Bill Magness

Workshop: Coordinating Offshore AC Grid Operation with Offshore Transmission Design

Bill Magness is a Senior Principal Consultant at DNV, focused on electric transmission development. From 2016 to 2021, Bill served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT), the electric grid operator and markets manager for 90% of Texas.  Prior to becoming CEO, Bill was Senior Vice-President & General Counsel at ERCOT.

At ERCOT, Bill oversaw the grid operator’s integration of record amounts of wind and solar power, and addressed challenges brought on by large increases in the amount of power demand and the growth of the transmission system. Before joining ERCOT, Bill led numerous efforts related to changes in federal and state law and policy: as a division chief at the Texas Public Utility Commission, as general counsel at a telecom start-up, and as a lawyer practicing before utility commissions and courts in more than a dozen states.

Bill left ERCOT in May 2021, and before joining DNV, served as a Senior Consultant for the U.S. Department of Energy Grid Deployment Office and Loan Programs Office. His work for DOE focused on expanding electric transmission nationwide.