Procuring & Contracting Power for Data Centers

Abby Briggerman is a partner at the law firm Holland & Hart.  She is co-leader of the firm's Electric Power and Data Center industry teams.  In that role Ms. Briggerman helps data center developers, industrial consumers, and non-utility generators address the complex regulatory challenges of securing reliable power supply in today's rapidly evolving energy landscape.  She advocates for large industrial consumer coalitions and data centers in electric utility rate proceedings, service quality matters, certificates of public convenience and necessity, demand side management programs, and rulemaking proceedings. Her practice extends beyond contested proceedings to include electric utility resource planning at both state and regional levels.  Before joining Holland & Hart, she represented municipal utility interests in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proceedings.  Ms. Briggerman served on the Board of the Colorado Chapter of the Women's Energy Network as inaugural President-Elect (2017-2018) and President (2019), and on the Board of the global Women's Energy Network Foundation (2023-2024).  She earned her law degree at George Washington University School of Law and a B.A. degree from Cornell University.

Rochelle Rabeler is a partner at the law firm Holland & Hart.  She counsels developers, investors, sponsors, and independent power producers in connection with wind, solar, storage, and other energy projects throughout the U.S., varying in size from 100 kW to 1000+ MW. Ms. Rabeler works with both buyers and sellers, guiding them through each nuance of project development contracts, mergers and acquisitions, and debt and equity financings, including ISDA and other hedge and swap agreements. She specializes in power purchase agreements (PPAs) and has extensive experience representing parties in the negotiation of traditional physical offtake PPAs and also financial and virtual PPAs or contracts for differences. To date, Ms. Rabeler has supported clients successfully negotiate and execute corporate PPAs for wind and solar projects totaling more than 2 GW in the aggregate.

Hans Royal is Senior Director of Renewable Energy Strategy & Carbon Reduction at Schneider Electric Energy and Sustainability Services.  He joined Schneider in 2017 and is a leading advisor in the corporate renewable energy market, involved in clients signing over 20,000MW of new renewable energy PPAs in the last few years.   Mr. Royal manages a team of renewable energy professionals specializing in corporate renewable energy procurement for the Fortune 500, as well as designed and launched Schneider's Tax Credit Advisory team. Clients have included Walmart, PepsiCo, Cummins, Fifth Third Bank, Vail Resorts, Target, Digital Realty, Davita, Ball Corporation among others. His previous experience in the renewable energy industry includes important roles at Akuo Energy, Meade Electric and Performance Composites.  Mr. Royal earned degrees from Millikin University where he graduated summa cum laude and the Paris School of Business.

Edward Socia is the Insight Director for datacenterHawk.  His 13 years of industry experience started in community development and sustainability before he transitioned from managing renewable research platforms at Energy Acuity to working with top data center teams, including a pivotal role at CBRE. Mr. Socia earned a BS degree from the University of Vermont.

Nathan Smith is Director of Utility Engagement North America for Vantage Data Centers.  As such, he leads the utility strategy and engagement across Vantage Data Centers' North American footprint.  His responsibilities include developing and managing relationships with key utility partners to align utility strategies with business objectives, advocating for optimized rate structures and service agreements, and supporting the expansion of the company's energy portfolio in new and existing markets. Before joining Vantage in 2023, Mr. Smith worked for nearly eight years at Xcel Energy, most recently serving as Key Account Manager.  Previously he served in executive capacities at Global Compression Group and Squash Compression.  He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration & Management from Southern New Hampshire University.

Raymond Stuart is Associate Director of Solutions Consulting & Emerging Markets within Schneider Electric’s SE Advisory Services business, leading a global team that develops customized solutions for large, sophisticated energy users.

With more than 22 years of energy consulting experience, Mr. Stuart has supported clients on market entry analyses, security of supply and power availability assessments, and long‑term renewable and conventional procurement. His team’s work includes opportunity analysis, commercial and regulatory risk evaluation, and applied data analytics to inform power purchase agreements, utility negotiations, and grid‑interconnection planning for data centers and other major energy consumers.