2020 PLMA Member Resources Directory


December 2020

Inaugural 2020 Pricing Interest Group Meeting + Findings from the Maryland Time-of-Use Pricing Pilots

Hot topic

Join us for the inaugural 2020 meeting of PLMA's Retail Pricing Interest Group, and learn about the findings of the TOU pilots to date.

As part of the Maryland Public Service Commission’s PC44 proceedings, the Maryland Utilities designed time-of-use (TOU) pilots in a collaborative process. The PC44 pilots included several unique features, such as separately measuring the impact of TOU rates on LMI and non-LMI customers and providing detailed bill impact information to the customers during the recruitment stage. The pilots are scheduled to run through May 31, 2021.

PLMA's guest speaker for this HOT TOPIC is Dr. Sanem Sergici, a principal in The Brattle Group’s Boston, MA office and an expert in electricity markets and applied econometrics. Dr. Sergici brings extensive background in the assessment of these pilots.

Source: PLMA Hot Topic Group
Type: Webinar

Israel: Integrating the Smart Grid and DER

Hot topic

Israel's utility grid is isolated from those of its neighboring countries and is constructed as an "energy island." This situation poses significant challenges that impact future energy planning decisions, including how the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (Israel's largest supplier of electric power and only integrated electric utility) can best implement a smart grid system in general, and integrate renewable energy in particular.

Of particular relevance to U.S. organizations:
The Israel Electric Corporation's focus on grid resilience and cyber-security. In this Load Management Dialogue, presenters from Israel Electric Corporation and PLMA member company EGM Inc., will review these challenges and discussion proposed solutions. Topics will include the following:

  • Development of the Israeli utility grid
  • Israeli grid challenges
  • Evolution of utility grid technology in Israel
  • A future vision for Israel's utility grid including integration of renewable technology, storage, and EV charging stations
  • An overview of EGM's technology and products
  • The collaboration between EGM and IEC to integrate the Smart Grid and DER

Source: PLMA Load Management Dialogue featuring Amir Livne, Israel Electric Company; Dr. Alex Levran, EGM Inc; and PLMA's Global Load Management Co-Chairs
Type: Webinar


November 2020

17th PLMA Award-Winning Load Management Initiatives

Executive Summary of the 17th PLMA Awards Compendium Cover17th PLMA Award-Winning Load Management Initiatives Cover

/assets/Awards/Exec-Summary-for-17th-Awards.pdf" target="_blank">Executive Summary of the 17th PLMA Awards Compendium.

A Compendium of interviews with the six 17th PLMA Award Winners who were recognized in April 2020 for their uniquely innovative approaches to managing end use energy loads.

Source: PLMA Thought Leadership and Award Planning Groups
Type: Compendium


October 2020

A Sneak Peak at the 42nd PLMA Conference: The Inside Story!

Hot topic

Join PLMA for an overview of everything going on at the 42nd PLMA Conference, November 9-12, 2020. With fresh perspectives on DER, demand response, utility programs, and load management, plus networking and Q&A discussions with experts and practitioners from across the U.S., this Fall's online conference has everything you need to help build your knowledge and manage your load!

Source: PLMA Hot Topic Group
Type: Webinar

Perspectives on FERC Order 2222

FERC

Join PLMA for a discussion on FERC Order 2222 which directs ISOs/RTOs to open their markets to participation by aggregated distributed energy resources (DERs). The Order may have broad implications for RTOs, states, utilities, service providers, and customers, ranging from technical, to jurisdictional, to financial, to operational. This interesting and timely discussion will provide perspectives on the Order from an Investor Owned Utility, Electric Cooperatives, a State Coalition, and a Service Provider. Click here to read FERC Order 2222.

Source: PLMA Load Management Dialogue featuring Brett Feldman, Guidehouse; Anja Gilbert, Pacific Gas and Electric Company; Marcus Hawkins, Organization of MISO States; Jay Morrison, NRECA; and Matthew Sachs, CPower
Type: Webinar


September 2020

PLMA's DER Integration Interest Group: Evolving Forward!

DER Hot Topic September

Over the past few years, PLMA's DER Integration Interest Group has succeeded in integrating DER into every aspect of PLMA's work, from the current Strategic Plan to daily programming. Having achieved its mission within PLMA, the DER Interest Group is ready to review its accomplishments and lessons learned, and engage member practitioners in a discussion of new Interest Group opportunities ahead.

Source: PLMA DER Integration Interest Group
Type: Webinar

Capturing Value from Electric Water Heaters as a Non-Invasive Demand Response Resource

Guidehouse Report

Guidehouse Insights published a Armada commissioned white paper in September titled "Capturing Value from Electric Water Heaters as a Non-Invasive Demand Response Resource." The paper includes an overview of the North American demand response landscape, a look at water heaters as a load curtailment tool, and Guidehouse's own conclusions and recommendations for those interested in such a program.

Source: White paper from Guidehouse Insights
Type: White Paper


August 2020

A Community Choice Aggregator's Innovative Behind-the-Meter Storage Program

DER Hot Topic

PLMA and its DER Integration Interest Group host a HOT TOPIC Conversation with Marin Clean Energy (MCE) about its innovative behind-the-meter storage program. This scalable program provides resilience for its customers, enhances decarbonization, and makes local grid management possible through load shaping and shifting. As California’s first and leading community choice aggregator, MCE will detail its vision for energy transformation, and the program’s features, which include:

  • Priority support for low-income and other vulnerable populations
  • Technology flexibility and scalability
  • Reduced up-front customer costs through a novel incentive structure
  • Use cases that include, leveraging battery charging to shift load, and increasing customer resiliency by pre-charging batteries before outages.

Source: PLMA DER Integration Interest Group
Type: Webinar

City of New York Department of Citywide Administrative Services for Building Operator Engagement

City of NY

The City of New York Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), through its Division of Energy Management, had the vision to expand an initial electricity-only Demand Response program that encompasses 470 facilities across 30 city agencies and institutions. It's the single largest contributor to grid relief in the New York Independent System Operator NYC Zone J territory. In addition to Demand Response, DCAS's work expanded to include Real-Time Metering (RTM) and Load Management programs. The RTM program has deployed near-real time metering for electricity use across 500 facilities, monitoring 55% of municipal peak load. The program now also includes monitoring of gas and steam usage. To help drive these programs, DCAS partnered with NuEnergen to develop data visualization tools, offer mobile access, and provide training opportunities. DCAS has also created a dedicated, in-house team with engineering and analytical expertise, undertaken proactive relationship management with facility operators, launched hands-on, peer-driven learning environments in partnership with the City University of New York's Building Performance Lab, and offered staff recognition of outstanding efforts.

Source: PLMA Awards Group featuring Sergey Shabalin, Martin Nolan, and Elizabeth Taveras, DCAS; and Laurie Duhan, BGE
Type: Webinar

Burning Topics in Customer Engagement

DER Hot Topic

PLMA's Customer Engagement Interest Group invites you to join an interactive conversation about today's most important and impactful DR issues. This session will be an unscripted question and answer discussion in which we'll share experiences, successes, and lessons learned across a spectrum of customer engagement programs. Please bring a story or an example with you to discuss with the group co-chairs and your fellow PLMA member practitioners.

Source: PLMA Customer Engagement Interest Group
Type: Webinar

Lessons in DER Integration from Australia

Lessons in DR

Join PLMA's Global Load Management Group and Lance Hoch of Australia's Oakley Greenwood utility for an opportunity to learn about DER in Australia -- a market with many similarities to the U.S. and a significant level of DER integration. This will be a recorded Load Management Dialogue followed by a live Q&A.

Source: PLMA Awards Group Lance Hoch, Oakley Greenwood Utility, and PLMA's Global Load Management Group Co-chairs
Type: Webinar

National Guidance on Benefit-Cost Analysis of Distributed Energy Resources

NSEP Cover

The comprehensive National Standard Practice Manual for Benefit-Cost Analysis of Distributed Energy Resources (NSPM for DERs) is now available to help guide benefit-cost analyses (BCAs) of distributed energy resources. The manual serves as an objective, technology-neutral and economically sound guidance document for regulators, utilities, consumer advocates, DER proponents, state energy offices, and other stakeholders interested in comprehensively assessing the impacts of DER investments.

BCAs involve a systematic approach to assess the cost-effectiveness of investments by consistently comparing the benefits and costs of DER types with each other and with alternative energy resources. The new NSPM includes information on BCAs of single and multiple DER types, and provides use-case examples for different combinations and DER applications.

CLICK HERE to read the full press release.
CLICK HERE to read a summary of the report.
CLICK HERE to read the full report.

Source: Research report from the National Energy Screening Project and E4TheFuture
Type: Research Report


July 2020

Utility Programs for Families in COVID-19 Quarantine

Hot Topic 2

PLMA's second HOT TOPIC conversation hosted by PLMA's Customer Engagement Interest Group. Our guest facilitators will lead an online conversation that explores utility programs that will help families in COVID-19 quarantine who are trying to manage utility bills while working from home and also trying to educate and entertain children. What's your perspective? How can utilities most effective serve their residential customers in these unprecedented circumstances? Come and participate, learn, or just listen. You'll gather key insights and ideas from fellow load management practitioners from across the PLMA membership.

Keep the conversation going in the Global Load Management Conversation Circle.

Source: PLMA Customer Engagement Interest Group
Type: Webinar

Austin Energy for Austin SHINES Project

Austin Shines

The Austin SHINES project (Sustainable and Holistic Integration of Energy Storage and Solar PV) pilots the integration of utility-scale, commercial, and residential resources on the distribution grid and under the holistic coordination of a DERMS platform (Distributed Energy Resource Management System). The DERMS was provided and developed with the utility’s project partner, Doosan GridTech, and performs as a tool enabling varied and stacked asset management use cases. In addition to controlling fielded assets, of solar PV and battery energy storage, at both utility and aggregated customer sites, the software helps model different mixes and configurations of assets to determine the best value proposition against cases of holistic controls, autonomous and no controls of DERs (Distributed Energy Resources). Hands-on deployment, in combination with modeling, has offered a rich field from which to gather a better understanding of the opportunities, challenges, and realities of DER integration that pioneers a new gridscape. The methodology for management was documented as a replicable and configurable technique to serve other utilities, across multiple jurisdictions.

Source: PLMA Awards Group featuring Anna Popp, Austin Energy; and Laurie Duhan, BGE
Type: Webinar

CPS Energy for Public Engagement

CPS Webinar

Recognizing the need to protect their customers from potential increase in energy costs resulting from projected peak load demands and megawatt availability in the ERCOT market, CPS Energy’s leadership challenged the Demand Response (DR) team to grow the company’s DR program for summer 2019 by 28 megawatts. The team created a plan to grow through behavioral DR, wifi thermostats, and both commercial and public customer engagement. Multiple new program options were created or expanded, including DR Coaching for commercial customers and an expanded behavioral DR program to 300,000 residential customers. To achieve this goal, a public engagement campaign engaging a local news station was created. The plan focused on adding an energy peak awareness message as part of the weather segment of the newscast. When a DR event was anticipated, the weather reporter would encourage viewers to lower energy usage throughout the day. At the end of the day, a follow up thank you message was announced during the nightly newscast. Through this effort of directly engaging the customer, CPS Energy exceeded the goal by adding over 40 MWs of DR to the portfolio. To promote friendly competition, customers in the program were able to see their kwh reduction versus their neighbors and where they ranked in energy savings.

Source: PLMA Awards Group featuring Justin Chamberlain, CPS Energy; and Michael Smith, National Grid
Type: Webinar

New PLMA Mentoring Program for All

Hot Topic 2

Hosted by the Women in Demand Management Interest Group, this PLMA HOT TOPIC Conversation will present the pilot launch of a newly developed mentoring program for PLMA member practitioners. A mentoring pilot will get underway this Fall, with an initial report-out at the 42nd PLMA Conference in November 2020, and a full program roll-out in early 2021.

This new PLMA mentoring program has two objectives: 1) To provide a vehicle for professional growth and skill-building among all PLMA member practitioners; 2) To create new opportunities to build relationships among PLMA member practitioners; both men and women, at all different career stages.

Source: PLMA Women in Demand Management Interest Group
Type: Webinar

Dialing up TOU Rates on the Radio

TOU Hot Topic

Please join us for a HOT TOPICS Conversation about the California Energy Commission's (CEC) approach to revolutionizing the way customers and technology providers have access to time-varying rates. With special guest, Dr. Karen Herter from the Efficiency Division at the CEC, we'll talk about how the CEC is building a framework for grid flexibility through the convergence of new and existing technologies, and we'll discuss how this came about, the resulting policy implications, and the ways in which other utilities, states, and stakeholders can leverage this opportunity.

Come and participate, learn, or just listen. You’ll gather key insights and ideas from fellow load management practitioners from across the PLMA membership.

Source: PLMA Connected Devices Interest Group
Type: Webinar


June 2020

Global Supply Chain Impacts to Grid Modernization in the Age of COVID-19

Hot Topic

PLMA’s first MEMBERS ONLY HOT TOPIC conversation was June 11th, hosted by PLMA’s Global Load Management Interest Group. Our special guest facilitators will lead a conversation with staff of PLMA member organizations that explores how utilities and their hardware suppliers are adapting grid modernization plans and programs as the global supply chain faces disruptions due to COVID-19 as well as a new Executive Order that halts installation of some bulk-power system equipment. What’s your perspective? What are you most concerned about? How is your business changing to accommodate this new world order? Come and participate, learn, or just listen. You’ll gather key insights and ideas from fellow load management practitioners across the PLMA membership. Keep the conversation going in the Global Load Management Conversation Circle.

Source: Webinar featuring the Global Load Management Interest Group
Type: Webinar

COVID-19 Impacts on Utility Loads and Implications for Load Management Programs

Covid

Gain key insights from the results of a PLMA survey conducted in partnership with Guidehouse to assess COVID-19 impacts on load management programs, especially for the upcoming summer months. The purpose of this survey was to collect information and disseminate insights on how utilities are adapting to changes/challenges from the COVID-19 crisis in terms of managing their Demand Response resources and how load management programs are being modified to adapt to the changes.

Read the PLMA/Guidehouse COVID-19 Survey Summary Results and Analysis at
CLICK HERE and plan to join PLMA for a dialogue about the implications for load management practitioners.

Source: Webinar featuring Brett Feldman and Debyani Ghosh, Guidehouse, with Rich Philip, PLMA
Type: Webinar

Connected Energy (UK) Ltd for Battery Recycling in Belgium

Connected Energy

Connected Energy (UK) Ltd.’s system installed at the Umicore industrial site in Belgium reuses Renault Kangoo batteries which previously powered 48 vehicles in France. The system provides a frequency response service to Elia, the Belgium system operator, to help it balance electricity supply and demand for network stability. It is the first time 'second-life’ batteries have been used at an industrial scale in this way in the country. The batteries have a combined energy storage capacity of 720 kWh and can deliver 1.2 MW in power. With solution project partner ENGIE, the battery is optimised in real-time as part of a synchronized asset stack providing revenue generation and power quality management for global materials technology and recycling group Umicore who also recycle EV batteries. The installation will give the company insight into the process of wear in the batteries, which can help to build better batteries.

Source: Webinar featuring Mark Bailey, Connected Energy (UK) and Michael Smith, National Grid
Type: Webinar

Retail Automated Transactive Energy System (RATES) Report

Rates Report

This is the final report from a California Energy Commission funded project to develop and pilot-test a standards-based Retail Automated Transactive Energy System (RATES), and behind the meter energy management solution. The purpose was to minimize the cost and complexity of customer participation in energy efficiency programs, maximize the potential of small loads to improve system load factor, shave peaks, integrate renewable generation, and provide low opportunity-cost resources to the grid. This project was conducted with Southern California Edison to facilitate customer participation and expand Demand Response Participation in the area served the Moorpark substation.

CLICK HERE to view the final report.

Source: California Energy Commission
Type: Report


May 2020

National Grid and EnergyHub for National Grid ConnectedSolutions

NGrid Energy Hub

National Grid’s ConnectedSolutions program is the nation’s first pay-for-performance-based Bring-Your-Own-Battery Demand Response (DR) program. The program has shown how to cost-effectively incentivize customers to purchase batteries and allow the utility to discharge those batteries to reduce peaks on the grid. The program provides residential, commercial, and industrial battery owners across Massachusetts and Rhode Island with incentives from $200-400/kW-performed per year in exchange for providing battery capacity to support a more sustainable and efficient grid. The program embraces consumer choice by enabling participation with battery integrators from Tesla, Sunrun, Generac, SolarEdge, and Sonnen through an integration with a single Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) platform provided by EnergyHub. With the goal of enrolling 17 MW of load relief by the end of 2021, the program is on track to provide more than $15,000,000 per year in system benefits, which will reduce costs for all customers. This program started as a National Grid program, but it has been so successful that it has since been adopted by Eversource and Unitil. These utilities work together to offer one consistent program for customers.

Source: Webinar featuring Paul Wassink, National Grid; Chris Ashley, EnergyHub; and Brett Feldman, Guidehouse Insights
Type: Webinar

Why Is Electricity Pricing So Difficult? Between a Rock and a Smart Meter

Electricity Pricing

For decades, there has been the promise of time-differentiated and dynamic pricing for electricity consumers, yet we are still far from reaching that elusive goal. This disconnect between price signals and marginal costs has complicated efforts to modulate system peaks and fill the duck curve’s belly. At the same time, customers do not tend to desire more complex rates, being comfortable with their traditional flat rate despite the fact they don’t know what a kilowatt hour is. But now, with smart meters and technologies to help customers manage energy use like never before, how can we greatly boost pricing success in the decade to come? Hear two energy experts discuss how some utilities are succeeding with TOU, Demand, and even dynamic pricing, where the barriers are today, and how to design pricing options that customers actually understand and want.

Source: Webinar featuring Ahmad Faruqui, The Brattle Group; Bill LeBlanc, E Source; and Derek Kirchner, Consumers Energy
Type: Webinar

Arizona Public Service and EnergyHub for APS Distributed Energy Resource Aggregations (Rewards Programs and Solar Communities)

APS EnergyHub

Arizona Public Service (APS) has implemented programs that reimagine the relationship between a utility and distributed energy resources (DERs) and that will be instrumental in its commitment to achieve 100% clean energy by 2050. APS uses EnergyHub’s Mercury DERMS platform to dynamically manage a portfolio of grid-edge assets including thermostats, batteries, water heaters, and solar inverters for an array of grid services. APS leverages DERs for peak demand reduction, load shifting and renewables matching, solar management, and advanced load and capacity forecasting. Services are available year round, multiple times a day, unlike event-based calls for DR. They have implemented these programs with both bring-your-own and direct install models. APS has evolved from a DERMS early-adopter to a pioneer of a customer-centric approach to managing the grid.

Source: Webinar featuring Tom Hines, Arizona Public Service; Renée Guillory, Arizona Public Service; Ben Bunker, EnergyHub; and Brett Feldman, Guidehouse
Type: Webinar


April 2020

Recordings from the 41st PLMA Online Conference

41st PLMA Conference

Recordings and other resources from the 41st PLMA Online Conference on April 20-22, 2020. The 41st PLMA Conference was originally scheduled to be presented in Scottsdale, Arizona, but instead was presented online with a mix of live and pre-recorded content presented at no charge to members and non-members alike.

Source: PLMA
Type: Presentations

Calculating Cost-Effectiveness for Energy Efficiency and Demand Response

Cost effectiveness

Are utility program cost-effectiveness testing practices developed decades ago adequate to guide our industry investments today? Are legacy measurement practices inhibiting both innovative program designs and commonsense best practices for putting ratepayer dollars to optimal use? Learn how E4TheFuture is partnering with DOE to offer guidance on how cost effectiveness testing can include the impacts of flexible load management, to include demand response and distributed energy resources.The speaker will offer insights from “The National Standard Practice Manual (NSPM)” (see https://nationalefficiencyscreening.org/national-standard-practice-manual/), published in 2017 with a focus on cost-effectiveness assessment of energy efficiency, and which is actively being expanded to address a range of DERs including Demand Response. She will also share experience with the state use of the NSPM to date, and early learnings from the draft NSPM for DERs, a project co-funded by US DOE and forthcoming in summer 2020.

Source: Webinar featuring Julie Michals, E4TheFuture, and Michael Brown, NV Energy
Type: Webinar


March 2020

The Promise and Progress of Integrated Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Programs

Promise and Progress

In a large missed opportunity to boost power grid flexibility and benefit customers, relatively few US utilities have programs that fully integrate energy efficiency and demand response, according to ACEEE’s recently published review of 44 utility portfolios. Program administrators typically have approached and implemented energy efficiency (EE) and demand response (DR) programs separately. While the benefits and value of integrated EE/DR programs have long been recognized, ACEEE’s recent research shows that most customer programs still are not integrated. During this Dialogue, Dan York will present results from ACEEE’s review, which characterizes the landscape of integrated EE/DR programs in the US. York also will provide examples of successful programs and discuss how they have overcome challenges to integration.

CLICK HERE to read the ACEEE report.

Source: Webinar featuring Dan York, ACEEE; Craig Aubuchon, Ameren Missouri; and Olivia Patterson, Opinion Dynamics
Type: Webinar

Behavioral Demand Response Programs

Anything

Join the Customer Engagement Interest group as we explore residential behavioral demand response techniques currently employed across various utilities. We’ll have Baltimore Gas and Electric speaking about their large scale Peak-Time Rebate program, Arizona Public Service giving us insights on their award-winning Smart Thermostat program, and discover how CPS Energy engages over 300,000 customers in Behavioral Demand Response through friendly competition.

Source: Webinar featuring Scott Jarman, Austin Energy; Tom Hines, Arizona Public Service; Leigh Jarosinski, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company; and Julie Cain, CPS Energy
Type: Webinar

US Department of Energy’s Future Connected Communities: Validating Buildings as a Grid Resource

US DOE

Discover why the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Building Technologies Office is expanding its research to validate grid-interactive efficient buildings as a grid resource. Gain insights regarding key findings on grid-interactive efficient buildings research and future opportunities. The dialogue will focus on a significant investment planned by DOE in Connected Communities. As used here, the term Connected Community is a group of grid-interactive efficient buildings with diverse, flexible end use equipment that collectively work to maximize building and grid efficiency without compromising occupant needs and comfort. The goal of a proposed Funding Opportunity Announcement is to demonstrate the ability of groups of efficient buildings to provide additive benefits to the electricity system and building owners including energy savings, peak demand reduction, reduced capacity needs, and cost savings. DOE intends to expand its initial set of smart community testbeds into a larger cohort of regional pilot projects to study a variety of building types, technologies, and business models in varied utility regulatory environments, climates, and locations. CLICK HERE to read about Department of Energy Releases Request for Information on Potential Funding for Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings in Connected Communities.
Source: Webinar featuring Davis Nemtzow, DOE; Mary Ann Piette, LBNL; Teja Kuruganti, ORNL; and Allison Hamilton, NRECA
Type: Webinar


February 2020

Utility Dive's State of the Electric Utility Industry Survey: Implications for Load Management Practitioners

Utility Dive Webinar

Listen to a discussion about implications for Load Management practitioners from Utility Dive's Annual State of the Electric Utility Industry Survey.

CLICK HERE to read about the Utility Dive report.

Source: Webinar featuring Larry Pearl, Utility Dive, and Michael Brown, NV Energy
Type: Webinar


January 2020

Trends and Opportunities in Residential Energy Management

Parks and PLMA Webinar

This webcast presents industry insights, buzz from the recent Consumer Electronics Show and new consumer and industry research from Parks Associates, including adoption of smart home products, new partnerships, and deployment of new programs by utilities.

Source: Webinar moderated by Jenny Roehm, Schneider Electric, with panelists Rich Barone, Hawaiian Electric Company; Abhay Gupta, Bidgely; and Patrice Samuels, Parks Associates
Type: Webinar