Northeast Event Schedule

10:15 - 11:00 AM EST

Integrating battery energy storage systems into densely populated urban environments can be challenging. This session will focus on use cases, integration methods, and the importance of siting the right locations. Panelists will discuss the economics of these systems and the importance of keeping energy storage close to load while also exploring battery safety and proper community engagement. The panel will share insights on how urban batteries can be leveraged for reliability and ancillary services.

11:15 AM - 12:00 PM EST

Where are my people at? No, seriously… New England’s interconnection queues are clogged with an invisible (and often unquantifiable) time expenditure- finding the right person to move a project along. This session will delve into workforce constraints across the renewable energy industry from manufacturers to project developers, utilities, and RTOs. Panelists will discuss workarounds and ways to maximize the limited manpower available. 

11:15 AM - 12:00 PM EST

Even if a developer is familiar with typical infrastructure and labor rates, the cost to interconnect a project may vary widely from utility to utility. This session will explore how that figure is calculated and the variables that cause prices to fluctuate. Panelists will share examples of utilities offering more price transparency than others and will entertain the idea of a “menu” approach, similar to Hawaiian Electric's unitized price schedules. How do we find the slightest bit of cost certainty in uncertain markets?

1:30 - 2:15 PM EST

Sponsored by:

Investor-owned electric distribution companies operating in Massachusetts must periodically submit an Electric Sector Modernization Plan (ESMP) with the Department of Public Utilities (DPU). The first ESMP filings were due this January, requiring each company to proactively plan to upgrade its distribution system (and transmission where applicable) to improve grid reliability, communications, and resiliency while enabling increased, timely adoption of renewable energy and distributed energy resources. In this session, Eversource, National Grid, and Unitil will share updates and perspectives on their filed ESMPs and the implications for market participants.

4:30 - 5:15 PM EST

Transmission-connected battery energy storage can defer costly upgrades, increase reliability, and provide ancillary services. Which such services can/should a BESS provide, and how may utilities coordinate their delivery? NYISO is looking at ways to optimize wholesale markets; how can independent power producers and project developers identify the right use cases for transmission-connected batteries to maximize value? This session will explore market making, potential revenue streams, and modeling challenges.

Sponsored by:

The roundtable will explore grid interconnection challenges in the North American utility industry and how Generative AI can help address them. By using AI tools to streamline interconnection applications and improve site controls, ISOs, RTOs, utilities, regulators, and developers can better manage the process and prepare for future impacts. The session will cover AI's role in addressing technological, procedural, and regulatory challenges.

11:00 - 11:45 AM EST

It's been a busy few years for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Order 2222 changed the landscape for distributed energy resources by allowing DERs to participate in wholesale energy markets, enabling virtual power plants. Order 2023 mandates significant reforms to generator interconnection procedures and agreements to ensure reliable, efficient, transparent, timely, and fair interconnection to the transmission system, and Order 1920 sets the stage for long-term and proactive transmission planning. This session will cover how Regional Transmission Operators (RTOs) ISO-NE and NYISO are responding to these orders to efficiently and expeditiously support the energy transition. Are constraints on the transmission grid impacting distribution interconnections?