Largest US Electric Grid Organization Addresses COVID-19

Abstract

Manu Asthana oversees the largest power grid in North America and the largest electricity market in the world. He has extensive leadership experience across the electricity industry, including power generation operations, optimization and dispatch, competitive retail electricity, electricity and natural gas trading, and risk management, which he acquired over more than 20 years in the industry. He formerly served as President of Direct Energy Home in North America, where he led a team of over 2,600 to combine the company’s retail electricity and home-services businesses, creating a leading energy and home-services provider serving over 3.4 million customers. He previously led power generation operations at Direct Energy, energy trading at both Direct Energy and at the TXU group of companies, as well as generation optimization and dispatch at TXU. In addition, Mr. Asthana also served as chief risk officer of TXU Corporation, where he helped senior management and the board quantify and manage risk in TXU’s businesses. Mr. Asthana earned a Bachelor of Science in economics from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a Joseph Wharton Scholar. He was interviewed by JCIP Editor Richard Krieg in September 2020.

Keywords

• electricity grid
• resiliency
• disaster planning