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Anirudh Kshemendranath

Senior Technical Consultant, Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors · Toronto

Shaping how electricity systems plan, value, and pay for energy resources.

I work at the intersection of electricity markets, utility regulation, and power system planning, helping translate technical and economic analysis into decisions about energy investments, market structures, and public policy.

Anirudh Kshemendranath
  • 10+ years in electricity markets, regulation and energy storage
  • Expert testimony in five jurisdictions New Hampshire, Virginia, Maine, British Columbia, New Brunswick
  • Published on DER valuation, rate design and EV charging Utility Dive, AESP Energy Intel, ACEEE Summer Study
  • Speaker Energy Storage Canada, Electricity Transformation Canada and AESP
  • Treasurer AESP Ontario Chapter board

Expertise

Three areas, one question: what a resource is worth and who pays for it.

Electricity markets & regulation

Who pays, what a resource is worth, and how rules turn analysis into rates.

  • Utility rate design and cost allocation
  • DER valuation and compensation
  • Regulatory economics and expert testimony
  • Wholesale electricity markets and market design
  • Large-load tariffs and cost responsibility

Power system planning & flexibility

How planning frameworks and models decide which resources get built.

  • Energy storage and long-duration storage
  • Integrated resource planning
  • Resource adequacy and capacity valuation
  • Distributed energy resource integration
  • Planning and modelling frameworks

Energy transition strategy

Turning technology and market change into practical policy and investment choices.

  • Emerging electricity technologies
  • Electrification and large-load growth
  • Energy transition policy
  • Grid investment, infrastructure and supply chains
  • Clean energy market development

Selected work

Five engagements, from the analysis to the decision.

Where a study belongs to my employer or a client, I say so.

Dunsky for the NH Department of Energy · 2022–24

New Hampshire Value of Distributed Energy Resources study

Dunsky study

Challenge
New Hampshire needed an evidence base for what distributed solar and hydro are worth to the grid as it revisited net metering.
My contribution
I built the VDER analytical tools, ran the analysis and co-presented results to stakeholders. With Alex Hill, I testified as one of the study authors in Docket DE 22-060 (direct Dec 2023, rebuttal Jan 2024, hearing Aug 2024).
Key findings
DERs provided system-wide net avoided-cost value of $0.11–$0.18 per kWh in 2021, forecast at $0.10–$0.23 per kWh in 2035 (Dunsky final report).
Outcome
The study was filed as evidence in the PUC's net metering tariff docket.
Evidence

Dunsky for BC Hydro · 2024–26

BC Hydro net metering: value of solar and cost-shifting

Challenge
BC Hydro proposed new net metering rates and needed independent evidence on what customer solar is worth and whether it shifts costs to other customers.
My contribution
I prepared Dunsky's Value and Cost-Shifting evidence and rebuttal (Exhibit B-25), developing the framework and methodology. I testified on Dunsky's witness panel with Ahmed Hanafy on Nov 18, 2025.
Key findings
Dunsky's methods produced an energy value range of 9.84–10.04¢/kWh.
Outcome
In Order G-64-26 (Mar 24, 2026) the BCUC found Dunsky had reasonably assessed the benefits of behind-the-meter solar; the approved 10¢/kWh energy price falls within Dunsky's range. The decision is the Commission's.
Evidence

Expert witness for the Coalition for Community Solar Access · 2025

Virginia shared solar minimum bill

Challenge
Virginia's shared solar programs needed a minimum bill that doesn't undercut participation or shift costs.
My contribution
Expert witness in PUR-2025-00028 (Appalachian Power) and PUR-2025-00031 (Dominion).
Key findings
My APCo testimony argued shared solar benefits outweigh costs and the minimum bill should be $0.
Outcome
The SCC issued Final Orders on June 30, 2025 (APCo) and Nov 24, 2025 (Dominion). The Dominion order cites my testimony and directed the minimum bill be applied as a floor rather than an add-on.
Evidence

Talks as a Dunsky consultant; study by Dunsky for Energy Storage Canada · 2023–26

Planning frameworks for long-duration energy storage

Challenge
Long-duration storage rarely shows up in utility plans and procurements.
My contribution
In talks at ETC 2023, the Energy and Mines Summit 2024, Dunsky's Next 20 webinar (2025) and ESC 2026, I've argued the barrier is largely how planning frameworks are built, not cost or maturity.
Key findings
Dunsky study A Dunsky study for Energy Storage Canada (Jan 2024) found up to 6 GW of 10-hour LDES from 2032 could save about $11B–$20B against the IESO's baseline scenario.
Evidence

Dunsky study for CanREA; conference paper with Ahmed Hanafy · 2023–24

Behind-the-meter solar in Canada's net-zero pathway

Challenge
How much rooftop and on-site solar does Canada need on a net-zero path?
My contribution
Lead author Lead author and presenter of the ACCESM 2024 paper (with Ahmed Hanafy) presenting the national outlook; quoted in SustainableBiz.
Key findings
BTM solar needs to supply about 24–48 TWh (2–4% of demand) by 2050, versus about 1.5 TWh today: a 20–40x scale-up.
Evidence

Perspectives

Three arguments I keep returning to.

How electricity systems measure value

What a distributed resource is worth depends on the system it sits in, and on the framework used to measure it.

  • Beyond Net Metering: Unlocking win-win scenarios through robust DER valuation frameworks

    Sponsored content by DunskyCo-author · Utility Dive · Oct 2024 · with Samuel Ross

    Retail-rate net metering is showing its age as adoption grows; a data-driven value-of-DER framework pays fairly with less cross-subsidy, and context is critical.

  • Here Comes the Sun: Determining the Future Benefit of Net-Metered Solar

    Lead authorACEEE Summer Study · 2024 · with Alex Newhook

How markets and regulations allocate costs and benefits

Rules decide who pays for new load and new resources, and who shares in the benefits.

  • Charging in Sync: Coordinating EV Infrastructure in Multifamily Housing for Equitable Electrification

    Lead authorAESP Energy Intel · Q2 2025 · with Brendan McEwan

    Coordinated EV-ready retrofits with load management in Ontario multifamily buildings hold marginal system cost increases to about 2.5% versus nearly 3.5% uncoordinated.

  • What Comes After Net-metering: How Industry Can Drive Modernization of Solar Compensation with VDER

    SpeakerElectricity Transformation Canada 2024, Calgary · Oct 2024

    A fair, transparent value-of-solar framework can be built from any stakeholder's starting point, and industry should engage early in net metering reform.

How planning frameworks shape energy investments

A resource can be screened out by planning rules before its cost is ever compared.

  • How Planning Frameworks May be Limiting the Expansion of LDES

    SpeakerEnergy Storage Canada Conference 2026 · Sep 2026

    LDES is under-represented in planning and procurement mainly because of how planning frameworks are built, not cost or maturity.

  • The Remote Advantage: Leveraging Remote Communities for Canada's LDES Competitiveness

    SpeakerElectricity Transformation Canada 2023, Calgary · Oct 2023

    Canadian LDES companies are technologically competitive but face a financing valley of death; we need institutions able to take technology risk over longer horizons.

How I approach complex energy decisions

Understand the system, build the evidence, land the decision.

  • Understand the systemStart with the economics, technical constraints, market conditions and regulatory context.
  • Build defensible evidenceUse transparent frameworks, quantitative modelling and honest comparison of alternatives.
  • Translate evidence into decisionsConnect findings to what they mean for planning, investment, market design and regulation.

Speaking & testimony

Regulatory expert testimony.

Five jurisdictions in Canada and the US.

Speaking & industry engagement

Conferences, panels and webinars.

Arguments from the ESC 2026, ETC 2024 and ETC 2023 talks are in Perspectives.

  • How Planning Frameworks May be Limiting the Expansion of LDES Speaker · Energy Storage Canada Conference 2026 · Sep 2026 · session with Nitin Padmanabhan, EPRI Canada
  • IESO Nova Scotia Integrated Resource Planning Review: stakeholder webinar Project team member · IESO Nova Scotia · Apr 2026

    On the Dunsky team that presented to stakeholders.

  • The Role for AI & Software Innovations in the BESS Industry Moderator · Energy Storage Canada Conference 2025 · Sep 2025 · panel with Edgecom Energy, FlexGen, Blakes

    How software and AI change how battery storage is designed, operated and monetized.

  • From Plug-In to Program: Designing EV Charging for Load Flexibility Panelist · AESP Flex Connect 2025, Salt Lake City · Aug 2025

    The case for comprehensive EV-ready retrofits in multifamily buildings.

  • The Next 20 in Energy: Navigating Growth, Reliability, and Reform Speaker, Emerging Resources · Dunsky webinar · Feb 2025

    How DERs, long-duration storage and clean fuels can meet load growth.

  • Long-duration storage panel Panelist · The Decarbonized Mine, Energy and Mines Summit, Toronto · Nov 2024

    Canada's advantage in the resources and capital long-duration storage needs.

  • What Comes After Net-metering: How Industry Can Drive Modernization of Solar Compensation with VDER Speaker · Electricity Transformation Canada 2024, Calgary · Oct 2024 · see Perspectives
  • Assessing BTM Solar's Contribution to Canada's Net-Zero Pathway Lead author and presenter · Atlantic Canadian Conference on Energy Systems Modelling, Moncton · Jun 2024 · see Selected work
  • The Remote Advantage: Leveraging Remote Communities for Canada's LDES Competitiveness Speaker · Electricity Transformation Canada 2023, Calgary · Oct 2023 · see Perspectives
  • New Hampshire VDER Study: Results Presentation Speaker, with Claire Cameron and Ahmed Hanafy · NH Department of Energy stakeholder session · Sep 2022 · see Selected work

About

What a resource is worth, who pays for the grid, and what gets built.

I work on the questions that sit under most electricity decisions: what a resource is worth, who pays for the grid, and how planning rules shape what gets built. These questions are getting harder as load grows, distributed resources spread and regulators are asked to move faster.

I've spent more than ten years across energy storage economics, wholesale market modelling, utility planning and regulatory proceedings, from storage dispatch modelling at Bosch to expert testimony in Canada and the US. I like building the analytical tools myself, which keeps me honest about what the numbers can and can't support.

That has made me sceptical of answers that ignore context. The same resource can be worth very different amounts in different systems, and the framework you choose often decides the outcome before the analysis starts.

Career & credentials

  • Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors, 2019–present Senior Technical Consultant (2024–present); Consultant (2022–24); Senior Principal Analyst (2021–22); Senior Analyst (2019–21)
  • Fractal Energy Storage Consultants, 2018–19, Senior Consultant Advised storage developers and investors on project economics, wholesale-market participation and regulatory risk in US markets
  • Strategen Consulting, 2015–18 Regulatory analysis, rate design and economic modelling; energy storage roadmaps
  • Bosch Energy Storage Analytical modelling of wholesale market participation
  • MBA Quantic School of Business and Technology
  • MS, Energy Science, Technology & Policy Carnegie Mellon University
  • BE, Metallurgy & Materials Engineering NIT Nagpur
  • Treasurer AESP Ontario Chapter board

Pronounced uh-NI-rood SHAY-men-druh-naath. The K is silent.

Contact

Connect on electricity markets, regulation, and the energy transition.

I'm glad to talk about industry questions, research collaboration and speaking. Views here are my own.

Toronto, Ontario

Full catalogue

Everything: publications, talks, testimony and reports.

Searchable, with filters for topic, type and role.