Sessions

To register for this course, click here! The purpose of this course is to educate students on:  Outage Optimization and Digital Strategies for OMS  Advanced ADMS/OMS Data Exchanges   Visibility of Network Models Outside of the Control Center  Advanced Outage Analytics  OMS Product Roadmaps  Using Fault Data and AMI Data to Improve Outage Predictions  Describe the specific knowledge, skills and/or capabilities that attendees should acquire through this course.    Learn about:  Digital Communications Strategies   Outage Data Exchanges, Standards and Protocols   Network Model Visibility  Maintaining OMS models  Advanced Outage Analytics  Future Directions of OMS Products  Fault Data and AMI Data Integration  Emergency Preparedness and Emergency Management   Who should attend this course?    Experienced OMS (and ADMS) end-users  OMS administrators  Control Center Managers  Customer Service managers  People involved in the procurement of a new or replacement OMS or ADMS  Emergency Preparedness Managers  Prerequisite skills, knowledge, certifications  Some exposure to electric utility practices  Basic experience withs OMS or emergency management practices and/or Outage Management Fundamentals 

To register for this course, click here! This course provides an in-depth look at the systems that utilize supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) information, functionality, and secure networks for advanced applications. Key topics to be covered include:  Distribution Automation (DA) and Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADMS)  Integration with other systems such as distributed energy resources (specifically solar PV and energy storage systems), new power electronics devices, and microgrids  The impacts of IT/OT convergence and data from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and robots  SCADA system design and best practices  Cybersecurity considerations and perspectives   Describe the specific knowledge, skills and/or capabilities that attendees should acquire through this course.    Those wishing to build on an existing background in SCADA should expect to learn how other applications utilize the data, implementation challenges, and the latest tools for securing the system against cyber threats. As with the "fundamentals” course, attendees will be encouraged to bring questions and experiences to share. The presenters will address these and facilitate discussion on how the time-tested methods of utility data acquisition and control can be married with new, more complex applications.  Who should attend this course?    Engineers and managers responsible for planning and cost justifying SCADA, communications, and smart grid Engineers responsible for designing and implementing a SCADA, communications, or smart grid project, or contributing to its design and implementation  Nontechnical professionals who wish to get an introduction to SCADA and smart grid technologies  Operators and technicians working with SCADA, communications, or smart grid systems  Project Managers  Engineers and sales personnel working for suppliers and integrators of hardware and software products used in SCADA, communications or smart grid and related fields  Prerequisite skills, knowledge, certifications  No prior knowledge of SCADA or certifications required 

To register for this course, click here! To discuss the rapidly changing demographics of the current and incoming workforce, and how this relates directly to achieving goals of gender and LGBTQIA+ based diversity and inclusion (D&I). To explain the basic principles of showing respect, equity, fairness, and inclusion towards employees, vendors, clients, and all persons worldwide - regardless of the basis of sex, sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity. To demonstrate via an example how building this positive goals-oriented respectful culture will empower all your employees to be their very best. Throughout the session, attendees participate in role-playing using real-life examples to help us recognize our own unconscious bias and how it impacts the organization. These examples will help us consider “How that situation made us feel?,” what you thought about while the situation was happening,” and what did you learn about yourself and others?” We will talk about microaggression and macroaggression and their impact on the work environment. You will gain best practices to remove misconceptions and stereotypes and engage in dialogue that will be the catalyst for change. The presenter will provide practical tips that help you manage situations positively and productively. Describe the specific knowledge, skills, and /or capabilities that attendees should acquire through this course. Learning specific action plans for engaging management and employees as a team to create an inclusive workspace, as well as communicating your commitment to such both internally and externally. Successful strategies for crafting or changing Human Resources guidelines, updating management and employee training materials, and having meaningful enforcement of these policies – including ensuring that employee benefits programs are inclusive and fair. How to encourage D&I in employee recruitment, hiring, advancement, and retention. The role of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and community participation, and how to develop workable and sustainable programs. Addressing sub-contractor, supplier, and vendor diversity concerns. Developing and tracking internal and external compliance metrics for success. Being aware of continuing “change as usual.” Who should attend this course? Supervisors and managers at all levels, customer-facing professionals, human resources and talent development personnel, corporate training, and education staff, etc. especially those who work with others from various countries and cultures from around the world? This topic is highly applicable to the STEM fields where a significant gender-based division exists that has been traditionally weighted heavily towards one side. Prerequisite skills and knowledge: Nothing specifically required.

To register for this course, click here! This course provides a fresh unbiased perspective on communications technologies for critical applications for both existing automation programs and for future programs as defined in your Grid Modernization Master Plan.  Most utilities already have some form of backhaul communications for SCADA, AMI, and DA.  However, the emerging grid modernization programs are being expanded by adding new applications and greatly expanding existing programs. Communicating with customer-owned DER endpoints has become a growing challenge, the communication requirements for DA and AMI backhaul are also expanding and substations are becoming communication node locations.     The latest communications breakthroughs listed below will be reviewed with case studies used to enhance the learning outcomes.  Comparisons will be made regarding: latency, reliability, spectrum required, communication protocols, ease or challenge of obtaining end-point coverage, throughput potential, power requirements, typical pricing and several other characteristics.  The architecture, vendor solutions, costs and cost justification process and value proposition will be covered while addressing the following:  Private LTE Overview Including a Private LTE Case Study  Private LTE as your Long-Term AMI Metering Solution:    802.16s WiMAX Overview:    Licensed Broadband Spectrum Sources: 900 MHz, 700 MHz, 600 MHz, 220 MHz  Review the Narrowband Communication Alternatives:   AMI as a Backhaul for the Field Area Network Programs:    Communications Beyond the Meter  Fiber Optics as part of the WAN:  Commercial cellular Specific knowledge, skills and/or capabilities that attendees will acquire: Learn about private LTE and 802.16s and the use of licensed spectrum for your Field Area Network applications.   Discover new opportunities to commercialize communication assets.  Learn about new applications that are now requiring communications – C&I DER, home automation Behind-the-meter (BTM), private drone communications, expanded DA program, others.   The ability to separate technology hype with great future promise versus technologies that are ready for a 2022 deployment. Who should attend this course?    This course is targeted for a variety of skill sets and experience levels including the following:   Senior Executives who are tasked with approving recommendations that involve millions of dollars of smart utility infrastructure can benefit by learning about the trade-offs of different communication technologies and key questions they should be asking their staffs.  Utility strategy personnel looking for new opportunities to expand a utilities revenue (either regulated or deregulated).  For experienced engineers that oversee SCADA, ADMS, DA, AMI and new DER programs that are now tasked with replacing their legacy communications infrastructure with the next generation communications.  For IT staff that that may have focused more on internal applications that are now assigned to project teams that involve the WAN and FAN for the future selection or deployment of next generation communications infrastructure.  For project managers that may not be experts with communication technologies but will be involved with procuring, deploying or managing communication infrastructure projects.  For attendees that only have time for a four-hour class and want to receive a fresh update on the state of industry for Field Communications for mission critical programs like SCADA, DA, AMI and DER backhaul. 

To register for this course, click here! As cybersecurity requirements continue to grow, utility industry vendors and suppliers are constantly challenged to keep up with the latest requirements in a cost-effective way. The purpose of this course is to familiarize attendees with the latest cybersecurity requirements, proven methods to achieve compliance, and how cost savings and enhanced business operations can be realized through the latest designs of cybersecurity infrastructures and modern communication networks. Attendees will acquire An overview of IEC 61850 and its role in efficient information-based operations in utilities going forward. Who should attend: Cyber security personnel, compliance managers, protection and control engineers/ managers; asset managers, system planners, maintenance personnel, utility IT personnel, operations personnel   Prerequisite skills and knowledge: Utility operation and communication fundamentals.

To register for this course, click here! This course is focused on Data Operations in the real-time world of AMI and IoT.  This course answers these questions: What are the critical activities for monitoring and managing the real-time and near real-time data from smart meters and the plethora of IoT (Internet of Things) sensors being added to utility communications? How can you simplify the millions of data elements which flow into the utility data operations by automating the monitoring and management, filtering the noise and getting information to the systems and personnel who can utilize the information? How do you increase the utilization of the valuable data from millions of metering and sensing endpoints? What are the right systems and personnel to monitor, manage and analyze this overwhelming amount of data? AMI and IoT are moving to edge computing, how do you move data operations from a static to a dynamic view to take advantage of this? Who should attend this course and what knowledge is required? Project managers, IT managers, Operations and Analytics personnel.  Basically, any utility personnel who expect to be involved in the utilization or operation AMI and IoT with millions of real-time endpoints.  Anyone considering the implementation of AMI, MDM, MAMS and/or Enterprise Analytics and would like to understand how the solution will be operated and why consideration of operation is important at the start, rather than the end, of the project. Attendees must understand the metering and sensing requirements and data required by utility operations.

With the backdrop of 14 years as governor of the nation’s second-largest state and a lifetime of public service, former Texas Governor Rick Perry shares with audiences his thoughts on current events and conveys what he’s learned from his extensive executive and legislative experiences with examples he faced as governor of the Lone Star State.

This keynote session sets the stage and kicks off three exciting days of education and networking at DISTRIBUTECH International®. Day one will open with a keynote address by Jim Greer, Executive Vice President and COO of Oncor; Tom Deitrich, President and Chief Executive Officer to Itron; Braden Cammauf, Head of FPT Industrial Brand Nafta; and Rick Perry, Former U.S. Secretary of Energy and Governor of Texas.

Initiate is the hub at DISTRIBUTECH to hear about new technology, innovation, and up and coming talent in the energy sector. There will be 25 amazing startup companies pitching for a chance to win an award from Duke Energy and Clarion Energy Events. Stop by booth #3755 on the POWERGEN side to hear pitches and content centered around energy innovation.

California is leading the nation in electric vehicle (EV) adoption, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is at the heart of this growing trend with about one in five of the 1.9 million EVs in the US within their service territory. Since 2019, Opinion Dynamics has been working with PG&E to identify technologies to integrate into its existing residential automated demand response (ADR) programs. During this presentation, Opinion Dynamics will discuss its research to evaluate how EVs can be used to support grid resiliency both with current grid conditions as well as future scenarios. We will explore results from research on the charging behavior of over 130,000 EV customers. Our charging behavior analysis will include over seven years of data and segments EV customers into clusters based on their usage profiles, type of EV (battery electric vehicle vs. plug-in hybrid vehicle), utility rate plan (tiered rate vs time-of-use), and charging patterns. Results from this research will inform the theoretical potential to provide demand response at scale. While specific to PG&E, the sheer size of the EV population studied will be informative for the larger market.

To register for this session, click here!

Utility companies are facing tough challenges this year due to the energy transition. From boosting clean energy to ensuring reliable and resilient services, utilities need to rethink their operational strategies to help keep pace. Companies are turning to technology to help meet these new demands. But how can utilities with complex systems take on the challenge of new technology?
Join this session to learn how your organization can navigate digital transformation. You'll learn how to gain operational efficiencies, strengthen customer relationships, and speed up your road to net-zero.