CRS Press Release: CEC Honors Dr. Jan Hamrin

THE CALIFORNIA ENERGY COMMISSION HONORS
DR. JAN HAMRIN

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF (May 09, 2007) -- The Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) announced today that Dr. Jan Hamrin, president of CRS, was honored by the California Energy Commission (CEC) for her outstanding leadership in shaping state, national, and international renewable energy markets. A resolution passed this morning declared, “the California Energy Commission acknowledges and thanks Dr. Jan Hamrin for her 25 years of exemplary contributions to furthering renewable energy development.”

The resolution recognized Dr. Hamrin’s pioneering efforts. She served from 1979 to 1980 as the manager of Solar Programs for the California Energy Commission, working closely with local governments to develop solar energy programs and promote solar power as a viable generation resource.

Dr. Hamrin was the founder and executive director of the Independent Energy Producers Association in the 1980s, helping to make California a world leader in new renewable development through her assistance in contract negotiations between renewable generators and California’s investor-owned utilities. In 1997, Dr. Hamrin founded CRS and was instrumental in developing the Green-e Renewable Energy Certification Program, a powerful tool for consumer protection in the national renewable energy market with participation by nearly 160 renewable energy marketers and utilities that resulted in more than 5.2 million MWh of Green-e certified renewable energy sold in 2005.

Dr. Hamrin continued her work in California last year when she mobilized a key group of renewable energy experts to assess how to accelerate and expand the current California Renewable Portfolio Standard and related programs to achieve the Governor’s goal of meeting 33 percent of statewide electric power supply with renewable energy by 2020. Dr. Hamrin co-authored “Achieving a 33% Renewable Energy Target,” a report developed at the request of the California Public Utilities Commission that included the results of that assessment along with the changes needed to expand renewables to meet Governor Schwarzenegger’s greenhouse gas reduction targets.

In addition, Dr. Hamrin has made significant contributions to the field of renewables internationally, including: sponsoring and participating in peer-to-peer meetings in 1998 between state utility regulators from the United States and regulators from Argentina and Brazil; arranging and participating in workshops and policy briefing sessions for representatives of Southeast Asian countries; sustained relationship building with Canada, Australia, Mexico, and the International Energy Agency in the development of global energy policy; and most recently, her role in developing China’s Renewable Energy Promotion Law in February 2005 that contains a near-term target of 5 percent renewable energy by 2010 and 16 percent by 2020.

Following the resolution, Dr. Hamrin remarked, “I’ve been very fortunate to have found an industry where I’ve felt committed and challenged over the last few decades. I share this resolution with the other renewable energy innovators I’ve met along the way.” A celebration honoring Dr. Hamrin’s achievements, as well as CRS’s 10 years of excellence, will be held on May 24th in San Francisco.

About the Center for Resource Solutions
The Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) is a San Francisco-based nonprofit with a global impact. CRS’ small size brings forth expert responses to pertinent climate change issues with the speed and effectiveness necessary to provide real-time solutions to ongoing environmental problems. CRS’ leadership through collaboration and environmental innovation builds policies and consumer protection mechanisms that foster healthy and sustained growth in national and international markets for environmental solutions to climate change. Visit: www.resource-solutions.org.