41st PLMA Conference Online

41st PLMA Conference Agenda

The 41st PLMA Conference, originally scheduled to be presented in Scottsdale, Arizona, will instead be presented online with a mix of live and pre-recorded content presented at no charge to members and non-members alike. The updated conference agenda includes live 2-hour-long webcasts on Tuesday, April 21 and Wednesday, April 22 as well as pre-recordings of much of the rest of the previously scheduled conference content as practical. The pre-recordings will be made available to all conference registrants for your binge-watching pleasure starting on April 20.

We hope you will make time to view and share this online conference content to reinforce the value of networking and learning among our load management practitioner community during these challenging times. Together, let’s make this the biggest and best conference that PLMA never had... and set our sights on being together again this November 9-11 for the 42nd PLMA Conference in Baltimore.

REGISTER FOR FREE ONLINE CONFERENCE HERE

PLMA 41st Conference Sponsors

Bruce Brazis, Arizona Public Service Conference Co-Chair
Bruce Brazis

Arizona Public Service
Mark Gagen, Salt River Project Conference Co-Chair
Mark Gagen

Salt River Project
Tom Hines, Tierra Resource Consultants Conference Co-Chair
Tom Hines

Tierra Resource Consultants

12:30 - 2:30 pm EST | Live Online Meeting

Board Meeting
Business meeting only for Board members and At-Large Representatives listed at www.peakload.org/Leadership. Meeting Login information will be provided to those who RSVP for board meeting when they register.

CLICK HERE to Register and RSVP
 
Pre-Recorded Presentations
Access available now to all those who register for free at www.peakload.org/41st-conf-registration
Interest Group Activities (included in conference registration)
Join the PLMA Interest Groups for candid, interactive roundtables among practitioners from utilities, consultancies, and technology providers who are actively engaged in the load management industry. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from and share with your peers successes and challenges in these key areas of interest.

Connected Devices

Poornima Eber, National Grid Co-Chair Poornima Eber
National Grid
Tamer Rousan, Ameren Co-Chair Tamer Rousan
Ameren
Kari Binley, ecobee Co-Chair Kari Binley
ecobee

Take an electric vehicle road trip with the Connected Devices Interest Group! Our first stop will be a cost calculator developed by TEP to help mitigate the fear of purchasing fleets of electric vehicles. Our first stop will be a cost calculator developed by TEP to help customers understand and plan for converting their fleets to electric. Our last stop will be to hear from Eversource and Energy Hub on how they actually created a BYOD DR program for electric vehicles. At every stop along the way, we will discuss the resources, opportunities and barriers that utilities must consider to incorporate these types of solutions into a program.

After a long road trip, we come home to our “Connected Home”, a bundle of smart devices that work together to make our lives more comfortable, and also to provide energy benefits to our utilities. Hear from CLEAResult and AEG about a study conducted with PG&E to learn how customers interact with their smart technology, and what functionality might be of interest in the future. These insights are helpful as utilities strive to leverage the benefits of an increasing number of smart devices.

Presenters:

Roshan Bhakta, Eversource Roshan Bhakta
Eversource
Mike DeBenedittis, EnergyHub Mike DeBenedittis
EnergyHub
Camila Martins-Bekat, Tucson Electric Power Camila Martins-Bekat
Tucson Electric Power
Shelly Hagerman, West Monroe Partners Shelly Hagerman
West Monroe Partners
Jon Koliner, Apex Analytics Jon Koliner
Apex Analytics
Dan Violette, Apex Analytics Dan Violette
Apex Analytics
Kelly Marrin, Applied Energy Group Kelly Marrin
Applied Energy Group
Barb Ryan, Applied Energy Group Barb Ryan
Applied Energy Group
Peter Yeh, CLEAResult Peter Yeh
CLEAResult
Learn More About This Interest Group
12:30 - 2:30 pm EST | Live Online Presentation

General Session 1

Bruce Brazis, Arizona Public Service Co-Chair Bruce Brazis
Arizona Public Service
Christine Riker, Energy Solutions Co-Chair Christine Riker
Energy Solutions

Opening Remarks

Michael Brown, Berkshire Hathaway, NV EnergyMichael Brown
Berkshire Hathaway, NV Energy and PLMA Chair

Bridging the Gap Between DSM and Grid Operations
There is a tendency for DER programs to be confined within the silos of DSM groups. As these programs start to reach critical scale, APS is working towards bringing these DERs into the control room. Today, APS’ DSM team uses a ROP (Resource Operating Platform) to dynamically manage a portfolio of DERs to unlock an array of grid services. These include energy storage programs in the APS Rewards initiative, such as thermostats, batteries and water heaters, as well as solar inverters which are part of the APS Solar Communities program. In this session, panelists will discuss strategies for bridging the DSM - grid operations gap. Experts from APS will share the use cases, software integrations, and other change management work streams required to ensure a seamless and future-proof integration.

Michael McMaster, Arizona Public Service Michael McMaster
Arizona Public Service
Tom Hines, Tierra Resource Consultants Tom Hines
Tierra Consultants
Tyler Rogers, EnergyHubTyler Rogers
EnergyHub

Growing Customer Relationships and Energy Sales Through Beneficial Electrification
Salt River Project (SRP) implemented a beneficial electrification program in 2017, to help meet corporate load growth and sustainability goals. With two full years of program operations completed, the utility has learned a great deal about getting the most out of this new type of program, including optimizing customer incentives to maximize environmental benefits and ensure that new load is beneficial to the grid. Programs like SRP’s create new demand that in theory utilizes excess capacity, improves utility load factor, and increases the sales base over which fixed costs are spread, thus having a positive impact on all customers. But how can a utility considering an electrification initiative be sure that all these benefits line up the way they are supposed to? In this session, SRP will present the program’s results to date and provide insights into its process for continuously improving the program to achieve its strategic objectives.

Joseph deGraft-Johnson, Salt River Project Joseph deGraft-Johnson
Salt River Project
Bob DiBella, ICFBob DiBella
ICF
Sponsor Showcase Lightning Round
In this 30 minute session you will hear from several of our sponsors about the essence of their solutions. Our Co-chairs have vetted the presentations and helped the sponsors get their key messages compressed down to 3 minutes. This is not a marketing pitch, but a statement from the sponsors on specific examples of how they provide value.
Showcase Presenters:
EatonEaton EnergyHubEnergyHub Energy Federation Inc.Energy Federation Inc.

OpenADR AllianceOpenADR Alliance

 
Pre-Recorded Presentations
Access available now to all those who register for free at www.peakload.org/41st-conf-registration

General Session 2

Mark Gagen, Salt River Project Co-Chair Mark Gagen
Salt River Project
Robin Maslowski, Guidehouse Co-Chair Robin Maslowski
Guidehouse
Integration and Optimization of Consumer Distributed Energy Resources
In this program, the unique customer characteristics, including location, efficiency, weather sensitivity, journey to customer engagement, and distributed energy resource (DER) preferences are used to develop unique, optimal bundles of EE, DR and DERs. This information is used to create custom marketing and offer sheets and develop win-win, least-cost solutions. Our program included scenarios focused on granular avoided costs, data and expanded “system level” avoided costs to include additional value buckets that are customer specific. The results show that timing, location and technology gain importance at the local circuit level, where investments are needed for power resiliency, quality and reliability. Measures of loss, voltage drop, voltvar become location dependent. It is not surprising that the results of this study indicate that DERs can and do have a significant impact on location resiliency, power quality and reliability.
Mark Martinez, Southern California Edison Mark Martinez
Southern California Edison
Kenneth Skinner, Integral Analytics Kenneth Skinner
Integral Analytics
Eric Woychik, Willdan Corp. Eric Woychik
Willdan Corporation
General Session 3
Joseph Childs, Eaton Co-Chair Joseph Childs
Eaton
Customer Choice and Engagement in Ameren Missouri's Peak Time Savings Program
The electric utility industry is steadily moving toward integrated demand side management (IDSM) programs to meet customer needs and capture new benefits from emerging technologies. Integrated demand response (DR) plus energy efficiency (EE) programs leverage DR market infrastructure and new technologies (e.g., connected devices) to transform the utility-customer interaction from a one-off rebate into a continuous engagement with the customer that produces deeper energy and demand impacts over time. The presentation will blend the design, implementation, and evaluation insights to illuminate successful customer engagement and future considerations for Ameren Missouri’s Peak Time Savings program. More specifically, presenters will discuss how engaging messaging and simplifying the customer experience were critical in the program’s successful launch; review the challenges and successes during the program startup; discuss opportunities provided by offering various participation experiences (Uplight’s Orchestrated Energy, Google Nest’s Seasonal Savings and Rush Hour Rewards, and ecobee’s Eco+ offering) as part of the integrated solution; and illustrate opportunities for enrollment via a BYOT approach or purchase from an online store along with notifications that are provided throughout to create an empowered and engaged participant. To round up the presentation, presenters will share program impacts and participant sentiment and experiences to enhance program enrollment, engagement, and experiences.
Jeff Berg, Ameren Missouri Jeff Berg
Ameren Missouri
Kessie Avseikova, Opinion Dynamics Kessie Avseikova
Opinion Dynamics
Greg Wassel, Franklin Energy Greg Wassel
Franklin Energy
Distributed Storage and Demand Response Participation in ISO Markets
From Massachusetts to South Australia, scalable DER programs have been cropping up globally. This panel will discuss regional case studies of using virtual power plants to manage portfolio solutions that include distributed storage and demand response. Through these case studies, panelists will describe realistic expectations about mixed-DER programs across customers and utilities, with an overview of current trends and the barriers involved with stacking values at the ISO/RTO level.
Michael Goldman, Eversource Energy Michael Goldman
Eversource Energy
Mark Patterson, ERCOT Mark Patterson
ERCOT
Bud Vos, Enbala Bud Vos
Enbala
Jessica Harrison, MISO Jessica Harrison
MISO
General Session 4
Justin Chamberlain, CPS Energy Co-Chair Justin Chamberlain
CPS Energy
Ruth Kiselewich, ICFCo-Chair Ruth Kiselewich
ICF
The Many Faces of DERMS: Utility Perspectives and Approaches
This facilitated discussion will help create some clarity around DERMS for the audience by exploring the ways multiple utilities who have deployed a DERMS define DER management functionality, what system architecture they have selected to deliver these functions, and the programs and market models that are being supported or anticipated. Furthermore, we will spend some time understanding how these systems are integrated with or are otherwise a part of a larger grid modernization strategy and implementation. This anticipated outcomes will be to portray a comprehensive set of DER management functions and the depict a variety of ways to identify which functions are needed and how they are obtained. Lastly, we will have a meaningful discussion as to whether a single system can achieve all DERMS functions, or if DERMS is really a combination of multiple systems working together. and what systems should be deployed to deliver these functions.
Rich Barone, TRC Moderator Rich Barone
TRC

Panelists:

Michael McMaster, APS Michael McMaster
APS
Angie Eide, Hawaiian Electric Company Angie Eide
Hawaiian Electric Company
Brian Doyle, Xcel Energy Brian Doyle
Xcel Energy
Ajit Renjit, EPRI Ajit Renjit
EPRI
12:30 - 2:30 pm EST | Live Online Presentation
Closing General Session
Troy Eichenberger, Tennessee Valley Authority Co-Chair Troy Eichenberger
Tennessee Valley Authority
Tom Hines, Tierra Resources Consulting Co-Chair Tom Hines
Tierra Resources Consulting
17th PLMA Awards Program
The 17th PLMA Awards Program recognizes energy industry leaders for the best peak load and demand response management initiatives from calendar year 2019. The PLMA Awards recognize industry leaders who created, innovative ideas, methods, programs, and technologies that manage end-use loads to meet peak load needs and support successful grid integration of distributed energy resources. Over the past 16 years, PLMA has presented over 74 awards to recipients.


Program Pacesetters

  • Paul Wassink and Chris Ashley - National Grid and EnergyHub for National Grid Connected Solutions
  • Tom Hines and Tyler Rogers - Arizona Public Service and EnergyHub for APS Distributed Energy Resource Aggregations (Rewards Programs and Solar Communities)

Technology Pioneers

  • Mark Bailey - Connected Energy (UK) Ltd for Battery Recycling in Belgium
  • Anna Popp - Austin Energy for Austin SHINES Project

Thought Leaders

  • Justin Chamberlain - CPS Energy for Public Engagement
  • Sergey Shabalin - City of New York, Department of Citywide Administrative Services for Building Operator Engagement

See last year's winners at www.peakload.org/awards.

Laurie Duhan, Baltimore Gas and Electric Laurie Duhan
Baltimore Gas and Electric and Award Group Co-Chair
Brett Feldman, Guidehouse Brett Feldman
Guidehouse and Award Group Co-Chair
Michael Smith, National Grid Michael Smith
National Grid and Award Group Co-Chair
Drawing for Sponsor Showcase Lightning Round
Join us for a random drawing of to announce the winners from among those who submitted the ballot capturing the secret words from the Sponsor Showcase Lightning Round presented on Tuesday, April 21. Need not be present to win.

In this 30 minute session you will hear from several of our sponsors about the essence of their solutions. Our Co-chairs have vetted the presentations and helped the sponsors get their key messages compressed down to 3 minutes. This is not a marketing pitch, but a statement from the sponsors on specific examples of how they provide value.
Showcase Presenters:
EatonEaton EnergyHubEnergyHub Energy Federation Inc.Energy Federation Inc.

OpenADR AllianceOpenADR Alliance

The Road to Innovation Goes Through Our Customers
While there is consistent news about new technologies affecting the energy industry, we often overlook the associated massive shifts in customer attitudes and expectations that are simultaneously occurring. While we know we need to be more "customer-centric", what does that actually mean, and how do we accomplish that? In this presentation, we'll discover deep-seated wants, needs, and fears of our customers through insightful (both serious and humorous) videos, followed by an examination of 'Design Thinking', a methodology used by competitive companies such as Airbnb, Amazon, Apple, and IBM to create solutions that our customers actually value. We'll finish by showing how DER, DR, and pricing programs can benefit directly from design thinking.

Bill LeBlanc, E Source Bill LeBlanc
E Source

Welcome to Baltimore

Dana DeRemigis, Baltimore Gas and Electric Dana DeRemigis
Baltimore Gas and Electric and ULME Steering Committee

Closing Remarks
Rich Barone, TRC Rich Barone
TRC and PLMA Vice Chair
 
Pre-Recorded Presentations
Access available now to all those who register for free at www.peakload.org/41st-conf-registration

Track A

Debyani Ghosh, Guidehouse Co-Chair Debyani Ghosh
Guidehouse
JT Thompson, Enbala Co-Chair J.T. Thompson
Enbala

Time of Use Rates - 2 ways

The Hat-Trick: Strategies for Customer Outreach, Acquisition, and Load Shift
As Consumers Energy switches to TOU rates in 2020, they are exploring ways to engage customers while still meeting aggressive DR, EE, and TOU goals by working with Uplight on a smart thermostat Demand Response program. Customer acquisitions began in spring 2019 and this short timeframe has compelled Consumers Energy to develop creative customer targeting strategies. Consumers Energy succeeded in 2.5 times the load shift during DR events compared to a similar program in Michigan. Additionally, their goals were achieved in just one weekend, laying the foundation to reach 100,000 customers by 2022. Consumers Energy and Uplight will provide a program overview, focusing on the strategies they’re deploying to successfully bring customers into the fold. The session will include in-depth information about implementing segmentation strategies, deploying propensity models, streamlining marketplace outreach, results of direct install vs BYOD, how to use social marketing, and helping customers with technical issues.

Shannon Morrow, Consumers Energy Shannon Morrow
Consumers Energy
Donald McPhail, Uplight Donald McPhail
Uplight

How to Make TOU Programs Successful Using Behavioral Solutions
Utilities are in need of a new and effective approach to engage their Time of Use (TOU) program customers. Information available about TOU programs benefits and the rates can be too complex and is often ineffective at persuading customers to shift their load and reduce peak demand. Moreover, a lack of awareness and education about such programs can often lead to a decrease in customer satisfaction, low participation rates and drive calls to the call center. In collaboration with Oracle Utilities, BGE has launched a new behavioral approach that helps shift load when it matters most. This session will also cover other topics including: Research that supports how TOU rates can have a limited impact on peak reduction without customer enabling technology. Methods for amplifying the effect of your multichannel communications, engaging and educating TOU customers about the way they use their energy, their rates and the cost implications.

Amanda Janaskie, BG&E Amanda Janaskie
BG&E
Moiz Kapadia, Oracle Moiz Kapadia
Oracle

Track B

Jenny Roehm, Schneider Electric Co-Chair Jenny Roehm
Schneider Electric
Brad Davids, Google Co-Chair Brad Davids
Google

What You Do When Peak Power Exceeds $9000 Per MWh
When 20 GW of wind did not show up during a hot Texas summer day, the price of energy sky rocketed to $9,000/MWh for multiple intervals in the ERCOT market during summer 2019. Retail energy providers and other utilities went into an overdrive to dispatch all their demand response (DR) programs, not only to lower their MW obligation during these exorbitant price intervals but also to shed their contribution to the coincident peak which drives the transmission cost of service. With summer demand increasing, CPS Energy needed to grow their Demand Response customer commitments by 38 MW in under six weeks. With so many different types of programs to manage and communicate, it was imperative to maintain robust DR lifecycle management processes to optimize DR dispatch strategy on an event-by-event basis. In this session you will not only learn how CPS was able to rapidly scale their Demand Response program, deliver communications to their customers under limited time constraints, and deliver results to avoid peak usage at extreme prices, but you will also get a peek into how CPS Energy’s sophisticated DR dashboard which was built by internally leveraging the combination of big data analytics and end use AMI data of over 450k customers providing crucial near real-time feedback.

Wayne Callender, CPS Energy Wayne Callender
CPS Energy
Justin Chamberlain, CPS Energy Justin Chamberlain
CPS Energy
Kelly Kuhle, CPS Energy Kelly Kuhle
CPS Energy
Touseef Mohammed, CPS Energy Touseef Mohammed
CPS Energy

Track D

Clare Valentine, E SourceCo-Chair Clare Valentine
E Source
Joel Schofield, ThresholdCo-Chair Joel Schofield
Threshold

Transitioning Multi-family Communities from DI to BYOT
Austin Energy (AE) successfully launched a new energy efficiency measure in the Multifamily program by adding a DR enabled WiFi smart thermostat. The new thermostat measure is packaged with EE measures to create a holistic retrofit that is targeted toward the Income Qualified sector with legacy RF direct installation demand response thermostats. The new measure has increased overall participation by 90% while offering a path to transition from a legacy program and technology to smart thermostats through an enhanced rebate. The package includes measures such as duct seal, AC tune up, LED lighting, insulation, and solar screens. The new thermostat measure is expected to add ~$40 per year of bill savings to each apartment. Once the DR enabled smart thermostat is installed, AE and the property manager market the Power Partner Thermostat DR program to the tenant who can sign up for an $85 incentive. Coupling EE and DR in the multifamily sector provides a unique opportunity for the utility to directly incentivize multifamily tenants. These tenants are utility customers that otherwise cannot directly participate in other utility DSM programs.

AE recognizes WiFi has limitations for certain multi-tenant properties so, in an effort to offer other solutions, AE has been working with Resideo Technologies and Pelican Wireless to offer a BYOT program through a mesh network thermostat that does not require individual WiFi or tenant level electric account. This functionality facilitates individual unit participation in master metered facilities such as high rise apartments/condos or retirement communities and group type housing. With this partnership, housing community managers will retain move in/move out master remote control and troubleshooting capability over their community of thermostats while individual tenants may use the same mesh network communication to participate in the PPT program and receive a rebate, regardless of WiFi availability.

On an annual basis Austin Energy evaluates its DR programs using a large group of participant and non-participant premise level metered samples for each DR event and compares that to DR performance at the whole system level. The use of 15 minute interval data is used to standardize the results and provide a comparison of event performance for smart thermostats and legacy one way RF thermostats. This section will review a number of factors that impact DR performance results from smart thermostats and legacy thermostat technology.

Scott Jarman, Austin Energy Scott Jarman
Austin Energy
Beth Crouchet, Austin Energy Beth Crouchet
Resideo
Leigh Holmes, CLEAResult Leigh Holmes
CLEAResult

OG&E SmartHours 2.0: Understanding How to Add Value in the Smart Home Space
Since 2012, OG&E’s SmartHours has been one of the most successful residential rate-based demand response programs in North America encouraging customers to shift peak load and thereby avoid incremental fossil fuel generation. Given their continued success, but notable costs of utility owned thermostats, OG&E sought to explore how existing participants would respond to a smart thermostat that could be purchased, installed, and maintained by customers while still on OG&E’s variable peak pricing SmartHours rate. OG&E’s smart thermostat pilot explored a multitude of questions including: Is it possible to attain the same level of demand response without the investment of a utility owned thermostat? How did existing participants engage with the smart thermostat? What were the pain points, if any, associated with switching to the new smart thermostat? How can OG&E leverage the findings to add value for Smart Hours participants in the smart home space?

Jessica King, OG&E Jessica King
OG&E
Kelly Marrin, Applied Energy Group Kelly Marrin
Applied Energy Group

Utility Load Management Exchange Spring 2020 Meeting

12:30 - 2:30 pm EST | Live Online Presentation

Join ULME for a Utility only discussion of manufacturer-driven thermostat-centric programs demand response programs. We will summarize the requirements of such programs and gather information on the overall concerns that utilities are faced with, followed by discussion. Please join us and be ready to summarize your challenges, experiences, lessons learned and advice.
Moderator(s): Dana DeRemigis, Baltimore Gas and Electric and ULME Steering Committee.

CLICK HERE to Register

ULME's 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 about the structure and governance of ULME here. You may request to be added to this group by emailing [email protected].