Learn how to leverage distributed energy resources in your community to help combat rising costs and distribution and transmission constraints. Hear from utilities that have implemented distributed energy resource management systems to gather their advice for a smooth deployment, including tips for effectively engaging customers in programs. Discuss what a virtual power plant concept could do for your system and considerations for effectively aggregating DER in your area. 

Learn how utilities are managing both traditional environmental compliance obligations and emerging technology-driven solutions in an increasingly complex regulatory environment. This session will ground participants in core compliance responsibilities—such as monitoring, reporting, permitting, and recordkeeping—while exploring how utilities and regulators are using artificial intelligence to enhance compliance programs. Review potential AI use cases, including automating data collection, enabling real time monitoring, and developing predictive analytics. Discuss how to integrate AI tools into existing workflows to reduce manual workload, support informed decision making, and help utilities keep pace with evolving environmental regulations.

Explore practical and emerging use cases for artificial intelligence across your operations. Discuss how to effectively use AI tools for enhanced forecasting, grid optimization, and more. Learn what it takes to set up and train AI to deliver accurate results and what controls to implement to reduce risk to your utility and customers.

Learn how utilities are deploying energy storage to address reliability, manage peak load, and integrate renewables. Review the use and business cases for storage, including how these assets can support peak shaving or energy arbitrage and if there are opportunities to stack value for these assets. Get a rundown on the latest economics surrounding energy storage, including the market outlook and what to look for when bidding for storage assets.

The national conversation around fossil fuels is shifting — and utilities are adapting in real time. From maintaining coal generation to navigating new natural gas facility development, the industry faces evolving challenges. Discuss how utility leaders are responding to changing policy, market pressures, and reliability demands. 

Discover what’s driving system outages at utilities across the U.S. and where your utility’s reliability indices compare to public power benchmarks as reported in the PowerTRX Reliability platform (formerly eReliability Tracker). Dive into where the data shows mitigation strategies are working, from vegetation management to contact with wildlife, and what other practices can help your utility understand and improve its reliability track record.

Community growth brings economic opportunities but also new risks for utilities. Explore how T&D planners can manage line extension policies, capacity constraints, power supply costs, and rate design to ensure growth benefits both the utility and its customers. Review how growth has affected utility capacity and reliability in different regions and how public power is leveraging distributed generation to manage some growth.

As the landscape for EV charging infrastructure continues to evolve, utilities and commercial customers have changing considerations for load, cost, and other grid impacts. Follow the latest trends in Level 3 DC fast chargers, including how this infrastructure is affecting load growth and electric rates. Review strategies for right-sizing transformers with EV load and considerations for optimizing EV infrastructure builds, whether utility-owned or commercial installations. Discover collaboration opportunities for industrial-scale and residential charging and how rate design can influence adoption and grid effects.