The man responsible for keeping the lights on is about to sign off.
ISO New England chief executive Gordon van Welie has been making a goodbye tour of sorts this week, speaking to various industry groups before he retires at the end of the month.
Van Welie led the Holyoke-based overseer of the region’s power grid almost since its creation, dating back to 2000 when he briefly served as chief operating officer before moving up to the top spot. Vamsi Chadalavada, the current COO, will take over the 700-person organization in January.
As head of ISO New England, van Welie has often sounded the alarm about the sometimes precarious state of New England’s electric grid, expressing concerns about factors that might leave the region without enough power at certain times. Toward that end, van Welie and the rest of his ISO team have overseen the New England capacity market, a way of paying generators for ensuring their power plants are available at times of peak demand. This market is about to undergo some major changes, but it will fall on Chadalavada to implement them.
Van Welie held forth on Tuesday with Thad Hill, executive chairman of Houston-based power-plant owner Calpine Corp., at the annual New England Energy Summit, held by the New England Power Generators Association and Dupont Group at the Colonnade Hotel in the Back Bay. (He returned to the Colonnade on Wednesday to meet with ISO’s Consumer Liaison Group, and will speak at the New England Restructuring Roundtable on Friday.)
Hill asked about the highs and lows for van Welie, who got his career start at a utility in his native country of South Africa.
The good days: when ISO’s team reaches a collective “flow state,” firing on all cylinders, to solve hard problems.
The bad days: when energy issues get politicized, and ISO New England ends up as the punching bag. Van Welie said that “it’s escalated to the point of bomb threats and death threats.”
Van Welie may be stepping down from one of the most visible perches in the industry, but he probably won’t be going away.
“I’d like to stay involved in the industry in some way,” van Welie said. “Hopefully, I’ll have some portfolio of things that keep me busy because otherwise I’ll drive my wife crazy.”
Judging from the standing ovation van Welie received from the crowd of some 200 power-industry types, he won’t be hard up for options.
This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston’s business scene.
Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com. Follow him @jonchesto.