For Kathy Castro, Vice President of Electric Operations for Rhode Island Energy, a career in the energy sector has been defined by curiosity, challenge and an enduring commitment to public service.
“I’ve always found the work interesting and challenging,” she says. “As I grew into my role and developed my skill, it became evident that working in the energy sector was the right fit. There was ample opportunity and never a need for me to try something different.”
Born and raised in central Massachusetts, Kathy has spent more than two decades shaping the energy landscape in New England. After earning her electrical engineering degree, she joined National Grid in distribution engineering. A few years into her career, she moved into distribution planning – a shift that introduced her to work she would return to repeatedly throughout her leadership journey.
A Career Built on the Front Lines of Grid Transformation
Kathy’s career intersected with the rise of renewable energy in New England. “During my time with a regional consultant agency, I had the opportunity to create a planning team focused heavily on renewable energy interconnection studies throughout the region,” she recalls. “I’ve been involved with renewable interconnections since things really began to take off.”
From project development to complex customer work to long‑term distribution planning and asset management, Kathy’s career has touched nearly every facet of the grid. After Rhode Island Energy formed, she transitioned to a broader operational leadership role – and in 2024, she became Vice President of Electric Operations. Today, Kathy oversees regional field operations, engineering, design, the distribution control center, asset management and the customer energy integration team.
Advancing PPL’s Utility of the Future Strategy
For many, “utility of the future” evokes images of grid modernization and new tech. But Kathy sees a much broader ecosystem at play.
“Our Utility of the Future strategy, which is our north star, is multi-faceted. It’s focusing on safety, improving reliability and resiliency, advancing clean energy, empowering our customers and developing our employees. From engineering and construction of more reliable and hardened systems and advancing automation to working with developers to expand on the 800MW+ of distributed generation, my team has a hand in every part of the process to meet the company’s objectives.”
“Our model brings field operations and engineering together. That has resulted in better designs, safer work practices, and stronger programs because we’re not siloed. Everyone has a voice.”
Earlier this year, a crippling blizzard dumped three feet of snow across most of Rhode Island, blocking roads and overwhelming snowplow crews as thousands of customers lost power. Kathy and her team were able to meet the challenge, restoring service to over 99% of impacted customers within 48 hours.
“I’m so proud of how we came together. There’s so much preparation that goes into planning for a major weather event expected to impact the system – daily monitoring, coordinating the right number of resources, making sure support functions are ready to go, communicating with internal and external stakeholders and exhibiting innovative thinking in the moment as unplanned issues arise. The workforce here is incredible. The organization is very much service minded – they just show up for our customers.”
Looking Ahead: Opportunities for the Ocean State
Rhode Island has more distributed generation per square mile than any state in the country, something Kathy’s teams have helped build.
But she notes the next phase will require smarter tools: “While in the early stages, we’re working with our Smart Grid and Automation team on integrating a Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems into our existing management system. This technology, through added monitoring and control, will allow the Company to better leverage DER resources and optimize on reliability, environmental and affordability benefits.”
Kathy sees enormous potential for Rhode Island to lead the nation and continue to deliver for our customers.
I am incredibly proud to work with a very dedicated and professional organization. As seen in our response to the recent blizzard, our organization is service minded and will show up for our customers. Our performance also has to do with the investments we have made, especially those over the last 4 years in both capital infrastructure and vegetation management. This doesn’t mean our job is done. Rhode Island’s 400 miles of coastline makes storms a constant threat. As an organization, we have opportunity to improve system reliability and resiliency to weather those storms through hardening and advancing smart technology and automation. “We also have a unique opportunity with the magnitude of DER interconnected on our system. “We’re a small state with a significant amount of renewable energy. We have a real opportunity to set the stage for what managing a renewable‑rich grid looks like—and to set new industry standards.
It’s a future she speaks about with equal parts optimism and realism:
“The system is changing drastically, but that’s what makes this work exciting. I am energized to lead a diverse team to provide safe, reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy to our customers exactly what the utility of the future requires.”
