Be it community solar or rooftop solar, utility customers are waking up to the promise of making and using their own solar energy and yet challenges in program design and interconnection remain. This session will review the results of an NREL solar interconnection timeline study and highlight a set of best practices that can help utilities to more efficiently interconnect systems. Attendees will also learn how NYPA works with New York distribution utilities and renewable energy developers to help C&I customers use renewable energy to meet their sustainability goals.

The economic and social consequences of today’s uncertain world have impacted almost every aspect of utility operations, especially budgets as customers struggle to pay bills. But climate change is still upon us and carbon reduction goals remain in place. In this session Smart Electric Power Alliance’s Julia Hamm moderates a panel of utility executives to hear how they are approaching carbon reduction in an uncertain world.

It has been determined by the highest office of the United States that utility supply chains are at risk of cyberattack because certain equipment in use on the electric grid could contain software or hardware that originated in countries that wish to do us harm. But how should the industry go about identifying at risk equipment and subsequently replacing it? Some experts believe that a regulatory office should be created to ensure that all equipment on the grid is safe but should such an organization live within the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, FERC or another governing agency? How would it be structured and what liabilities and responsibilities would it have? In this panel, experts from utilities and the government will discuss how to establish a protocol for supply chain cybersecurity in the US.

This presentation will analyze the market for DER management software technologies, including DER management systems (DERMSs), virtual power plant (VPP) management systems, and DER analytics. It aims to enable current and prospective electric utility solutions and service providers to understand the drivers for projected demand and likely investment by utilities in DER integration solutions and services.

The use of microgrids, customer back-up generation, grid hardening, and modernization are all potential solutions to achieve a resilient power system. Achieving resilience involves rethinking the design and operation of electric distribution systems, including the role of customer-developed and independently-developed solutions. Microgrids are often designed to export energy and provide resource adequacy, ancillary, and other grid services in order to support the project economics. and as a result, market, program and/or tariff mechanisms should be considered as a means for qualified microgrids to provide energy and grid services, including resilience, in return for compensation. This panel will provide insight into multi-customer microgrid interconnection and coordination with utilities, highlighting two recently filed utility tariffs in California and Hawaii.

It has been determined by the highest office of the United States that utility supply chains are at risk of cyberattack because certain equipment in use on the electric grid could contain software or hardware that originated in countries that wish to do us harm. But how should the industry go about identifying at risk equipment and subsequently replacing it? Some experts believe that a regulatory office should be created to ensure that all equipment on the grid is safe but should such an organization live within the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, FERC or another governing agency? How would it be structured and what liabilities and responsibilities would it have? In this panel, experts from utilities and the government will discuss how to establish a protocol for supply chain cybersecurity in the US.

This panel will explore data governance and safeguarding customer information in the context of cybersecurity; Utilities have historically limited the PII data that is kept. Given heightened customer service expectations, regulatory sensitivity, and stakes to drive insights from data, how are utilities balancing imperatives (data, privacy, security) in the next normal? What are the strategies, processes, and new approaches utilities are leveraging to keep their consumer data safe.

Consumers are more ready than ever to engage in smart energy programs, as long as their most pressing needs and wants are adequately addressed by industry stakeholders. This session is designed to help industry stakeholders better understand today’s energy consumers – their perceptions, attitudes and needs – and develop programs and services to effectively meet these needs.

Akan Ismaili has a unique perspective on responding to emergencies ranging from the natural disasters in North America to wartime efforts in the Balkans. Former Kosovo Ambassador to the United States (and Canada), Akan currently serves as CEO of the California based utility vegetation management (UVM) company AERI. His company’s growth and experience include all aspects of routine UVM work and considerable direct experience in addressing the aftermath of the California wildfires. In this presentation, Akan will address utility and vendor efforts associated with the aftermath of recent historic fires in the west. Dramatically different in scope than traditional UVM, Akan will discuss how can utilities be better prepared in the event of a wildfire in their service territory.

This session will explore how utilities are planning for and developing eco-friendly infrastructure. It will present drivers of smart city initiatives and the essential role played by infrastructure and technology; the development of action plans that converge the utility’s evolutionary path with that of their cities; and how utilities are creating a vision and roadmap to drive the change needed to meet the smart cities challenge.