Chris Bilby, Research & Program Engineer at Holy Cross Energy, is a recipient of the Rocky Mountain Electric League (RMEL) 2022 Emerging Leader Award.

The Emerging Leader Award recognizes and honors RMEL members who demonstrate high potential in their company and have 5-10 years of experience in the industry, establishing significant contributions within their organization, and have demonstrated the potential for leadership and continuing service in the electric utility industry.

Chris Bilby is a Research and Programs Engineer at Holy Cross Energy (HCE). Skilled in electric distribution design, product design and process engineering, Chris occupies a unique position at HCE, bridging the worlds between operation of HCE’s power grid and the way its 55,000+ members interact with it.

The Basalt Vista project, the first net-zero affordable neighborhood in rural Colorado, is one example of how he is leading change. His holistic vision ensured that this residential project offered leading-edge technologies to homeowners — features like all-electric heating, solar PV, electric vehicle charging, and battery storage — transforming residences into individual power plants of their own that could feedback into the HCE grid. This triple win (affordable, carbon-free, and flexible to clean energy’s variability) is indicative of his approach.

Chris has also authored HCE’s vehicle electrification plan and Peak Time Payback program; collaborating on electrifying transit buses, and growing the Level 2 and Level 3 EV charging network in HCE’s service territory. His passion for improving Holy Cross Energy’s community and working towards carbon-free energy shines through in everything he does. When Chris develops a new member program, he creates a full program package, ensuring that the programs are scalable, duplicatable and can be handed off to the member service teams. Examples include Power+, Peak Time Payback, and Charge at Home Charge at Work. He has demonstrated a great deal of vision, leadership, and collaboration to bring these projects to success. Chris has been a driver of change, working both internally across departments and with the communities within the Holy Cross Energy service territory.

Congratulations to all 2022 RMEL Emerging Leader Award Winners, and thank you for your dedication to the electric energy industry!