2017 Pat Wood Power Star Award Recipient Selected

1/23/2017

Trip has over 38 years of experience in the electric power industry. Most recently he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). He joined ERCOT in 2008 as their Chief Operating Officer and also served as interim President and CEO.  As the independent system operator for the region, ERCOT manages the flow of electric power to 24 million Texas customers, representing about 90% of the state’s electric load.

“I had the privilege of serving on the ERCOT board when Trip was voted in as CEO, and I was always impressed with his knowledge, professionalism and commitment to the organization, the market and the people with whom he worked,” said Calvin Crowder, President-South Central Region for Gridliance and a member of the GCPA board.

Prior to joining ERCOT, Trip was an independent consultant for eight years specializing in electric deregulation, where he was founder and owner of Benchmark Power Consulting, Inc. One of his most significant assignments was leading the stakeholder process that created the market rules for ERCOT’s redesigned “nodal” market. He started his career with Duke Energy where he spent 22 years.  He led projects in the area of transmission substation engineering and was part of the team that launched the California Independent System Operator.

Trip is a member of the Board of Directors of MISO, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Texas A&M University Smart Grid Center and the Advisory Board of ResilientGrid, a company focused on optimizing human performance on the grid and grid resilience by improving big data visualization and decision support.

Allison Piper, the president of the GCPA board of directors, commented, “GCPA is proud to present the 2017 award to Trip Doggett and recognize the significant contributions he has made to advance competitive energy markets here in Texas.”

Doggett joins an illustrious list of past recipients including:
  • John Fainter, Association of Electric Companies of Texas past president (2016);
  • Robert Webb, noted attorney and renewable energy advocate (2015);
  • Judy Walsh, former Texas Public Utility Commission (PUCT) Commissioner (2014);
  • John Stauffacher, former GCPA Executive Director (2013);
  • Mike Greene, former Vice Chairman of Energy Future Holdings (2012);
  • Marianne Carroll, Partner at the law firm of Brown McCarroll (2011);
  • Trudy Harper, President of Tenaska Power Services (2010);
  • Jess Totten, Director of Competitive Markets at the PUCT (2009);
  • F. John Meyer, former Vice President of Regulatory & Transmission Services for Reliant Energy (2008);
  • Sam Jones, former CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) (2007);
  • and Pat Wood III, former PUCT and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman (2006). 

The award is named for Wood who will assist in presenting the award during a luncheon on April 19th at GCPA’s 31st Annual Spring Conference in Houston, Texas.

Pat Wood, for whom the award is named, stated, “I have been able to sleep well at night for the past several years because the reliability of my electricity and the security of our markets were under the watchful eye of Trip Doggett.  As head of ERCOT these seven years, Trip was the right person in the right job and the right time.  We all owe him a heartfelt thanks for a race well run.”

Trip is a Registered Professional Engineer and earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Trip and his wife Debbi spend the summer in the NC mountains and the winter in Florida.  As avid RVers, they travel extensively.  They have a daughter, son and twin grandchildren.