AESP Spring Conference: What’s on the menu for energy efficiency?

The days are getting longer, the smell of flowers is in the air, and emerging AC loads are signaling the start of the annual summer peak. All these clues point to one conclusion: the AESP Spring Conference in Seattle is just around the corner. As usual, the content coordinators at the AESP have done a great job of developing a diverse agenda. Topics for this conference can be taken a la carte, and DNV GL’s menu of speakers cover the spread of program design, market influencers, and data analytics. If you are going to be in the Northwest during the second week of May, make sure to keep reading and stop by our sessions. If you cannot make it – no worries, we have you covered! I will be posting a conference recap with key takeaways once I’ve had time to digest all the topics.

Firstly, I’m very happy to be kicking off our speaking lineup by teaching a Master Class on Tuesday, 5/7/19 at 9:00-10:15. My class focuses on program design and technology and I’m going educate the audience on how to leverage connected technologies to topple silos and reach new customers. Though I’m a lighting specialist by profession, my real passion is solving big problems — like the Duck Curve. To that effect, we are going to explore how connected technologies can be preprogrammed to autonomously shed load and create the demand flexibility systems operators need to integrate more renewables onto the grid. Beyond technology, I deep dive into why utilities should be looking at Integrated Demand Side Management (IDSM) as the next step for our efficiency programs. It’s going to be a fun class that includes a live load shedding demonstration, customer testimonials, and real-world results from an innovative pilot we designed and implemented.

Next up, fresh off receiving the prestigious B.H. Prasad Award for his continued dedication in promoting the goals of the AESP, Bill Clemens of DTE (MI) and Daniel Jarvis of DNV GL will “Let the data do the talking” for their Master Class on Data & Analytics. Their session, on 5/7/19 from 10:45-12:00 will explore how data analytics can help utilities uncover hidden opportunities. Daniel and Bill will tell the story of how DTE and DNV GL used customer participation data to increase participation in efficiency programs for underserved territories. The analytics outputs helped to identify customer segments with high energy savings and previously unreached customers combining consumption data, measure saturation, and measure cost-effectiveness that developed a strategy that is in the best interest of customers and the utility. However, more than ‘talking data’, this session will provide the audience with a live demonstration of the analytics tool used to uncover those hidden opportunities. Bill and Daniel are dynamic people and this session is sure to be a treat.

Finally, DNV GL’s resident outreach expert, Karen Germain, will host an interactive Learning Lab on 5/8/19 from 8:45-10:00. Karen’s workshop will teach attendees how to: ‘Innovate their marketing with market influencer partnerships’. Beyond Trade Allies, market influencers hold the potential to help programs scale and reach new audiences by using their stature to do a program’s heavy lifting. However, if not properly engaged, market influencers can use their weight to derail a program’s message. Karen’s hands-on workshop teams up attendees and presents them with realistic scenarios they must solve to get the most out of their influencers. If you’ve never done an AESP Learning Lab — make sure to give this one a try!

That’s all I got. Here’s wishing everyone safe travels and looking forward to connecting in a few weeks.