40^TH PLMA Conference Agenda

Track A

9:00 – 11:00 am

Women in DM

Co-Chair Melissa Knous Duke Energy	Co-Chair Isabel Sepulveda EnergyHub
Co-Chair Lenore Zeuthen Zeuthen Management Solutions

Join us for a networking session. We'll start with informal breakout tables and share new DSM projects, jobs, responsibilities - come ready to talk about what you're working on, or working towards! During the second half we'll discuss mentoring: what it entails, what we've experienced, plus effective strategies for career development in the DSM industry. This session is ideal for those wanting to hone their mentoring skills as senior managers leading diverse teams, as well as for DSM professionals seeking to advance their careers.

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Track B

9:00 – 11:00 am

Beneficial Electrification & Building Decarbonization – You Can't Have One Without The Other!

Co-Chair Troy Eichenberger Tennessee Valley Authority

Co-Chair Steven Koep Beneficial Electrification Ambassador

All across the country, co-op, public power and investor-owned electric utilities are moving forward with Beneficial Electrification (BE) and Building Decarbonization efforts intended to reduce overall GHG emissions from the residential built environment. The recently released E3 study projects emissions reductions of 80-90% by 2050, primarily attributed to the ‘greening of the grid’ and the advancement of heat-pump technology for heating, cooling and water heating. Looking at both new construction and retrofit, electrification can not only cut emissions, but also “can lead to consumer capital cost savings, bill savings and life-cycle cost savings, in many circumstances.” Hear from electric utilities large and small about the BE and Bldg DeCarb efforts currently underway and gain a better understanding of this important opportunity.

Presenters:

Carla Frisch Rocky Mountain Institute	Bob DiBella ICF
Patrick McCoy Sacramento Municipal Utility District	Paul Miles PECO, an Exelon Company

Track A

12:00 – 2:00 pm

Global Load Management

Co-Chair Scott Coe GridOptimize	Jon Hilowitz Orange and Rockland Utilities
Co-Chair Ross Malme Skipping Stone

Please join the Global Load Management interest group to explore several innovative technologies coming from companies based in countries from around the world. Mark Bailey of the UK-based Connected Energy will discuss the reuse of EV batteries for dynamic frequency response and power quality support. Tobais Weghorn of Germany-based Next Kraftwerke will discuss the aggregation of wind farms into a Virtual Power Plant to enhance performance in electricity trading. And Andrew Tanner of Australia-based Greensync will explore the global shift from utilities to aggregators of DERs, focusing on Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. The session concludes with an interactive discussion with the panelists and interest group members, exploring where the United States is leading the way and where we may be lagging either other countries and or other markets.

Mark Bailey Connected Energy Limited

Second Life EV Batteries: Their Role in Energy Storage

Tobias Weghorn Next Kraftwerke

Flexible Wind Power: How a European Generator Earns More by Producing Less

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Track B

12:00 – 2:00 pm

Connected Devices

Co-Chair Justin Chamberlain CPS Energy	Co-Chair Poornima Eber National Grid
Co-Chair Olivia Patterson Opinion Dynamics	Co-Chair Tamer Rousan Ameren

The Connected Devices interest group will have a range of interesting topics including a session on performance tracking for direct load control devices, Connected devices and a Future DSO, and Solve Your EV Questions interactive session. In the first session, we’ll have BGE share how they manage over 400,000 devices and ensure they are operating as expected, to ensure sound business decisions are made. Following this session, Quanta Technologies and Arizona Public Service, will discuss connected devices and a future DSO. As grid support technologies continue to evolve, connected devices can emerge as one potential NWA tool that utilities could use in lieu of traditional grid support solutions. This presentation will discuss how connected devices can provide grid support function, what frameworks exist today for utilities to value it compared to other traditional grid solutions, and what type of market or future system operator is required to realize the full potential of NWA and connected devices. Finally, we’ll set up an interactive session to Solve Your EV Questions. This interactive session will focus on questions to address to EV vendors, including how to develop a program, how to select a device, dispatching, and grid impacts.

Presenters:

Daniel Carr Alectra Utilities	Tom Hines Arizona Public Service
Renee Guillory Arizona Public Service	Judson Tillinghast Arizona Public Service
Dana DeRemigis Baltimore Gas and Electric	Carley Czyzewski Baltimore Gas and Electric
Ralph Masiello Quanta Technology	Farnaz Farzan Quanta Technology
Eric Mallia FleetCarma	Chris Ashley EnergyHub

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Track A

2:30 – 4:30 pm

Customer Engagement

Co-Chair Andrea Simmonsen Idaho Power Company	Co-Chair Sharyn Barata Opinion Dynamics
Co-Chair Scott Jarman Austin Energy	Co-Chair Tracy Schmidt Tennessee Valley Authority

Back to the Future – Engaging EVs with DR

Bring your ideas and join the conversation for connecting customer EVs with DR. While EVs are a small portion of vehicles on the road, they have the potential to add significant and disruptive load in the future. Managing this growing load is an emerging topic in demand response. Unlike residential DR, EVs are different than technology tied to a home with a wide variety of approaches to manage or influence charging behavior and location, as well as different players. Customer transitioning to EVs must shift how they think about fueling their vehicle so they’re able to go when and where they desire.

Learn from our panel of experts the best ways to engage EV customers to make your program a success. Find out who and how to target, what does and doesn’t work, and how to assess the results. Then roll up your sleeves and dig in for some hands-on activities to expand the conversation and take learnings to the next level.

Presenters:

Emma Rieves E Source

Mark Goody FleetCarma

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Track B

2:30 – 4:30 pm

DER Integration

Co-Chair Rich Barone Hawaiian Electric Company	Co-Chair John Powers Extensible Energy
Co-Chair Jamie Coffel Honeywell Smart Energy

Load Flexibility as a Grid Resource Workshop
In this two-hour workshop, we will address the growing need for innovation in delivering grid services from behind-the-meter DERs. Attendees will participate in a structured exercise of providing a price-responsive DER portfolio that delivers specific grid services in wholesale and retail markets. Each team will suggest behind-the-meter technology, communication protocols, customer engagement / automation approaches, and all other design parameters required.

Download the Activity Instructions and Materials HERE (zip file)

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Track A

Co-Chair Laurie Duhan Baltimore Gas and Electric

Co-Chair Debyani Ghosh Navigant

8:30 – 9:00 am

State of the Market: Utility Demand Response Insights
The demand response market is continuing to evolve as legacy programs retire and new technologies and pilots are adopted. This presentation will provide high-level insights into the results of SEPA’s 2019 utility demand response surveying effort, and will discuss the state of AC switch, thermostat and water heater programs, as well as commercial and industrial (C&I) automated and customer initiated programs across the U.S. Beyond the numbers, this presentation will discuss the latest trends, detailing how DR is playing a role in transactive energy and EV managed charging, and how the role of DR may continue to expand in the coming years.

Brenda Chew Smart Electric Power Alliance

Track B

Co-Chair Justin Chamberlain CPS Energy

Co-Chair Meridith Nierenberg West Monroe Partners

8:30 – 9:00 am

Gas DR Pilots at Con Edison Company of NY
Con Edison launched two innovative Gas DR pilots for the winter of 2018/2019. There is a BYOT gas pilot for residential customers, and a performance-based gas DR pilot for commercial and industrial customers. Fresh off the pilot, Rachel Charow/Charles Umberger/Michael Sanchick (1-2 panel members, TBD), CECONY DR Program Managers, and Michael Siemann Ph.D., Resideo Engineering and Data Science Manager , will provide a general overview of the pilots, goals and initial findings on gas DR. This presentation will be compelling to the audience members who are considering adding gas/winter DR programs to their suite of DR/EE programs.

Rachel Charow Con Edison	Michael Sanchick Con Edison
Michael Siemann Resideo

Track C

Co-Chair Kitty Wang Energy Solutions

Co-Chair J.T. Thompson Enbala

8:30 – 9:00 am

Profiling and Managing EV Charging Load – TVA and FleetCarma
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), in conjunction with FleetCarma, has launched an electric vehicle load profiling program called SmartCharge Nashville to better understand the current and future impact electric vehicle charging has in their service territory. Using real-world EV charging and driving data, Drew and Eric will evaluate and discuss interim results from the SmartCharge Nashville program. They will also share insights into how utilities can leverage real-world charging data to make data-driven decisions for system planning, demand-side management strategies, and customer engagement. The SmartCharge Nashville program collects EV driving and charging from 200 participants. This data is utilized to compare weekday/weekend charging, energy consumed during on/off-peak, % of charging conducted with L1/L2/DCFC stations, and home vs. away charging. TVA is also utilizing this data to address questions such as how TOU rates affect EV load, and determining the amount of manageable EV load now and into the future.

Drew Frye Tennessee Valley Authority

Eric Mallia FleetCarma

Track A

9:00 – 9:30 am

Highways, By-ways and Road Construction – Starting a DERMS Journey
The Evergy Energy Solutions team officially began planning this DERMS journey more than two years ago and has now successfully completed the first leg of this trip. From the original "someday" vision, to vendor selection, to our Phase 1 launch for Summer 2019; we will share successes, challenges and lessons learned in developing and integrating this complex new system – so far it's already been quite a ride! So, pack your bag, grab your shades and join us as we speed into the future of our new Distributed Energy Resource Management System.

Angie Boone Evergy

Andrea Carrillo Evergy

Track B

9:00 – 9:30 am

Tug of War or a Tag Team? Interplay of DERs and DR
With the cost of distributed energy resources (DER) like photovoltaics and energy storage on a rapid decline, an increasing number of small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) and large commercial customers are opting to jump on the bandwagon of adopting cost-effective renewable technologies to diversify their energy mix. The increased penetration of DERs on the utility grid has its own set of challenges and opportunities with its value proposition often compared with demand response (DR) and its incentive structure. This session will present load research case studies on commercial customers in CPS Energy’s service territory using their end use AMI data to better understand this value proposition and the impact of DERs not only on distribution and integrated resource planning but also on optimizing a utility’s DR portfolio in this changing landscape.

Touseef Mohammed CPS Energy

Keith Kaysing CPS Energy

Track C

9:00 – 9:30 am

Vehicle Electrification Programs at JEA – Past, Present, Future
JEA's Non-Road Electrification programs and passenger car EV charging programs have evolved substantially over the past few years, incorporating lessons learned from around the country as well as from its own evaluations. By engaging community involvement and keeping a close relationship with its customers, these programs are now some of the best examples of progressive thinking in the southeast and are still growing. From well-designed incentive offerings to a forward thinking strategic team, JEA will highlight some of the key lessons learned along the way and provide a glimpse into the future of the electric transportation efforts to serve its over 460,000 electric customers.

Payson Tilden JEA

Josh Duckwall GDS Associates

Track A

9:30 – 10:00 am

Evaluating Future Peak Loads with DER Adoption Forecasting
This presentation will address an emerging challenge: how to forecast the adoption of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and the resulting load impact on the distribution system. Load management practitioners are increasingly evaluating opportunities to control and optimize DERs. They understand the value of DERs as alternatives to conventional asset investments. But to get the full picture, they need a detailed understanding of future DER technology adoption, an accurate representation of associated grid impacts, and the ability to model rate design and cost trajectory scenarios. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) and Clean Power Research (CPR) partnered to build a customer-level DER adoption forecast software tool. This is the first time that smart meter data, building data, customer behavior data, and machine learning have been combined in a tool to provide on-demand DER adoption forecasts for analysts, strategists, and planners across the utility.

Patrick McCoy Sacramento Municipal Utility District

Andy Whitaker Clean Power Research

Track B

9:30 – 10:00 am

Is Client and Implementer Anxiety About Regression-Based DR Evaluation Warranted?
In Pennsylvania, Act 129 mandates DR load reductions on peak summer days. For PECO, a C&I DR aggregation program is key to meeting this mandate. The Pennsylvania PUC has now established the customer baseline (CBL), the most commonly used method for calculating settlement payments, as the least preferred among a hierarchy of EM&V methods. The preferred approach, customer-specific regression, caused anxiety among implementers and utilities who see it as a risk. Navigant, in coordination with the Pennsylvania Statewide Evaluator and PECO, developed an innovative approach, using a variety of individual customer regressions and CBLs. We applied a per-customer testing protocol to determine the method that best predicts the actual demand on event-like days. This presentation will share the results of this evaluation and will discuss whether the observed differences between methods merit concern from utilities and implementers.

Jason Lai Navigant

Jesse Smith Demand Side Analytics

Track C

9:30 – 10:00 am

Ahead of the Curve – EVSE Billing & Control
Seven States Power Corporation is working with a group of Electric Vehicle Network Providers and OATI to help promote adoption of Electric Vehicles. Specifically, their focus is on managing Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) in the public and fleet charging spaces to ensure easy planning, integration, and control of these demand profiles. The OATI EVolution system is one of the EVSE Network Management Services offered by 7SP. Each EVSE managed in EVolution supports dynamic billing and pricing strategies and is enrolled as a controllable DR asset to 7SP member cooperative demand response system. This new program model of extending the home rates members are familiar with to their public charging needs and allowing easy direct to utility billing charges will push greater EV adoption.

Brad Rains Seven States Power

Matt Kiesow OATI

Track D

Co-Chair Chris Ashley EnergyHub

Co-Chair Rich Hasselman GDS Associates

10:30 – 11:00 am

Grid Interactive Water Heating: A Gateway For Engaging Hard-To-Reach Ratepayers
Stakeholders from across the power sector have recently and urgently increased attention on barriers and opportunities to engage renters, multi-family housing dwellers, low and moderate income ratepayers, and disadvantaged communities. Such ratepayers are usually stuck with the most inefficient form of water heating, electric resistance, as landlords have little incentive to install solar or heat pump solutions. This presentation will review the outcomes from a recently completed 19-unit grid interactive water heating (GIWH) pilot project at Manoa Gardens, an elderly low-income rental housing complex on Oahu. A collaboration between Hawaiian Electric, Hawaii Energy (Hawaii’s energy efficiency public benefits fee administrator), and Shifted Energy, the pilot delivered notable insights into the following topic areas: Benefits of electric water heater DER for low-income communities and renters Lessons learned on hard-to-reach ratepayer recruitment, education, and enrollment DR potential from ultra-low usage electric water heaters Stacked grid services potential of GIWH in Hawaii.

Rich Barone Hawaiian Electric Company	Forest Frizzell Shifted Energy
Yvette Maskrey Honeywell Smart Energy

Track E

Co-Chair Jeff Perkins ERS

Co-Chair Michael Smith National Grid

10:30 – 11:00 am

Logistics of the Country’s First Utility-operated Microgrid Cluster
Getting to groundbreaking: this case study of ComEd’s recently-installed microgrid on Chicago’s South Side will focus on lessons learned from the successful launch of a public-private partnership to fund, develop, and approve a utility-scale clustered urban microgrid. Background: In February 2018, the Illinois Commerce Commission approved ComEd’s plan to construct the first utility-operated microgrid cluster in the nation in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. A key component of the microgrid is battery storage, tied to onsite solar power generation. ComEd's microgrid is expected to serve more than 1,000 customers, including critical service providers such as the Chicago Police Department, and will connect with an existing microgrid on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology. This connection will create one of the most advanced clustered urban microgrids in the United States. This discussion will include the project’s history, stakeholders, goals, and expected results for the community.

Juan Rodriguez ComEd

Track F

Co-Chair Allison Hamilton NRECA

Co-Chair Richard Philip Duke Energy

10:30 – 11:00 am

Connected Devices and the Future of Rate Design
As utility rates become more complex (TOU, demand charges, etc.) utilities must design new ways to help customers save money without sacrificing comfort. This presentation will discuss value streams that utilities can provide both customers that are enrolled in new rates as well as solving the operational challenges that come with new energy sources. Examples of this will include time-of-use optimization or residential devices, energy arbitrage (physical hedging), and customer engagement around cost savings. This will be built around the learnings from the powerminder program with SMUD.

Deepak Aswani Sacramento Municipal Utility District

William J. Burke Virtual Peaker

Track D

11:00 – 11:30 am

Water Heaters as a Peak Pricing Tool – Multi-family, Multiple-vendors, Multi-Events
Portland General Electric’s Connected Water Heater Program uses a fleet of more than 4,500 electric water heaters at 30 different multifamily properties to ease pressure on peak pricing days. As of the program’s creation, PGE estimated each water heater delivers an average of 0.5 kw in capacity – without a risk of cold showers to the end user. Leveraging the local logic of the DR module installed on the water heater, the DRMS knows when to release a water heater that’s at risk of running out of hot water, so tenants aren’t impacted. This presentation discusses why we started in multifamily, the key successes and challenges we faced creating this capacity resource, the evaluation process, and how we plan to scale it to achieve significant curtailment. Plus, we’ll run an event in real-time to demonstrate our control strategy. Come learn about one of the programs in PGE’s PLMA pace-setter award winning demand response portfolio.

Rebecca Brisson Portland General Electric	Jessica Atwater CLEAResult
Gavin Hume Enbala

Track E

11:00 – 11:30 am

DER Integration in Florida
Distributed energy resources, including solar, energy storage, and demand response, are taking on an increasingly significant role in Florida that is expected to continue to grow. Florida stakeholders have recently been working together to understand the value proposition, opportunities, challenges, and solutions to integrating these resources more extensively into utility operations in a way that benefits customers and maintains and improves system reliability and resilience. This presentation will discuss activities and results of the Florida Alliance for Accelerating Solar and Storage Technology Readiness (FAASSTeR), a Dept. of Energy funded project that includes all of Florida's municipal electric utilities, along with a number of other partners and stakeholders. Nhu Energy, the FAASSTeR project lead organization, along with City of Tallahassee will provide highlights of some of the project research results.

Michael Ohlsen City of Tallahassee Utilities

Rick Meeker Nhu Energy

Track F

11:00 – 11:30 am

Advantage Power Pricing: Lessons from Comparative Study of 3 Alternative Rate Plans
Rate treatments can be a cost-effective tool to influence customers' consumption behavior by providing a clear and predictable price signal. At the same time, customers are not homogenous and perceive different benefits from such programs. Providing and then delivering on the promise of a worthwhile program while managing the complexity of a pilot program with nearly 10,000 customers in three rate plans with a control group of equal size comes with challenges. Thanks to the support of its partners and funding through the provincial regulator, Alectra Utilities has reaped valuable lessons in deploying rate programs for residential customers. These include the merits of various rate designs, customer acquisition strategies, behavioural nudges, and enabling technology.

Daniel Carr Alectra Utilities

Dave Thomson BEworks

Track D

11:30 am – 12:00 pm

Heating Up Water Heater DR: Results and Lessons Learned from a Winter Pilot
Georgia Power’s Water Heater Demand Response Pilot provided 100 residential SF customers a new grid connected water heater with the goal of assessing impacts from demand response events called across electric resistance (n=30) and heat pump water heaters (n=70), as well as to test the effect of pre-heating on energy savings and customer experience. Through the process of installing new water heaters and connecting them to the DR platform, the team documented several lessons learned, ranging from the feasibility and cost of installation to the provisioning of each unit’s control system to the DR platform. In this presentation, we will provide the lessons learned and key considerations for pilot design, implementation, and evaluation. Additionally, we will share the energy and demand impacts from 5 winter DR events and findings from post-installation and post-DR event customer experience surveys designed to assess customer satisfaction with their water heater, the demand response events, and Georgia Power. Lastly we will touch on survey results from our customers where we asked how they would prefer to have a full scale water heater program implemented.

Chase Cortner Georgia Power

Shannon Kahl Illume Advising

Track E

11:30 am – 12:00 pm

Getting Your Residential Customers Amped on Battery Storage for Load Management
Customers love batteries...but not necessarily for load management. Residential customers increasingly purchase batteries for backup power, in an effort to rely less on their utility. So how can utilities strengthen customer relationships and get grid benefits by enrolling customers with batteries in load management programs? E Source surveyed over 7,000 residential utility customers in North America on their perceptions and understanding of batteries. In this session, we’ll share customer insights that will help you engage with residential customers on battery storage, support the business case for your initiatives, and boost enrollment in these programs. We’ll answer questions like: How well do customers understand battery-related jargon? Why are customers interested in batteries? How much are they willing to pay for batteries, and what prevents them from purchasing storage systems? What resources do customers need to make decisions about batteries? How do battery initiatives influence customer perceptions of your utility?

Clare Valentine E Source

Track F

11:30 am – 12:00 pm

Introducing New Rates with Help from Dr Seuss
This panel opens with a tongue-in-cheek reading of an abbreviated adaptation of Dr Seuss' classic Green Eggs and Ham. ( e.g., “I DO NOT Like your new rate plan, I do not like it, Sam I am.”), which includes phrases raising the usual utility and customer concerns. As in the story, turns out customers can be taught to appreciate new rate plans. This panel is designed to get the participants laughing and learning. With that short introduction, this distinguished panel includes Ahmad Faruqui’s experience over decades of rate transformation consulting in the US and abroad, the detailed experience with a TOU/CPP rate at Tampa Electric, and a demonstration of the tools Tampa Electric and other utilities are using to help customers embrace, or at least not distain, new rate structures.

Susan Gilbert Apogee Interactive	Ahmad Faruqui The Brattle Group
	Joel Gilbert Apogee Interactive