The American Public Power Association is partnering with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to showcase ways public power utilities can pilot and speed up adoption of advanced grid technologies and other enhancements via sandboxes. A sandbox is a mechanism for testing new programs, technologies, and business models outside of traditional approaches.

The effort involves gathering a cohort of APPA members onto a series of interactive meetings where they will learn about how they can innovate at their utilities while minimizing financial risks to customers.

The goals of the effort are to:

  • Support public power utilities in overcoming the unique challenges they face to effectively test and quickly scale advanced transmission and distribution technologies.
  • Provide participants with practical information and actionable templates and frameworks to adapt for their specific circumstances.
  • Support peer-sharing and continuous learning, including direct technical assistance for selected interested utilities to develop and implement a sandbox mechanism.

Events

The interactive meetings will be hosted monthly from July through November 2026. If you are an APPA member who is interested in participating in the webinars, please contact Paul Zummo at PZummo@PublicPower.org.

For those not participating in the meetings, portions of event recordings, meeting notes and summaries, and other resources made available through this project will be captured on this page for member access only.

Meeting topics are subject to change, but include:


Members can register for the webinars at the links above.

Resources

LBNL supported a similar initiative for regulated utilities. While the following materials were developed for regulated electric utilities, many of the lessons and findings are applicable for public power.