PLMA: Load Management Dialogues PLMA

The way customers use energy is changing in fundamental ways.  Home energy technology - electric vehicles, air conditioners, solar and storage - can be a headache for utilities and grids, but active load management can unlock great value for customers and utilities.

London-based Octopus Energy is a leading energy supplier with over 7,700,000 customers worldwide, across the UK, US, Europe, and APAC. It is at the forefront of domestic load shift, launching its first time-of-use tariffs in 2018. It launched "Intelligent Octopus" in 2021, a product for actively managing customer demand and saving several hundred dollars per customer per year. Intelligent Octopus, powered by Kraken's SmartFlex platform, has grown to become the world's largest managed charging fleet, consisting of 140,000 connected devices, equivalent to 900MW of controllable load.

In this Load Management Dialogue, Octopus will share its journey creating customer products around load shifting, how it applies this in the US and other countries, and learnings for mobilizing greater amounts of connected load.

Wood Mackenzie has estimated the U.S. could have up to 380GW of DERs connected to the grid as soon as 2025, which represents tens of millions of new DERs. PLMA has invited two industry experts to help us explore the outlook for 2024, including opportunities and challenges they will be watching closely in the year ahead. Join us to learn more about: 
policy and regulatory changes that may affect DR and DERsthe role of VPPs in meeting peak demandthe evolving role of utilitiesthe growing impact of EVsaccounting for decarbonizationthe influence of global events and more!

"With electricity demand growing for the first time in a decade and fossil assets retiring, deploying 80-160 GW of virtual power plants (VPPs)—tripling current scale—by 2030 could support rapid electrification while redirecting grid spending from peaker plants to participants and reducing overall grid costs.“
Jen Downing from the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office will present key insights from the recently published VPP Liftoff Report. This will include the current state of VPPs in the U.S., the role VPPs can play in a modernizing grid, and priority solutions to accelerate growth. The session will also cover DOE programs that can support VPP projects, with a deep-dive on the >$300 billion in financing authorities of the Loan Programs Office. 

Meet Lee Krevat, a former utility executive with SDG&E and current CEO of Krevat Energy Innovations. Lee hosts a podcast titled “The Climate Champions” in which he discusses the planet’s future with a variety of leaders who are engaged in the fight to mitigate climate change. Each episode includes a discussion of his guest’s actions and initiatives, the forces that drive them to make a difference, and their vision for what’s next.
In this engaging session, Lee Krevat will discuss a variety of issues and opportunities with our panel, addressing the mitigating the impacts of climate change in the near and more distant future with PLMA Leaders Ross Malme, Past PLMA Chair, of Malme Energy Solutions; Michael Brown, Past PLMA Chair, of NV Energy; and Jenny Roehm, Executive Committee Member, of Schneider Electric.

Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) received PLMA's Technology Pioneer Award this Spring for their work partnering with rooftop solar customers to accelerate their transition to the renewable grid of the future. The Wattsmart Battery Program innovation journey started in 2017 as a partnership between the utility (RMP),  local developer and RMP customer The Wasatch Group, and Sonnen, a battery manufacturer. Together, they worked through policy and technical constraints to install over 600 batteries powered by solar to supply electricity to a 600-unit apartment complex called Soleil Lofts. 

The scalable Wattsmart Battery Program includes:
Development of a Battery Grid Management System (BGMS) in partnership with Sonnen that allows RMP to connect with and dispatch customer-owned batteries to keep the power grid stable and avoid power outages.

A BGMS that's connected to the western energy grid and automatically reacts in real-time (within 50 seconds), based on system needs. 

A Virtual Power Plant resource in partnership with Sonnen that allows thousands of small batteries to be controlled as a group, transforming distributed residential solar power into the equivalent of one large power plant resource.Join us to learn more about this innovative program, RMP's lessons learned, and its recommendations for others working on solar and battery initiatives.