Joint with Committee on Energy Resources and the Environment  

Blockchain & Transactive Energy

Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that is built on peer to peer transactions without the need for a central market. While it is most widely known as the infrastructure on which Bitcoin runs, potential use cases are emerging in a number of industries, particularly energy.  It has the potential to become the catalyst for the transactive energy revolution. Transactive energy is the idea that distributed energy resources (DERs) can be compensated for the services they offer to the grid in real time – a difficult task to do at scale without the utilization of a trusted and secure peer to peer network, as centralization inevitably adds delay and costs that make real time transactions difficult.  This panel will explore  how can public utility regulators advance this revolution, what are the pros and cons of using blockchain as the underlying technology for transactive energy and how does transactive energy help renewable and DER growth?

Moderator:

Hon. Brien Sheahan, Illinois

Hon. Robin Cooley, Wyoming

Panelists: 

Claire Henly, Managing Director DevHub, Energy Web Foundation

Pawan Jain, Assistant Professor, College of Business, University of Wyoming

Claudio Lima, Co-Founder, Blockchain Engineering Council

Joshua Wong, CEO & Founder, Opus One Solutions

1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m

Palomino 4 & 5

Joint with Committee on Electricity

Maximizing the Benefits of Technology through Customer Engagement  

Technology has expanded customers’ interactions with their electric utility far beyond service calls and bills for services rendered.  To maximize the benefits of technology, including smart meters, utilities are increasingly looking to customers to take a more proactive role in managing their energy usage.  The concept of a customer engagement platform offering more personalized products and services has also emerged.  Through dynamic rate structures, leveraging new technologies such as programable communicating thermostats, or through other investments or initiatives, many utilities and States are considering whether changes to the utility-ratepayer relationship can bring both customer and system benefits.  This session explores innovative new approaches the electric industry is taking to engage with customers and the lessons learned from initiatives that have already been undertaken.  A separate panel will address ways to assess whether such investments are delivering value to customers.

Moderator: 

Hon. Anne Rendahl, Washington

Panelists:

Latana Adjei, VP Sales and Marketing, Georgia Power Company

Rick Counihan, Head of Energy Regulatory and Governmental Affairs, NEST

Tim Stojka, Founder, Agentis Energy

Juliet Shavit, President/CEO, SmartMark Communications

 2:45 p.m - 3:45 p.m.

Palomino 6 & 7

Joint with Committee on Gas

The Future is Now  

A TED- like discussion with interactive opportunities.  The session  will allow for focused discussion on some cutting edge technology in the gas industry and the challenges and opportunities for stakeholders to consider.

Moderators:

Hon. Diane Solomon, New Jersey

Andreas Thanos, Chair Staff Subcommittee on Gas

Panelists:

Brigham McCown, Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure

Mark Brownstein, Senior Vice President, Energy, Environmental Defense Fund

V.P.,  mPrest

Alan Ettlinger, Director, Research, Technology Development and Innovation, New York Power Authority