Convo: Cisco DeVries on OhmConnect’s Innovative Demand Response Program
In this episode of Flanigan’s Eco-Logic, Ted speaks with Cisco DeVries, CEO of OhmConnect, California’s leading residential clean energy program.
Cisco has over 20 years of experience in the energy sector. He served as an aide to the U.S. Secretary of Energy during the Clinton Administration, was chief of staff to the Mayor of Berkeley, and designed one of the most successful clean energy products, “Property Assessed Clean Energy” (PACE), which won the Scientific American World Changing Idea Award and is implemented in over 20 states. Cisco is now transforming Demand Response with OhmConnect, where he and his team are deploying their technologies to help reduce power demands during peak periods.
He and Ted discuss his upbringing just outside Yosemite National Park, studying at UC San Diego for his undergraduate degree, and then going on to Berkeley for his graduate program in Public Policy. Before OhmConnect, Cisco co-founded Renew Financial, which became one of the largest dedicated clean energy finance companies in the U.S. As CEO of Renew, he raised over $2 billion in private capital that financed energy efficiency and clean energy projects in nearly 100,000 homes.
Cisco explains what OhmConnect does, how their platform works, and what led him to now serve as CEO. He highlights their unique approach to using existing internet-connected thermostat and smart plugs, in conjunction with data from electric meters, to provide Demand Response benefits to the grid. Their business model is simple: customers get paid for lowering electric usage during high demand, and utilities can keep the power on without purchasing expensive peak power.