Sessions

Technical and manager-level utility personnel working in the operations, planning, or GIS areas, as well as those working in IT roles supporting those areas, are tasked with designing local solutions for managing network model data from its source in engineering and facilities tools to its ultimate use in planning, protection, and operations network analysis tools. As a result, there is a requirement for organizing utility grid model data management using a business function approach, which can be summarized as the network model management challenge. This Knowledge Hub presentation will provide an overview of the use of the Common Information Model (CIM) for organizing grid model data, focusing on the use of CIM data constructs to enable effective network model data management solutions inside the utility enterprise.

Sponsored by Bidgely 

The demand for customer-centric sophisticated solutions has been rapidly increasing across the globe in various sectors. With growing awareness, end-consumers not only expect impeccable service but also look for the most detailed and accurate insights into the product they’re consuming. Hence, it becomes imperative that the data-driven models are approached in a way that’s easy to explain to individuals while simultaneously being algorithmically flawless. In this session, we’ll explore how AI is used as a foundation to develop flexible solutions to demand-side management challenges in the energy sector, pulling from case studies, industry trends, and cutting-edge research on AI-powered customer segmentation for utilities.

Far too often the voice of the customer is lost when it comes to traditional IT projects. Seeking to remedy this, utilities are embracing an approach to development that begins with design thinking, a process that takes a human-centered, agile process to tackle the toughest problems.

In this session, BGE and Mindgrub Technologies will provide an overview of how to put design thinking into practice through the case study of the development and enhancement of an engaging customer mobile application. The goal will be to demonstrate how you can apply design thinking to your next project, ensuring that the voice of the customer is heard and incorporated into the final design. 

Sponsored by EV Energy

Through this Q&A, we’ll explore practical applications of technology that are helping to activate the smart grid. We’ll explore: The definition of the term ‘smart grid’ How technology like ev.energy makes this happen right now What US utilities are using this technology today Lessons learned from Europe (UK specifically as an advanced EV regulated market) What is needed to build a sustainable smart grid

Sponsored by Itron

Often, the first smart city application deployed is smart street lighting, due to the immediate energy savings associated with lighting efficiency. Now, forward-thinking cities and utilities are looking at new ways to leverage technology like multi-purpose industrial IoT-enabled networks to transform communities by delivering new services in safety, sustainability, and economic development. Learn about the impacts that trends like increasing grid complexity, renewable generation, and rising consumer expectations are having in driving these technology decisions. Join this fireside chat as we explore trends and real-world examples of how utilities are tackling tough environmental and operational challenges with smart solutions while keeping customers and community members top of mind.

More residences and small-to-medium commercial buildings are adopting smart, internet-connected devices that could enable simple, scalable, and low-cost interactions between utilities and residential electrical loads and generation sources. These residential distributed energy resources (DERs), if aggregated and efficiently cost-controlled, could help balance grid operations, thus improving operational efficiency, reliability, and resiliency of the power grid. The challenge is that these loads are widely dispersed, relatively small, and operate under user constraints. Some utilities use third-party companies to sign up customers for voluntary curtailment programs for specific appliances such as air conditioners. But those services can be costly for utilities, they typically use proprietary software, and don’t take advantage of the range of multi-vendor devices available in the emerging smart appliance world. To address this industry challenge, the Department of Energy, working through the national laboratories of the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC), has sponsored a research project to provide electric utilities with the necessary software and hardware, all based on open standards, to bring intelligent, coordinated control of residential DERs. The team has developed and validated a home energy management system (HEMS), which provides a standardized grid interface with a utility. The system serves as a platform for deploying intelligent algorithms to execute grid-responsive functionality of a broad portfolio of residential multi-vendor devices. The project team developed hierarchical, decentralized control and optimization technology capable of providing the response needed to deliver guaranteed grid services to utilities. The team has partnered with utilities in the Southeast, including Southern Company, Duke Energy and Tennessee Valley Authority, to identify, test and validate grid-responsive services including peak demand reduction and renewable responsive load shaping using residential loads. The project team has tested control signals and interactions in a laboratory environment and has deployed devices for five appliance types in several locations with utilities across the region. The project team has used these field trials to validate advanced control functions that support distribution resiliency and end-to-end interoperability, using open standards and open-source platforms. This presentation will report on the results.

The model of electric utility organizations has not successfully accommodated necessary investments in grid innovation. This session will explore pathways to accelerate grid modernization and innovation through evolved models of grid operators. Lessons from the Utility Business Model Working Group discussion that Grid Forward co-organizes with SEPA, Grid Wise Alliance, and EPRI will be leveraged. 

In order to meet the global goals for carbon emissions the electrification of the transport sector will have an important impact, and the numbers of end-of-life EV batteries will increase drastically over the next few years. The Norwegian government has a national goal of 100% zero-emission new cars by 2025 and in March 2021 56.2 % of all new cars sold in Norway were all electric. In order to lower the total environmental impact of developing and producing batteries, new ways of re-use and bringing used EV batteries back to life must be identified and developed. Energy storage solutions connected to the grid, either as a standalone service, or in combination with renewable energy resources key for incorporating renewables into the grid. The new FERC 2222 order is also a huge opportunity for various battery solutions and DERs to make an impact when aggregating and integrating to utility grid operations. This presentation covers the process of implementing a distribution grid connection of a 1-MW energy storage solution using repurposed EV batteries, setting up and testing how energy storage can be used in energy, capacity and ancillary services markets. Learnings and the outcome of the implementation and utilization of the storage will be presented. Independently of the grid connection, the energy storage will also be utilized by the TSO for balancing purposed through an integration to a capacity and ancillary services market. The energy storage system will be operated by an independent vendor and offered into the NODES marked through an aggregator. A major part of the learning process is to data collection and evaluating the impact of a solution has to the grid when it comes to harmonics, utilization and controllability.

The future of energy in Texas and the US is one of carbon-free promise, but numerous challenges face us in designing and operating an electrical system to meet the growing demand for power while ensuring resiliency, reliability, and security. How do we manage these challenges within a changing regulatory regime and with an evolving threat environment? Deepa Poduval, Vice President & Global Advisory Leader at Black & Veatch kicks off the Leadership Summit with a short introduction. Following his remarks will be a conversation with former US Secretary of Energy and former Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, Massoud Amin, professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Minnesota, and Julia Matevosyan, Chief Engineer at ESIG Energy. This give-and-take discussion will offer a candid assessment of the policy, technology, and cybersecurity issues that are crucial to the bulk power system’s future.