Who We Are

Kate Ringness is the founder and principal of Delta Arc Strategies, where she advises cleantech companies, elected officials, and communities on scaling energy solutions through policy strategy, government relations, and stakeholder engagement.

Kate brings over a decade of experience at the intersection of advanced energy policy, economic development, and coalition building. Most recently, she served as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Energy and Chief Strategist in the Office of Policy at the U.S. Department of Energy, where she orchestrated implementation of Community Benefit Plans across $100 billion in clean energy funding. She received the Secretarial Honor Award and Special Act Award for her contributions.

Prior to DOE, Kate founded SmartBlock Consulting, a boutique consultancy focused on distributed energy resources, where she advised community organizations, local governments, and property developers on solar, microgrid, battery storage, and energy resilience projects. She developed and led an 8-month community clean energy resilience workshop series, executed a community-wide solar and storage group purchase program, and helped communities navigate government incentive programs and financing mechanisms — work that established her hands-on expertise in translating complex energy technologies into real-world community impact.

During this same period, Kate served as Senior Advisor to UC Berkeley’s EcoBlock Project, the nation’s first block-scale urban residential electrification and microgrid initiative, where she coordinated a 20-member cross-disciplinary team spanning government, utilities, academia, and community stakeholders. She also co-founded the American Jobs Project, a national think-and-do tank whose advanced energy policy recommendations influenced $26.5 million in public agency investments and were introduced by 21 state legislatures.

Kate holds a Master of Public Policy from UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, a JD and LLM in Comparative and International Law from Duke University, and a BA in International Relations and Russian from Bucknell University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with honors. She is an accredited mediator through the Centre for Dispute Resolution in London and is admitted to practice law in Maryland and as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales.

Kate enjoys sunny days, spending time with her family, and triathlons – she recently completed her first Ironman 70.3!