Session 3: TENs with Hybrid Ownership Models

Jeff Giffin is an engineer with 17 years of experience designing, operating, and maintaining innovative water and energy systems. His track record includes deploying large scale sustainable energy and water projects and optimizing existing systems to reduce costs, extend life, and improve environmental performance. Jeff lives and works in Bellingham, WA, and is the Senior Development Manager for the Pacific Northwest at Corix, overseeing the development of new low carbon Thermal Energy Networks.

Tomasz Smetny-Sowa, Senior Program Director, Energy Services Acquisition Program (ESAP)
Tomasz Smetny-Sowa has been the Senior Director of ESAP since June 2012. Tomasz has a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with a specialization in Building Systems from Gdansk Technical University in Poland and has worked with HVAC systems in buildings and ships, as well as with District Energy Systems (DES) in Poland, Sweden, and Denmark. After teaching thermodynamics, related subjects for four years at the University in Oran, Algeria, Tomasz came to Canada in 1985. He worked in the private sector as a consultant for 8 years and in 1993 he joined the Federal Public Service at the department of Public Services and Procurement Canada as a Mechanical Engineer with the Architectural and Engineering Services team. He became Manager of the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering team in 2009. In this role, Tomasz contributed to the ESAP feasibility study.
Following a 2009 boiler explosion at the Cliff heating and cooling plant in Ottawa, Ontario Canada, Tomasz led the Temporary Boiler Plant initiative from concept to commissioning.
Since then, Tomasz has been responsible for leading a diverse team including technical advisors with specialized experience in District Energy Systems, and for shaping the project development process and delivering a Validation Workshop, which supported the development of the ESAP business case. His extensive knowledge and experience are significant assets for the project.
In his role as Senior Director, Tomasz is accountable for the Program’s strategic direction, operational leadership, stakeholder relationships and engagement, the project’s governance structure as well as the project’s risk management.

Gerard is a Principal with Reshape Infrastructure Strategies, an development and advisory firm based in Vancouver, BC that operates across North America. He is a Professional Engineer (non-practising) with a Master’s degree in Clean Energy Engineering. Gerard has twenty years of experience in green buildings and district energy/thermal energy networks. He supports energy utilities, master plan developers, campuses, and municipalities to accelerate the energy transition.