Strategic Energy Planning Office Director

State of Maryland•Baltimore City, MD

10d•Onsite

About The Position

The Director is the chief executive and principal analytical voice of Maryland’s independent Strategic Energy Planning Office (SEPO), established by Chapter 19 of the Acts of 2025. The Director builds and leads the new office and is responsible for assessing wholesale energy market financial, resource adequacy, and reliability risks to Maryland’s long-term energy needs, and identifying cost-effective solutions to limit electricity cost growth and reduce reliability risks for ratepayers. The Director owns the triennial Comprehensive Wholesale Energy Markets and Bulk Power System Risk Report; leads long-horizon load forecasting, scenario modeling, and wholesale market risk analysis; conducts statutory stakeholder processes; responds to policy-scenario requests from the General Assembly; and serves as Maryland’s analytical counterpart to PJM Interconnection on planning tools and assumptions. The Director also prepares the Office’s annual cost estimate, manages its budget, staff, and consultants, and establishes the Office’s modeling tools, data-access procedures, and administrative arrangements. This is a start-up assignment requiring the Director to construct the Office while delivering statutory work products. The first Risk Report and companion strategies report are due to the Governor and General Assembly by September 1, 2028, with subsequent reports every three years. The Director is appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, serves a five-year term, and must be confirmable by the Maryland Senate. The selected candidate is subject to standard appointments vetting, financial disclosure, and conflict-of-interest review, and must address financial interests or client relationships that could conflict with the Office’s independent role. The position is based in Baltimore, Maryland. The State of Maryland describes itself as an equal opportunity employer and states that reasonable accommodations are available to individuals with disabilities as required by law.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited college or university in economics, engineering, public policy, law, or a related field.
Significant professional experience in wholesale electricity markets, resource adequacy, or electric system planning.
At least five years in a supervisory, managerial, or program-leadership capacity.
Ability to be confirmed by the Maryland Senate and satisfy standard Appointments Office vetting, including financial disclosure and conflict-of-interest review.
Ability to address financial interests and client relationships that conflict with the independent assessment role, consistent with Maryland Public Ethics Law.

Nice To Haves

Deep expertise in wholesale electricity markets and resource adequacy.
Experience in RTO/ISO planning or markets, with PJM strongly preferred; utility integrated resource planning; energy consulting; or an equivalent regulatory economics background.
Demonstrated ability to direct production-cost, capacity-expansion, and load-forecast modeling; manage modeling consultants; and defend analysis under expert and adversarial review.
Ability to translate technical results for principals, legislators, stakeholders, and the public, in writing and in testimony.
Credibility across Maryland energy stakeholders and sound judgment about the distinction between independent analysis and policy advocacy.
A record of building or scaling an analytical team, program, or practice, and comfort operating with a small staff and large mandate.
Familiarity with Maryland energy statutes, the PJM stakeholder process, and FERC practice.

Responsibilities

Build and lead Maryland’s independent Strategic Energy Planning Office, including developing and executing its staffing plan, consultant strategy, and modeling platform.
Establish procedures with the Public Service Commission for obtaining information from electric and gas companies under § 7-1302(e), and put administrative arrangements in place.
Direct 20-year load and demand forecasting by transmission zone and electric service territory.
Design scenario analysis meeting statutory requirements, including clean-energy-goals, least-cost, and no-policy-change scenarios that test resource mixes, in-state generation versus imports, retirement risk, and directional ratepayer cost risk.
Assess reliability impacts and least-cost reliability solutions for the scenarios primarily relied on in the Risk Report.
Develop recommendations on resource deployment, demand-side management, program changes, statutory and regulatory changes, market structures, and State, multistate, or electric company procurement, supported by analysis balancing affordability, reliability, and emissions reductions or by a supported finding that identified risks are acceptable.
Build and maintain the Office’s modeling tools, coordinate with PJM on tool development, and conduct wholesale-market generation resource cost-benefit analyses in consultation with the Public Service Commission and Maryland Energy Administration.
Lead stakeholder processes on data inputs and after publication; produce the companion strategies report; document stakeholder engagement and feedback as required by § 7-1307; and support the Commission’s public proceeding on the Risk Report’s results and recommendations.
Manage responses to joint Senate and House committee requests for analysis of up to five policy scenarios annually, delivering results within one year of each request.
Coordinate with the Maryland Energy Administration, Public Service Commission, Power Plant Research Program, Maryland Clean Energy Center, and Maryland Department of the Environment; maintain working relationships with PJM staff, the Office of People’s Counsel, utilities, and market participants.
Prepare the Office’s annual cost estimate for inclusion in the Commission Chairman’s assessment estimate, within the statutory cap on the Office’s share of assessed gross intrastate operating revenues.
Prepare and defend the Office’s budget submission, and procure and manage modeling consultants.
Deliver the first Risk Report and companion strategies report to the Governor and General Assembly by September 1, 2028, and subsequent reports every three years.