Molecules and Megawatts: Engineering A Diversified Energy Future

Bill Whitelaw,

Managing Director, Strategy and Sustainability, geoLOGIC Systems, Calgary

Bill Whitelaw is the Managing Director, Strategy and Sustainability at geoLOGIC Systems and JWN Energy. In this role, he helps shape the company’s focus on the products and services most widely used in Canada’s upstream oil and gas sector. Bill is currently chair of the Canadian Society for Evolving Energy, formerly known as the Canadian Society for Unconventional Resources. He is on the steering committee for the Energy Futures Lab and its partner council, as well as the digital technologies working group at the Clean Resource Innovation Network. He also serves on the communications advisory committee for the Petroleum Technology Alliance of Canada. Bill is an experienced senior energy and resource sector executive leader who also has strong operations leadership experience in determining operational efficiencies through a variety of innovative organizational practices. He has a long background in government relations and works effectively integrating perspectives of industry to align with key government policy, and regulatory and communications initiatives.

Bill Whitelaw is a graduate of Loyalist College and Queen’s University and holds a master’s degree in communication studies from the University of Calgary. He is a technology advocate who seeks heightened awareness of the key roles technology and innovation play in resource sector evolution and is an innovative leader and respected manager who builds organizational foundations of efficiency and collegiality among goal-focused management teams. He is a senior communications strategist well-versed in contemporary conventions of conventional media, social media, digital, and print platforms and an energy literacy practitioner focused on creating balanced energy conversation by focusing on the "communicative license to participate." He has a long history as an energy sector leader creating "industrial capital" through leadership roles, working with – and on – key industry associations.

Join Victoria Branch and VIES for a presentation on creating the next-generation business model for future energy companies. We will explore the relationship between “molecules and megawatts:” vertically integrated models of power generation from diverse sources, including renewables, with sustainable development strategies such as agrivoltaics.

Kiwetinohk Energy is developing the next-generation business model for future energy companies – a future in which the relationship between “molecules and megawatts” sits collaboratively at the board and management tables. Under the leadership of CEO Pat Carlson, Kiwetinohk is exploring a vertically integrated model from which power generates from diverse sources including renewables. This presentation will use Kiwetinohk’s investments in agrivoltaics – solar farms in which farming occurs within the panel array – to explore the importance of these new models to attracting future technical talent to the energy sector.