomac Electric Power Company’s requested rate increase. Evaluated the conceptual justification and quantification of a revenue adjustment for the elasticity response to increased electric rates.  Presented written and oral testimony on behalf of the OPC before the District of Columbia Public Service Commission.  

Helped the Attorney General of Kentucky evaluate the Integrated Resource Plan of a Transmission and Distribution (T&D) Cooperative.  Reviewed the utility’s load forecasting, demand and supply side planning and environmental compliance efforts.

Provided consulting services to the Attorney General of Michigan in connection with an evaluation of the demand and energy forecasts submitted by a utility.  Prepared a written analysis of the utility's forecasting program, including the identification of problematic aspects.  

Helped EPA's Climate Protection Partnerships Division with reviewer comments on Clean Energy-Environment Guide to Action.

Wrote a report for a Japanese utility about gas deregulation issues in the United States (US).  Helped the utility understand the effects of FERC Order 636 on the business practices of US gas pipeline companies.  Advised the company on pipeline ownership, market domination, business model and characteristics for success.

Trained South Korean management personnel on topics related to customer satisfaction, education strategies, product differentiation and pricing of services.  Trained South Korean utility management on important market reform issues in the United States electric power industry.  Lectured management on regulated versus competitive pricing, new pricing mechanisms used in competitive markets and the differences in pricing methods.  Discussed the implications of competitive pricing including economic development rates, green pricing and distributed power. 

Participated in a settlement process for the approval of Southern Indiana Gas and Electric Company’s conservation plan on behalf of the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC).  The process included the planning, design, implementation and evaluation of residential, commercial and industrial conservation programs.   

Participated in a settlement process for the approval of Southern Indiana Gas and Electric Company’s Clean Air Compliance Plan on behalf of the OUCC. Analyzed the impact of Clean Air Act Amendments on resource planning.  Studied Indiana requirements for the approval of an environmental compliance plan to determine whether the utility’s plan met those requirements.

Evaluated power generation and emission control technologies. Analyzed Indiana utility's Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) repowering project.  The project used an independent producer's two-stage coal gasification process and utilized clean coal technology to reduce emissions at the generating station. 

Reviewed the demand side management implementation and evaluation activities of PSI Energy.  
 
Participated in a joint effort by the OUCC and Indiana Industrial Electric Consumers’ Council (INDIEC) to prepare Integrated Resource Planning guidelines for the State of Indiana. 

Directed a settlement process for the    approval of    Indianapolis Power and Light’s (IPL) conservation plan on behalf of the OUCC.  The goal of the settlement process was to understand IPL’s residential, commercial and industrial programs to reach a reasonable agreement.  The process included the planning, design implementation and marketing of these programs.

Analyzed PSI Energy’s proposed merger with Cincinnati Gas and Electric.  Modeled the individual and joint resource plans of the two companies to determine the benefits of the merger. 

Studied Indianapolis Power and Light’s (IPL) Integrated Resource Plan.  Examined the company’s demand and energy forecasting process.  Analyzed the utility’s treatment of environmental externalities in its planning process, described methods for incorporating externalities in planning and recommended a feasible method. 

Special Skills

Knowledge of Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi.
Experience with Clean Energy pre-feasibility and feasibility study tools such as ProForm and RETScreen.
Worked with statistical/econometrics analysis software such as SAS, RATS, SPSS.

Professional Participation

U.S. Association of Energy Economists

Asian American Business Assistance Center

Reviewer for the International Journal of Power and Energy Systems.