Conference Co-Chair Chris Walls Baltimore Gas & Electric
Conference Co-Chair Peter Bergeron CPower
Conference Co-Chair Joyce Bodoh Rappahannock Electric Cooperative
Evolution of Demand Response to Distributed Energy Resources Wednesday, October 28 - Thursday, October 29, 12:30-4:30 pm Eastern
This 2-day online course explains how today's demand response initiatives are evolving to interact with an emerging future with distributed energy resources for peak load management and much more. The course content expands on the Evolution of Demand Response whitepaper and discussion. Learn more about PLMA Training at www.peakload.org/demand-response-training.
DER Strategic Initiative Session (Members Only) Thursday, November 5, 1:30-3:30 pm Eastern Wednesday, December 2, 1:30 pm Eastern
Come prepared for a lively discussion about PLMA's efforts to stimulate DER advancement by providing a process/platform for identifying industry needs and accelerating innovation to help pave the DER pathway by promoting forward-leaning solutions, market models, organizational change management, and operational experiences.
Rich Barone TRC Companies
Robin Maslowski Guidehouse
3:00 - 5:00 pm EST | Live Online Meeting
3:00 – 4:00 pm |Member Orientation: Ask the Experts How to Get the Best from PLMA Join PLMA Leadership for an opportunity to understand how PLMA works and meet people who have been involved a long time. Learn how to maximize your experience and networking opportunities both in person and online. Given the impacts of COVID on the utility industry (and budgets) it is more important than ever to make sure you are connected to what's happening in the industry. and not sure where to start? Whether you want to get involved in PLMA Leadership, Planning and Strategy groups or want to join an Interest Group, you'll find the answers here. If you have a question on DER's, utility programs, DR resources, etc. that you want to ask (but don't want to do it in room of 500 people) then this session is for you. Come and have an open discussion on all things PLMA with those on the Member Engagement Committee. We are here to support you on your journey, whether you are a first timer or a seasoned veteran. Let's start a discussion and help you get the most out of your membership and conference attendance.
PLMA Strategic Member Engagement Group:
Derek Kirchner Consumers Energy Company
Justin Chamberlain CPS Energy
Olivia Patterson Opinion Dynamics
Andrea Simmonsen Idaho Power
4:00 – 5:00 pm | PLMA Meetup Join PLMA conference guests for a series of informal networking conversations. PLMA will host four 15-minute blocks that guests will rotate through to meet and greet new friends and colleagues, and say hello to the folks you already know. Don’t miss this chance to reconnect with the load management community and enjoy catching up with the “PLMA family.”
• Board Meeting Will Now Be on Nov. 2nd •
Board of Directors Meeting Business meeting is only for Board members and At-Large Representatives listed at www.peakload.org/Leadership.
12:30 - 5:00 pm EST | Live Online Meeting
General Session 1
Co-Chair Chris Walls Baltimore Gas & Electric
Co-Chair Andrea Simmonsen Idaho Power
12:30 – 1:15 pm | How Pricing Is Playing a Greater Role in Grid Solutions The Price is Right, but where is the price? This roundtable discussion will explore how retail pricing is being harnessed for load flexibility, including flexible capacity and active demand management, as a solution to alleviate grid stress.
Moderator Christine Riker Energy Solutions
Panelists:
Rich Barone TRC Companies
Ryan Hledik The Brattle Group
Erica Keating Southern California Edison
Derek Kirchner Consumers Energy Company
John Powers Extensible Energy
1:15 - 1:30 pm | Stretch and Refreshment Break
1:30 - 2:15 pm | COVID-19 and 2020 DR Summer Control Season Review Most organizations spend a significant amount of time and energy planning for the future, but every decade or so, a world changing event occurs that impacts our business in a profound way. While we can't predict the next worldwide event, it's important to take stock of what occurred and what was learned. This panel session will review the 2020 DR Summer Control season, explore what was expected, how COVID-19 affected the plans, what was anticipated, what happened, and the lessons learned. There are a range of predictions today, this panel will provide a retrospective view of what really happened.
Moderator Joseph Childs Eaton
Panelists:
Laurie Duhan Baltimore Gas & Electric
Justin Chamberlain CPS Energy
Bob Donaldson Duke Energy
Patrik Ronnings Xcel Energy
Erica Keating Southern California Edison
2:15 - 2:30 pm | Stretch and Refreshment Break
General Session 2
Co-Chair Justin Chamberlain CPS Energy
Co-Chair Peter Bergeron CPower
2:30 - 3:00 pm | Pepco's 3-Pronged Strategy for the Evolution of Demand Response By giving customers incentives to reduce usage, demand response programs provide valuable services for the grid, lower costs for customers, and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Pepco Holdings has been implementing its highly successful Energy Wise Rewards program since 2009. With evolving goals, customer expectations, and technologies, PHI understands the need to continuously innovate and explore new options to continue to be successful. This session will walk through PHI's foundational demand response program, as well as two innovative pilots that leverage connected devices and home automation. The team will highlight and compare three unique approaches to demand management including: traditional direct install, BYOD DR (demand response and energy efficiency), and smart home for DR beyond thermostats. In addition to comparing results, including participation rates, curtailment approaches, and overall kW impacts, the team will divulge many lessons learned from testing leading-edge strategies in a tumultuous tech arena.
Susan Marinelli Pepco Holdings, an Exelon Company
Kevin Knight ICF
3:00 - 3:15 pm | Stretch and Refreshment Break
3:15 - 3:45 pm | Evolving Demand Response with a Multi-DER Portfolio Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) is a longtime demand response leader, and they continue to pioneer the capabilities of DERs with the launch of new BYOT and EV TOU rate programs. In this session, BGE speakers will share their vision for managing a DER portfolio at scale across multiple asset classes. Specifically, they will discuss experiences with customer engagement, program design, and implementing BYOT and BYOD TOU rate programs through a DERMS. Hear insights from a DER pioneer on program strategies that meet grid needs today while providing a foundation for future growth.
Kristy Fleischmann Groncki Baltimore Gas & Electric
Dana DeRemigis Baltimore Gas and Electric
Erika Diamond EnergyHub
3:45 - 4:00 pm | Stretch and Refreshment Break
4:00 – 5:00 pm | Sponsor Networking Lightning Round Network with sponsors and other attendees by participating in speed-dating type virtual presentations to a rotation of small groups of event registrants. Listen closely and identify key word/phrases (write them down!) to submit an entry for a random drawing for valuable prizes.
12:30 - 5:00 pm EST | Live Online Meeting
General Session 3
Co-Chair Derek Kirchner Consumers Energy Company
Co-Chair Ruth Kiselewich ICF
12:30 – 1:00 pm | The Search for Next Gen Automated Demand Response: A Framework for Soliciting, Vetting and Prioritizing Technologies As the field of automated demand response (ADR) expands, utilities must develop reliable methods to estimate the potential of various technologies and prioritize their deployment. This study will present an approach to creating a technology ‘pipeline' of eligible and innovative ADR solutions. This approach was used to serve Pacific Gas and Electric Company's (PG&E) Residential ADR program as it expands in the 2020-2022 timeframe. The framework consists of strategic steps such as engaging stakeholders, creating ADR technology success criteria, collecting information on available technologies, and finally, scoring the technologies' potential. The outputs of the framework include an interactive database that ranks technologies based on the selection criteria in addition to insight on emerging technology research needs, if any. This presentation will share a replicable framework approach that users can apply to wide range of grid management technologies, in addition to offering insights on available ADR technologies currently on the market.
Wendy Brummer Pacific Gas & Electric
Chelsea Petrenko Opinion Dynamics
John Powers Extensible Energy
1:00 - 1:15 pm | Stretch and Refreshment Break
1:15 - 1:45 pm | Delivering Complementary Value with Energy Efficiency and DER integration Shifted Energy and Hawaii Energy partnered to provide both DER program implementation with grid interactive water heaters in combination with energy efficiency services in a delivery model meant to maximize participant energy savings and drive down acquisition costs of recruiting and deployment to Hawaiian Electric. This approach will facilitate market potential and utilities continuing to support and expand new demand-side energy management models. We will report on effectively adding additional customer-focused measures such as energy audits, appliance rebates, and community-centric programs to minimize recruitment costs and truck rolls. The presentation will focus on the 740 homes located on Department of Hawaiian Homeland on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. This public-private partnership will showcase the potential for generating more customer opportunities, DHHL, for example, has locations on every island.
Angie Eide Hawaiian Electric Company
Caroline Carl Hawaiian Electric Company (Leidos)
Forest Frizzell Shifted Energy
1:45 - 2:00 pm | Stretch and Refreshment Break
2:00 - 2:30 pm | Battery Storage to Mitigate Winter Peaks BGE is piloting two utility scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) that will provide capacity to mitigate a distribution contingency overload during winter peaks. The first project is a 2.5MW / 4 MWh utility owned and operated storage system. The second project is a 1.0MW / 1.5MWh third-party owned and operated storage system. BGE has contracted first rights to discharge this battery during periods of peak winter load. Both projects are front of the meter, and will be offered into PJM markets to earn revenue when not providing distribution grid services. The batteries have achieved a positive benefit cost ratio by eliminating the need to underground 10 miles of a 34Kv feeder. These storage projects are pioneering new ways to value stack distribution grid reliability with wholesale services, while also partnering with third parties to support distribution operations.
Kyle Harrer Baltimore Gas & Electric
Justin Felt Baltimore Gas & Electric
2:30 - 2:45 pm | Stretch and Refreshment Break
General Session 4
Co-Chair Joyce Bodoh Rappahannock Electric Cooperative
Co-Chair Michael Ohlsen City of Tallahassee Utilities
2:45 - 3:15 pm | GridBallast: Grid Edge Load Controls for System Stability The growing deployment of distributed generation has created a management challenge through their impact on local power quality and limited capabilities to provide bulk power system operating reserves. NRECA, in partnership with Eaton, SparkMeter, and Carnegie Mellon University, have completed a project funded by ARPA-E to develop a new class of load control devices that, by reacting autonomously to local voltage and frequency conditions, can mitigate concerns about integrating large quantities of distributed generation. In this session we describe the simulation results that show the benefits of the controls, show off some of the commercially available hardware from Eaton that includes these controls, and discuss the benefits seen in deployments at two electric utilities in California and South Dakota.
David Pinney National Rural Electric Cooperative
Joseph Childs Eaton
3:15 - 3:30 pm | Stretch and Refreshment Break
3:30 - 4:00 pm | Residential Microgrids for Resiliency and Peak Demand Management This project by North Carolina's Electric Cooperatives (the power supplier for North Carolina's network of electric cooperatives) and Brunswick EMC (the local distribution cooperative) utilizes Distributed Energy Resources to create a microgrid at a residential neighborhood, Heron's Nest. On-site generation is provided by a community solar array and a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). OATI's GridMind™ microgrid controller software is used to island the neighborhood from the distribution system during a loss of power to the site. While in Island mode, the microgrid controller provides alarming notification and visualization of the system, exercises load shed, and executes command and control over the BESS and other system components to carry the system load for as long as possible. When not controlling for resiliency, the microgrid controller controls BESS charge and discharge during peak periods, allowing the microgrid to act as a callable Demand Response asset from the cooperatives' centralized DERMS system.
Erik W. Hall North Carolina's Electric Cooperatives
Walter Kalsow OATI
4:00 - 4:15 pm | Stretch and Refreshment Break
4:15 - 5:00 pm | Topic Room Discussions Bring your questions and learnings to a discussion moderated by PLMA Leadership. Attendees choose a topic in order to join a virtual meeting room where that subject will be the focus of the conversation. Topic areas will include: Customer Engagement, Connected Devices, Retail Pricing and PLMA Membership Benefits.
Optimizing TOU Rate Plan Participation while Maximizing Customer Satisfaction Time of Use rate plans provide a great incentive for consumers to change electric consumption patterns, helping align the customers' cost, to the actual cost of producing and distributing electricity. To maximize and optimize customer participation, utilities need to properly design and deploy TOU rates, as well as educate customers on how their bill can be effected. Bill simulation, or shadow billing, can play a key role in segmenting customers, identifying winners and losers and projecting revenue impacts. This presentation will focus on the customer education portion, how to maximize participation while increasing customer satisfaction.
Eva Molnar Southern California Edison
Scott Engstrom GridX
Track B – Piloting Lessons
Co-Chair Laurie Duhan Baltimore Gas & Electric
Co-Chair Robin Maslowski Guidehouse
Energy Efficiency and Non-Wire Alternatives: Learnings from DTE's Pilot in Michigan DTE's recently concluded Non-Wires Alternative pilot in Commerce Township MI, provides learnings for using Energy Efficiency measures to achieve locationally and temporally targeted load reductions. The pilot, which was supported by ICF, featured targeted marketing and enhanced incentives for customers to adopt energy efficiency measures that would lead to the targeted reductions. A goal was to demonstrate that that efficiency measures can achieve load reductions at a positive value and help meet peak load in a distribution substation area. The pilot was a success and its updated results are now available. Challenges faced during the pilot, included: determining customers and end-uses influential to peak load, selecting measures coincident with the timing of the distribution substation peak, designing a cost-effective program, determining how to geographically target marketing, setting appropriate incentive levels, and implementing the program. These recently updated factors, including newly developed NWA screening methodologies will be discussed during the presentation.
John Boladian DTE Energy
Steve Fine ICF
Track A – Pricing Innovation
We're Back! Results from Year One of Con Edison's Innovative Pricing Pilot At PLMA's 40th Conference, Con Edison introduced its demand-rate Innovative Pricing Pilot. Presented nine months after Pilot's launch, the utility shared preliminary findings/lessons for designing and implementing a pilot of this scale and complexity. Since that time, Con Edison has deployed 150+ marketing templates across 16 touchpoints in three geographies in four campaign phases. In addition to focus groups, messaging research, and customer surveying, Con Edison established 50 call center, marketing, analytics, and research metrics to track and analyze pilot performance. Con Edison will share analysis of most effective and engaging marketing channels, messaging and content, and the critical role Call Center plays as a marketing channel. The speaker will present findings from post-enrollment surveying and from messaging research conducted to gage the impact of COVID-19 on customer attitudes and how the utility applied those insights to pilot recruitment, which was paused in mid-March and will resume in September 2020.
Chris Gallo Con Edison
Leigh Winterbottom ICF
Track C – Asset Aggregation
Co-Chair Cindy Berry Austin Energy
Co-Chair Allison Hamilton NRECA
Scalable Technology, Scalable Customer Value This presentation will discuss the successful partnership between Burlington Electric Department's automated peak prediction solution, with new technology to transform fleets of electric water heaters into virtual batteries that can provide a range of real-time grid services, while ensuring that customers maintain or even improve their quality of energy service. BED's load forecasting generates peak probabilities which provide optimized demand response event scheduling without lifting a finger. Using ideas that connect billions of devices over the internet, Packetized Energy's Nimble software turns a fleet of DERs, such as water heaters, into a fully dispatchable virtual battery that can be set to provide a wide range of real-time, automated grid services, such as load shaping to track with variable renewables, automated energy price arbitrage, and peak reduction. The presentation will provide data from virtual battery deployments with 4 utility partners, including co-presenters Burlington Electric Department.
Casey Lamont Burlington Electric Department
Freddie Hall Burlington Electric Department
Bonnie Pratt Packetized Energy Technologies
Track D – Pandemic Learnings
Co-Chair Beth Reid Olivine
Co-Chair Chris Ashley EnergyHub
BGE Offers Virtual Thermostat Installation Assistance due to COVID-19 Faced with Maryland's and BGE's COVID-19 restrictions on limiting customer interactions to emergency situations only, BGE teamed with our field vendor, Scope Services, to develop VIA, which supports our legacy demand response program. The service was designed and implemented in just a few weeks to address BGE wait-listed customers who, if delayed, could no longer take advantage of BGE's no cost ecobee 3 lite thermostat along with a no cost installation by a qualified field technician and could jeopardize their summer bill credits of up to $100. BGE and Scope quickly teamed and has successfully delivered many virtual thermostat installations while keeping our customers and employees safe.
Dana DeRemigis Baltimore Gas and Electric
Lennon Jennings Scope Services
Track C – Asset Aggregation
Case Study: Adapting Program Protocols to Provide a Safe and Positive Customer Engagement and Installation Experience During COVID 19 COVID 19 has considerably changed how utilities interact with their customers and there is no more sensitive area of this interaction than when needing to enter the customer's home. On June 1 of this year Connexus Energy, Minnesota's largest electric cooperative made the decision to restart customer recruitment and installation of their Wi-Fi PowerNap® Air Conditioning load management program, which had been suspended since the onset of COVID in March. Below are the best practices developed that led to their decision to resume installs, along with lessons learned from what has been recognized by many as a highly successful relaunch.
Raquel Berg Connexus® Energy
Brian Hickey Threshold Energy Services
Track D – Pandemic Learnings
The Utilities, DERMS Providers and Tech Companies Advancing DR Programs Utilities can expand existing demand response (DR) programs by collaborating with distributed energy resource management systems (DERMS) providers and continuing to work with tech partners. These partnerships help utilities manage a wide range of connected and distributed energy resources for a more flexible grid, and can deliver resources like online marketplaces that utilities need to more effectively engage with customers. For example, Consumers Energy, Uplight and Google Nest offered 100,000 no-cost thermostats to residents, with the opportunity to enroll in a DR program. Dozens of similar initiatives are launching to support customers concerned about rising energy costs (due to warmer weather, more time at home, and economic challenges during COVID). These programs increase energy efficient and DR-enabling devices available to utilities, which manages load shifts in residential energy demand. With enough penetration in a single community or region, smart thermostats can even act as virtual power plants.
Moderator Aaron Berndt Google
Shannon Morrow Consumers Energy
Emilie Tullis Uplight
Track D – Pandemic Learnings
Adjust the Sails: Staying the Course in the Face of Uncertainty Amid a global pandemic and with an ambitious enrollment goal of 65 MW, the Evergy and CLEAResult team faced an uphill battle attracting participants for their 2020 Business Demand Response program. Discover how they navigated these unprecedented challenges to educate customers on a new program design and exceed their goal by over 110%. Join us as we showcase the new program design, how it differs from past programs, and how the team maintained their enrollment presence despite a market-wide lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We will also walk through our customer education process and highlight the importance of maintaining a consistent message throughout the enrollment period.
Corrine Villim Evergy
Chris Thompson CLEAResult
12:30 - 2:00 pm EST | Live Online Meeting
Closing General Session
Co-Chair Brett Feldman Guidehouse
Co-Chair Jenny Roehm Schneider Electric
12:30 - 1:30 pm | Beyond the Pandemic: Future Strategies for Meeting Commitments, Satisfying Regulators and Evaluating the Whole Thing Join this future looking panel discussion. COVID-19 has impacted utilities and grid operators in ways unimaginable a year ago. Customer usage has been upended, and vital upgrades and new construction is being postponed or cancelled outright. But one thing hasn't changed: Overall demand for reliable electricity transmitted to customers over a stable, reliable grid. Learn how APS pivoted while staying focused on goals for 100% carbon free energy by 2050. CPower will lead you through the steps to consider when reimagining program design that responds to regulators' demand for strong value for ratepayers while customers are seeking solutions that aid in managing overall energy spend. Finally Opinion Dynamics will focus on some of the changes to how Evaluation and Measurement will work in the future, including results from a sensitivity analysis with pre- and post-COVID-19 demand response program data from Ameren to explore the divergence between baselines produced with different methodologies and in different business environments.
Peter Bergeron CPower
Tom Hines Tierra Resource Consultants
Laura Small Opinion Dynamics
Kenneth Weiland Ameren
1:30 - 2:00 pm | PLMA Ice Cream Social and Conference Debrief Join this final conference session, and in the tradition of PLMA, enjoy some ice cream with us as we wrap up the 42nd PLMA Conference! Please plan to bring your favorite flavor and type of ice cream to the session to share virtually. Then, find out who the winners of this year's fabulous prizes from the Sponsor Networking Lightning Round will be, think ahead with us to the sunny days of spring 2021 when we hope to reconvene for the 43rd PLMA Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, and finally, revisit some of the conference's best opportunities and highlights with fellow practitioners and colleagues.
Utility Load Management Exchange Fall 2020 Meeting
The Utility Load Management Exchange (formerly the Advanced Load Control Alliance) mission is to promote load control as a viable option for utility deployments in demand reduction, economic dispatch, and/or T&D reliability through a forum for utility staff members to share information on program design, marketing, vendor management, benefit-costs and technology deployments. Learn more at www.ulme.org
2:30 - 5:00 pm
Utility Load Management Exchange Fall 2020 Meeting