Nicholas Burica
La Grange,IL
Summary
Principal Regulatory Specialist with 18+ years of distribution utility experience in engineering, capacity planning, project management, and regulatory affairs. Designer and manager of many projects integrating Smart Grid technologies onto the electrical grid such as the first DERMS at ComEd, the hosting capacity map, interconnection guidelines, and interconnection studies
Overview
18
18
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Principal Regulatory Specialist
Commonwealth Edison
04.2023 - Current
- Discovery Process Lead for companies Multi-Year Rate Plan & Grid Plan. Project managing +2K discovery requests related to the plans which seek to support the transition to a decarbonized economy in compliance with the new Energy Laws in Illinois
- ComEd Board Representative for the Exelon Sustainability Report, responsible for drafting and editing the yearly report.
- Regulatory & Governmental Affairs Lead for IIJA grant opportunity management
Principal Business Program Manager - REACTS
Commonwealth Edison
06.2022 - 03.2023
- Supporting Renewable Energy Advanced Control and Telemetry Systems (REACTS) Strategy Efforts & Pilots – PLTE Use Cases, New Wireless Technologies, Simulation Software, and PLTE Thermal Camera for Substation Management
- Managing and drafting portions of ComEd's application for the IIJA Middle Mile Grant.
- Management of ComEd's Leasing of spare Dark Fiber Optics from the network to ISP's, WISP's, Telco's, Municipalities, etc. for long haul/mid mile transport.
Principal Project Manager - DER Engineering
Commonwealth Edison
08.2019 - 05.2022
- Hosting Capacity - Manager of the analysis of the +5K circuits and designer of the revised tool performing the analysis.
- DERMS Pilot - Designer of the algorithm for the companies first DERMS and project manager of the software design and integration.
- Project Manager and engineer on multiple projects such as Solar and DER forecasting, DER modeling, Interconnection Standards, and future DERMS strategy.
- Served as the ComEd representative for multiple cross utility efforts - Non-Wires Alternative Charter, Load Modeling, and Interconnection Standards Documentation.
Senior Engineer Staff Planner - Capacity Planning
Commonwealth Edison
06.2017 - 07.2019
- Manager and engineer on multiple departmental programs - Retail Rate Loss Factor, Under Frequency, Real Estate Requests, Planning Criteria and Substation Design
- Lead planning representative and designer of multiple cross departmental projects - Initial Hosting Capacity map analysis, first Comed substation BESS, Smart Invertors settings, and DER Interconnections.
Senior Engineer - Capacity Planning
Commonwealth Edison
10.2011 - 05.2017
- Area Planner for the North Shore of Illinois, responsible for the development of area plans, new business connections,generation interconnections, and contingency plans
- Mentored many new planners and interns through the planning process and distribution system modeling
- Designed and taught training classes on various planning topics and on the CYMEdist modeling software
- Served as the subject matter expert on the CYMEdist & Cape programs for the department
- Created multiple job aids on a wide variety of subjects from departmental financial processes to the CYMEdist program
Associate Engineer - Capacity Planning
Commonwealth Edison
12.2007 - 10.2011
- Assisting Area Planners with AutoCAD drawings, performing load and contingency studies, and development of New Business projects
- Handling large project financial estimates and tracking for the department.
Design Construction Consultant - New Business
Commonwealth Edison
03.2006 - 11.2007
- Sustaining an executable project schedule for internal workforce for residential connection projects
- Processing and monitoring financial budget on all large projects for the department.
Education
BS in Electrical Engineering -
Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, ILMS in Energy and Environmental Management -
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CTSkills
- Distribution System Modeling
- Distributed Energy Resources
- Project Management
- Regulatory Policy
- Energy Law
- Hosting Capacity
- DERMS
- Fiber & PLTE
- Distribution Capacity Planning
- Non-Wires Alternatives
- BESS
- HVD Networks
- Interconnections
- Smart Invertors
Certification
- University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, Sustainable Environmental Planning and Management Graduate Certificate, 05/2024
- Project Management Institute, Harrisburg, PA, Project Management Professional (PMP), 10/2022
Awards
- ComEd Innovation Award, Financial Impact - DERMS Design Interconnection Savings, 10/2023
- ComEd Innovation Award, Technology Transfer - DERMS Utilization by External Utilities, 10/2023
- EPRI Technology Transfer Award, Standardized File Format for DER Settings, 03/2022
- EPRI Technology Transfer Award, DER Integration Requirements, Practices, and Opportunities, 03/2021
- ComEd Engineering Conference Innovation Award, Development of the Hosting Capacity Map, 09/2019
Projects & Publications
- Realizing the Value of DERs: A Utility Perspective, IEEE Power and Energy Magazine, 04/2022 - Authors: Nicholas Burica, Aleksi Paaso, Ryan Burg
- Value of DER Engineer / Project Manager, 01/2018 - 04/2022, Working with cross departmental team to design the compensation formula and eligibility strategy.
- Hosting Capacity Engineer / Project Manager, 01/2017 - 04/2022, Assisted in the evolution of the program, feeder calculation, and modeling effort. Enhanced the program to align the calculation with new departmental standards and requirements.
- Exelon Utilities Non-Wires Alternative Charter Program Lead, 10/2019 - 12/2020, Designing milestones, leading bi-weekly meetings, creating multiple reports, and the final close-out document.
Timeline
Principal Regulatory Specialist
Commonwealth Edison
04.2023 - Current
Principal Business Program Manager - REACTS
Commonwealth Edison
06.2022 - 03.2023
Principal Project Manager - DER Engineering
Commonwealth Edison
08.2019 - 05.2022
Senior Engineer Staff Planner - Capacity Planning
Commonwealth Edison
06.2017 - 07.2019
Senior Engineer - Capacity Planning
Commonwealth Edison
10.2011 - 05.2017
Associate Engineer - Capacity Planning
Commonwealth Edison
12.2007 - 10.2011
Design Construction Consultant - New Business
Commonwealth Edison
03.2006 - 11.2007
BS in Electrical Engineering -
Illinois Institute of Technology
MS in Energy and Environmental Management -
University of Connecticut
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