Renewable energy like wind and solar are a major piece of the climate puzzle but building a more resilient and efficient electrical grid is critical to our success.
April 22, 2021
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Patricia A. Hoffman
Acting Assistant Secretary, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Electricity
Former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Electricity (OE) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Ms. Patricia A. Hoffman also served as Acting Under Secretary for Science and Energy from January 2017 until November 2017 when the U.S. Senate confirmed Mark Menezes as Under Secretary of Energy. Ms. Hoffman served as Acting Assistant Secretary for OE from January 2017 until October 2017 when the OE Assistant Secretary was confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Ms. Hoffman was named Assistant Secretary for OE from June 2010 to January 2017, after serving as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary since November 2007. The focus of her responsibility was to provide leadership on a national level to modernize the electric grid, enhance the security and reliability of the energy infrastructure and facilitate recovery from disruptions to the energy supply both domestically and internationally. This is critical to meeting the Nation’s growing demand for reliable electricity by overcoming the challenges of our Nation’s aging electricity transmission and distribution system and addressing the vulnerabilities in our energy supply chain.
Prior to her this position, Ms. Hoffman served in a dual capacity as Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) for Research and Development (R&D) and Chief Operating Officer (COO) within OE. During her tenure as the DAS for R&D, she developed the long-term research strategy and improved the management portfolio of research programs for modernizing and improving the resiliency of the electric grid. This included developing and implementing sensors and operational tools for wide-area monitoring, energy storage research and demonstration, and the development of advanced conductors to increase the capacity and flexibility of the grid. She also initiated a new research effort focused on integrating and distributing renewable energy through the electric grid, such as promoting plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and implementing smart grid technologies to maintain system reliability. As COO, she managed the OE business operations, including human resources, budget development, financial execution, and performance management.
Prior to joining OE, she was the Program Manager for the Federal Energy Management Program within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at DOE. This program guides the Federal government to “lead by example” promoting energy efficiency, renewable energy, and smart energy management. Complementing her building energy efficiency experience, she also was the Program Manager for the Distributed Energy Program, which conducted research on advanced natural gas power generation and combined heat and power systems. Her accomplishments included the successful completion of the Advanced Turbine System program resulting in a high-efficiency industrial gas turbine power generation product.
Ms. Hoffman holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Ceramic Science and Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.
This 51st Earth Day is aptly themed “Restore Our Earth.” President Biden’s aggressive strategy for combating climate change – 100% clean energy by 2035 and a net zero economy by 2050 – is the boldest climate action plan in history and is a good start to restoring our earth. The Office of Electricity (OE) is proud to play a key role in meeting these goals and creating cutting-edge clean energy technologies and energy infrastructure improvements to help move the country toward our clean energy future. Solving the technological challenge of grid scale energy storage and making it economical is one of the forefront examples of innovative research OE is doing to contribute to the President’s goal.
Renewable energy like wind and solar are a major piece of the climate puzzle, but building a more resilient and efficient electrical grid is critical to our success. If we are going to add thousands of gigawatts of clean, renewable energy to the grid, we’ll need to make sure that energy is consistently available when and where it is needed most. This means continuing to revitalize our existing infrastructure and developing new and innovative technologies capable of supporting a modernized grid.
President Biden’s American Jobs Plan will mobilize investment to support this modernization and the Department of Energy is in an important strategic leadership position to guide these investments.
But we've got to create public-private partnerships. The Department can't do this alone. We must tap into the world-class capabilities of the Department’s National Labs, the expertise of our Power Marketing Administrations, and the ingenuity of stakeholders to address the challenges and risks facing the nation’s electrical infrastructure.
The need to educate the next generation workforce is also critical. We've got to bring a renewed sense of innovation into the workforce and get graduates from colleges and universities excited about being in this industry.
When I look back, I see the tremendous success we’ve had in grid modernization and advancing information technology. We've created an excitement around the grid space that hadn’t been there. This is the future, the clean energy future, and if we are to meet our clean energy goals, we need to keep this excitement going.