Sessions

Sponsored by HCL: At HCL, we are helping power utilities realize the energy transition narrative and enable a sustainable and smarter future for our planet. Our Zero Impact Platform introduces a set of functionalities to optimize energy consumption in operations at the enterprise level – enabling you to optimize the performance of key assets and equipment, enhance OEE and other KPIs and reduce your energy footprint. 

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.

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.

Increasingly, there are solar, storage, and other resources sufficient to energize communities affected by wide-area power outages, but there are limited community-oriented control systems capable of acting on their behalf. While traditional microgrids are effective for the individual customers who own them, they do not help communities nor minimize the broader impact of outages. Present utility distribution management systems are likewise not supportive of community microgrids because they are centralized and designed to serve customers from the bulk system. If these central locations are disrupted or offline, local community systems cannot operate, regardless of their DER levels. In mid-2021, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) was tapped by the Department of Energy (DOE) to study the key technical and business challenges impeding the implementation of community microgrids through the Solar Energy CommUnity REsiliency (SECURE) project. This presentation will highlight the technology advancements and utility perspectives from the project, now in progress. Working with industry partners and electric utilities, the SECURE project aims to remove barriers to community microgrid adoption and optimize the reliability and value of distributed energy resources (DER) during normal conditions.

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 electricity system that does not emit greenhouse gasses. What is the best way to meet growing consumer demand for power while ensuring resiliency and reliability? How can we address potential disruptions to natural gas supply, given limited storage and transportation capacity? And how do we manage these challenges within a changing regulatory environment? Mario Azar, President of Power Business at Black & Veatch will kick off the Leadership Summit with a short introduction. Join us for a conversation with former US Secretary of Energy and former Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, and Brad Jones, Acting CEO of ERCOT. They have tackled energy challenges throughout the country and will weigh in on the unique issues that lie ahead as we march toward the Net-Zero Future.

Dominion Energy Innovation Center's DEIC Accelerate program introduced 15 startups to dozens of business units across Dominion Energy in its first two years. In this session, Adam Sledd of DEIC and Michael Beiro of Linebird will discuss how the program creates value for both the utility and the startups.  They will cover how a startup can maximize its opportunity to quickly build customer relationships, and how the utility benefits from creating a formal framework to engage startup companies.

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Workplace diversity is becoming a more common conversation in the business world and placing a focus on diversity and inclusion should extend farther than the hiring department. Diversity is a range of human differences, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, social class, physical ability or attributes, religious or ethical values, national origin, veteran status, and political beliefs. Join us for a networking lunch to hear industry leaders speak on the topic of diversity in the workplace and share the best practices they have experienced in this space.

Whether we have more jobs or less is a debate only time will settle, but there is no doubt 100% of jobs will be reskilled. How we work and Why is being recalibrated, and society overall will take a radical shift as we head into what has been described as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. How can we build the new capacities necessary? How will new tools shape new behaviors and drive new expectations? Which old practices to manage risk are actually now putting us at risk? And how will we measure we are doing it right?

Dominion Energy Innovation Center's DEIC Accelerate program introduced 15 startups to dozens of business units across Dominion Energy in its first two years. In this session, Adam Sledd of DEIC and Michael Beiro of Linebird will discuss how the program creates value for both the utility and the startups.  They will cover how a startup can maximize its opportunity to quickly build customer relationships, and how the utility benefits from creating a formal framework to engage startup companies.