Women in DM: Breakfast Connect and Career Success Panel| Golden Boardroom
Join PLMA's Women in DM Affinity Group for some early morning networking. Then, enjoy some breakfast and an opportunity to hear from two talented colleagues who've forged successful load management careers; one from a utility and one from a vendor. They'll share their personal stories as well as some of the career skills they've honed, lessons they've learned, and advice they might give.
Whether you are a "woman in DM" or you work with women every day, you are welcome to join us!
Jessie Peters Edge Zero
Nonette Surbaugh Public Service Co. of Oklahoma
Opening Session| Salon ABCD
Sponsored by Edo
Sarah Chatterjee Electric Power Engineers
9:00 - 9:20 am
Opening Remarks from the Chair
Richard Barone Oracle Utilities
9:20 - 9:30 am
Welcome to Brooklyn (and NYC)
Gerrianna Cohen Con Edison
9:30 am - 10:00 am
What's Up at PLMA? Hear from PLMA's Interest Groups on their progress and plans going forward, all in short 3-minute clips. Presenting Groups: Connected Devices | Retail Pricing | Electric Transportation | Building Electrification | Global Load Management | Customer Engagement | C&I Load Flexibility | Public Power & Co-ops
10:00 - 10:30 am
Refreshment Break | Salon E
Sponsored by Sense
General Session 2| Salon ABCD
Co-Chair Ruth Kiselewich ICF
Co-Chair Michael Brown Berkshire Hathaway, NV Energy
10:30 - 10:45 am
Keynote Address
Alejandro Moreno Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary US Department of Energy
10:45 am - 12:00 pm
Why Load Shifting is the Next Powerful Decarbonization Solution Load-shifting is significantly different from traditional DR - which typically focuses on providing grid resources through temporary load-shedding. Load-shifting is more dynamic and frequent in nature, needs dynamic data/signals for dispatch in response to changing grid conditions, rates and/or carbon emissions, and presents additional technological and implementation complexity. Recently, load shifting has been in focus as a decarbonization tool- and California now has a state load shift goal of 7GW by 2030, representing a doubling of current demand flexibility levels and could power 7 million homes 2030 without new power plants. This panel will include a discussion to emphasize the unique policy, regulatory, technological, programmatic and operational tools that are needed for design and administration of a load shifting program. The panel will highlight case studies where load shifting has been used in programs, discuss lessons learned, and provide tips to launch load-shifting programs.
Moderator Robin Maslowski Trillium Energy Consulting
Alejandro Moreno US Department of Energy
Vasudha Lathey Olivine
John Hernandez Pacific Gas & Electric
Erica Keating Southern California Edison
Brad Mantz San Diego Gas & Electric
Laura Corso Wattime
12:00 - 1:30 pm
Lunch | Salon E
Sponsored by Copper Labs
General Session 3| Salon ABCD
Co-Chair Troy Eichenberger Tennessee Valley Authority
Co-Chair Beth Reid Olivine Inc.
1:30 - 2:15 pm
A Tale of Two States: New Assessments of the Demand Flexibility Opportunity in New York and California Recent regulatory actions in New York and California have commissioned studies on demand flexibility that should be foundational to the future energy plans of each state. Join us to hear the results of these approaches to identifying the potential for grid flexibility, and how each study will be used to drive the next phase of the states’ plans.
Ryan Hledik The Brattle Group
Zeryai Hagos New York State Department of Public Service
Debyani Ghosh Guidehouse
Brian Chang Guidehouse
2:15 - 3:00 pm
DR programs are essential for grid reliability and resilience but face participation hurdles in low-income and underserved communities due to connectivity barriers. Notably, 23% of U.S. households—and 43% in low-income areas—lack home internet access, further limiting access to these programs. The Austin Energy Smart Home Rewards Demonstration Program addresses these challenges by deploying DER technologies, such as cellular-connected water heater control devices integrated with smart thermostats. This enhances utility communication and community connectivity, expanding DR participation and promoting grid stabilization.
The program is specific to economically disadvantaged, multifamily communities, focusing on efficiently managing water heating and HVAC loads. It has demonstrated solid results with an 86% response rate to DR commands and reliable, steady demand curtailments, providing financial and societal benefits to marginalized communities and reinforcing a scalable, resilient model for transforming DR frameworks and enhancing sustainable community development.
Ross Tomlin Austin Energy
Mitch Hassett ecobee
Scott Koehler Armada Power
Do you question why load management struggles to scale? Have you seen demand flexibility programs languish because we fail to capture the full value of demand flexibility benefits? Join us for an intimate workshop to discuss what demand flexibility benefits aren’t being captured, why, how it impacts efforts to scale, and how we can more effectively identify, value, and capture these benefits. We will begin with a roundtable discussion on the role of flexible load valuation in our industry, followed by an interactive inventory and prioritization exercise. Building off an existing inventory of load flexibility value streams, we will poll workshop attendees about other potentially "incomplete" or “non-quantified” demand flexibility value streams (e.g., equity, affordability, resiliency, GHG emissions), then discuss their priority to advancing load management, reasons they aren't consistently being captured, and examples of existing regions/frameworks/etc where there have been some advancements in quantifying. This workshop is the first activity under PLMA's new DER Valuation strategic initiative. We encourage workshop attendees to have a working knowledge of these topics to actively participate in the discussion.
Robin Maslowski Trillium Energy Consulting
Olivia Patterson Opinion Dynamics
Kerri Carnes Arizona Public Service
3:00 - 3:30 pm
Refreshment Break | Salon E
Sponsored by Sense
General Session 4| Salon ABCD
Co-Chair Jenny Roehm Schneider Electric
Co-Chair Erica Keating Southern California Edison
3:30 - 4:00 pm
Simplifying Load Management Complexities into a Great Customer Experience BGE’s three demand response programs, PeakRewards, Connected Rewards, and Smart Energy Rewards, have been instrumental in reducing grid strain during peak demand periods for many years. The recent Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022, Clean and Renewable Energy Standard, and Executive Order by Governor Moore have ignited a transformation in Maryland’s energy landscape. These legislative milestones have propelled BGE to rethink its demand response programming beyond residential thermostat and behavioral programs, evolving into a versatile, customer-class-agnostic load management program. However, with increased opportunities comes increased complexity that leads to the potential to introduce confusion. This presentation will take you behind the scenes in BGE’s approach in unifying load management programs, emphasizing its simplicity, customer-centric approach, and comprehensibility regardless of the complexity being added to the program. We will highlight the myriad ways customers can participate, ultimately paving the way for significant load management opportunities and grid-level benefits in the future.
Rebekah Grant Baltimore Gas & Electric
Eric Ricucci Baltimore Gas & Electric
4:00 - 4:30 pm
PLMA Utility Members Share In this 30 minute session you will hear from several of our utility members concerning situations that they are encountering at their company. Example topics for this session could include: a "problem" that needs solving, or some unexpected results from a pilot (good or bad), or even just a request for information. These 3-5 minute presentations will have few slides, and focus on their particular situation. The goal is to create awareness and conversation for the upcoming "Networking Reception" as well as potential for follow-up throughout the conference or after the conference.
4:30 - 5:00 pm
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.
5:00 - 6:30 pm
Networking Reception in the Sponsors Lounge | Salon E