Nette Brocks

Growing up with a father who worked as an attorney on rate cases in New York, often for municipals, Nette Brocks was familiar with the energy industry starting at a young age, and was always interested in energy. “When I was very little I made a very conscious decision that I was never going to do what my mom or dad did because they were both incredibly boring,” she laughed. Nette started her undergrad as a Chemistry major, but after numerous labs she decided chemistry was not her cup of tea. She then began searching for energy related careers. As New York underwent regulatory energy reform, Nette stumbled on a project at one of the universities that brought her back into the world of energy where her father was waiting with open arms. Nette wrote her undergrad thesis on the U.S energy market and attended graduate school at MIT, focusing on electricity markets as part of a Technology and Policy program.

Nette started her career at ACES in August 2019 as a Policy Origination Specialist, where she researched how different policies and technologies can affect the electricity markets across the U.S. In 2020, Nette transitioned to the Integrated Resource Planning (IRP) Team as Senior Resource Planning Analyst. As a part of the IRP Team, Nette models long-term plans that advise how generation portfolios can change under various assumptions. Whereas ACES’ Portfolio Modeling team focuses on 5 years or less into the future, the IRP team takes a longer-term view of 20 to 30 years. Nette went on to share what she enjoys most about her current position, explaining that, “Integrated Resource Planning is an excellent place to learn a lot of different things at once. You can learn about how generation operates, how reduced costs are going to affect the future of the industry, and how you can research a particular policy and determine what impact it might have on the industry. It’s where a lot of different disciplines collide… and it’s an excellent launching point to better understand the industry”.

When asked about the additional work she has been doing around environmental social governance (ESG), Nette describes the ESG as “the next generation of financial accounting. It’s GAPP 2.0. It’s about developing and disclosing how companies are thinking about their business strategy in a modern world that expects more. At ACES, we’re trying to encourage our Members and Customers to use standard vocabulary to describe how they’re thinking about these topics”.

Talking to Nette about her life outside the office proved far from boring. Nette jokes about her family’s two pet alpacas, commenting that, “some parents are very bummed when their kids go off to college… my mom was THRILLED and she immediately replaced us with pet alpacas”. This past winter, Nette traveled to Vermont with her family where her days consisted of cross-country skiing and her nights were filled with fun family dinners and avid card game playing. Some of Nette’s less exotic interests and hobbies include joining any and all community sports leagues (right now it’s golf), taking spin classes, perfecting her newly acquired baking skills, and occasionally watching Netflix, which she jokes is part of her “American duty”.

Reflecting on her time at ACES, Nette shares that “one of the things that has struck me as absolutely remarkable about ACES is not only how many brilliant people are here, but how incredibly willing they are to share advice and to explain things. It’s rare that people are willing to take hours to break down a concept so you can really understand it. My advice to people who are new to ACES is to feel confident in asking questions because people here are kind and thoughtful, and are able to answer them in a way that will help you learn…”

At ACES, there is more to our employees than just a job title, and Nette reminds us that individuals’ uniqueness is what makes ACES a great place to work.