UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As new regulations and changes in global energy markets affect electricity costs, Penn State alumna Madalyn Guzman Loffredo is there to help. She helps Pennsylvania schools, hospitals and other large organizations make smarter energy decisions that can protect their budgets and help strengthen local communities.
In her role as a strategic account manager at 5, an energy consulting firm, Loffredo uses advanced algorithms and data to advise large commercial and industrial customers on when to buy electricity and how to respond to an increasingly volatile market. Her work can directly affect whether businesses can remain competitive by helping them better manage one of their highest operating costs — energy.
“It’s important for big businesses because it’s going to be a bigger dollar impact the larger they are,” Loffredo said. “Also, for state schools, advising them on ways they can reduce energy costs can help them navigate changes or accommodate things like a delay in the state budget better.”
A native of rural Pennsylvania, Loffredo’s interest in energy was piqued with the arrival of the Marcellus Shale boom, when natural gas development became the subject of several high school science projects. Though interested in energy, she focused on business classes when she arrived at Penn State and waited to declare her major. It was a deliberate process, Loffredo said, as she wanted to choose a future career that combines her passion with exciting career prospects. She found that with the Energy Business and Finance program in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, graduating with the bachelor's degree in 2019.
“Even though I grew up only an hour away, people talked about going to Penn State like you were an astronaut going to the moon,” Loffredo said. “I felt very humbled and privileged to go to such a world-class, diverse school and I wanted to let my natural curiosity guide me. After seeing the high demand for energy experts and speaking with my family, I knew working in energy would be a fulfilling career.”
Today, she works with about 30 clients, including school districts, manufacturers, universities and hospitals, across Pennsylvania and the surrounding states, helping them navigate decisions with her specialized knowledge.
Her work often centers on energy procurement: helping clients decide when to buy power, who to buy power from and how much. She then advises them on contract structure. Beyond power, she also guides clients on buying and selling renewable energy credits, or RECs, market-based instruments that represent the quantity of energy generated from renewable sources.
One of her main challenges is explaining the abstractions of energy and regulations to her clients, she said.
“Most people have really no idea how electricity is made, how it gets to you or how it’s sold. You just turn the light on and it’s there — they’re experts in their own operations, not in energy markets,” Loffredo said. “On the flip side, just because you know how to make a solar array, that doesn’t mean you know how to connect it to the people that will use it. The program really gave me both the business sense and energy fundamentals to succeed in this space.”
Loffredo sees reducing the knowledge gap between her clients as the biggest way her work benefits Pennsylvania communities. Her advice can directly lead to cost savings or increased reliability by helping clients avoid costly mistakes, she said. If school districts manage energy more strategically, they can better control spending, which affects budgets and local taxes, and if hospitals and universities plan for price swings and reliability concerns, they are better prepared to serve the people who depend on them, according to Loffredo.
Her education has proved especially valuable as the energy landscape becomes more complex. Loffredo said recent years have brought greater market volatility, rapid regulatory change and rising concern about reliability. One major driver, Loffredo said, is the growth of artificial intelligence and data centers, which are increasing electricity demand in Pennsylvania and across the broader PJM Interconnection region. PJM is the largest power grid operator in the United States, serving 67 million customers from Chicago to New Jersey.
“A lot of those data centers want to be located in this PJM territory, which is putting a huge constraint on the capacity market in the area,” she said. “As a result, there is a huge growth in demand. And as demand rises, so do the stakes for Pennsylvania customers.”
That makes knowledgeable guidance even more important.
In some ways, she said, staying ahead of volatility is one of the most rewarding parts of the job because it requires constant learning. To successfully advise clients, she must follow changing regulations, monitor commodity markets and understand how global developments, such as tariffs and international conflicts, can affect local energy costs at home. She credited the rigor of the coursework, especially in risk management, with helping her navigate the complex market concepts and dynamics that now shape her daily work.
She remains driven through it all by staying connected to her core passions for conservation and clean energy, she said. She volunteers at her local zoo, where she leads presentations on how the zoo supports the population growth of near-extinct species.
“The more emotional connection you have to something, the more that you care about it,” Loffredo said. “I might be looking at graphs and business projects all day, but I also know these figures represent people’s lives and the Earth’s natural resources. Seeing the big picture and knowing I can help guide us to more sustainable means a lot.”
Loffredo said she plans to continue supporting Pennsylvania manufacturers and school districts as they work to maintain economic stability and responsible stewardship no matter how energy markets shift.
Editor's note: This story is part of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences' "Brain Gain" series featuring graduates of Penn State who stay in Pennsylvania and go on to serve in roles that are vital to the state's infrastructure, economy and public service sectors.