Speakers

Tanya K. Kelm is the Principal Energy Market Engineer at Otter Tail Power Company, headquartered in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. She holds bachelor’s degrees from both the College of Engineering and the College of Arts, and Sciences, from North Dakota State University. 

During her nearly twenty years with Otter Tail Power Company, Ms. Kelm has overseen the company’s Bulk Marketers for daily operations, has managed its congestion hedging portfolio, and has maintained its transmission rights portfolio.  Ms. Kelm represents Otter Tail Power Company’s interests at the MISO Market Subcommittee where the evaluation of existing and future market design and its implementation provides input and policy guidance to MISO for further development of the market.

Ms. Kelm presides as the Chair of the Otter Tail Load Management Strategy Team.  This cross-functional team oversees the company’s demand response program supporting the company’s rate structure, enabling energy market arbitrage, and providing capacity resources for use during emergency events, while ensuring customer comfort and delivering exceptional value to all its customers. One-third of Otter Tail Customers participate in demand response through nine rates and a variety of technologies: a true collaboration between the utility and its customers. In this capacity, Ms. Kelm led the early stages of the replacement project for the company’s legacy load management system.

Tanya is a proud member of the Otter Tail Women Networking and Integrating Talent group – OWN IT. True to its name, the goal of OWN IT is to foster an employee resource group that serves to provide engagement and growth.  Organized and led by women in management, OWN IT provides quarterly opportunities for professional development, networking, and learning, to employees across the company.

As a dual citizen who grew up along the 49th parallel north, she has a fondness for Aero chocolate bars, fine tea, and chasing the Aurora Borealis with her Canon 6D. A mother of two adult children and caretaker to a four-footed, furry, rescue, she and Nikolai can often be found enjoying evening walks, searching the northern stars, and dreaming about the future development of Otter Tail Power Company’s new Advanced Load Management system.