Peter R. Smith

Advisory Board

In addition to being a member of Senergy’s Advisory Board, Peter R. Smith serves as the Managing Director for the Climate Change, Energy and the Environment Group for the Pataki-Cahill Group. Smith joined Pataki9-Cahill after serving for nearly four years as the President and CEO of the New York State Energy and Development Authority (NYSERDA).

While leading NYSERDA, he oversaw a $400 million dollar budget dedicated to research, economic development and deployment of progressive energy programs and technologies throughout the State of New York. Among his many accomplishments, Peter led the effort to establish the nation’s first clean energy technology park. Peter also represented New York State’s energy policy interests as part of Governor Pataki’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) leadership team. In that role Mr. Smith directed NYSERDA’s analysis and modeling of the region’s electric generating system using the proprietary Integrated Planning Model (IPM) to determine the emission reductions, potential wholesale price impacts and fuel mix effects necessary to meet the carbon reduction goals of RGGI.

Peter spearheaded NYSERDA’s implementation of the nation’s first state-administered Renewable Portfolio Standard, requiring 25% of New York’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2012. Smith oversaw the first two rounds of implementation of the program, including the construction of the largest wind farm array east f the Mississippi and an additional 21 projects totaling more than $295 million in investment from NYSERDA. The 21 projects represent 880 megawatts of renewable resource capacity and created private sector investment of over $2 billion in New York.

Prior to serving as President and CEO of NYSERDA, Smith served as the Vice President of NYSERDA and was Director of NYSERDA’s Energy Analysis Program and prior to that was the Director of Planning for the New York State Energy Office. Currently he is the President of the Board of Directors of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a member of the board for the Alliance to Save Energy and the Public Sustainability Partnership. He is the former chairman of the National Association of State Energy Officials and the former chairman of the Gas Technology Institute Public Interest Advisory Committee.

Peter has a Master’s in Public Administration from the Nelson A. Rockefeller School of Public Affairs and Policy at the University at Albany and completed his undergraduate degree at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York.