Pier LaFarge is the co-founder and CEO of Sparkfund, the utility services company unlocking capacity on the grid, and co-creator of the company’s Distributed Capacity Procurement (DCP) model. Through DCP, Sparkfund enables utilities, energy majors, and large-load customers to deploy front-of-the-meter batteries and gensets as distribution infrastructure, planned and dispatched by the utility to add targeted capacity exactly where and when the grid needs it most. Under LaFarge’s leadership, Sparkfund is deploying Capacity*Connect, a first-in-the-nation distributed capacity procurement of up to 200 MW, in collaboration with Xcel Energy, approved by unanimous vote of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. LaFarge holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Policy & Economics from Middlebury College. He is a co-founder of Abundant America and serves as a Trustee of The Nature Conservancy’s Mid-Atlantic chapter and as an advisor to Noteworthy AI, a computer vision company focused on utility infrastructure monitoring. Based in Birmingham, AL, LaFarge also enjoys hunting and fly fishing at his farm in West Virginia.