PLMA Session Previews: Breaking DownSilos and Unlocking Demand Flexibility
The grid is evolving in real time—and the strategies that worked yesterday won’t be enough to meet the demands of tomorrow. The conversations shaping what comes next are happening at the Peak Load Management Alliance (PLMA)’s Spring Conference this May 11–13 in Indianapolis, IN and RI staff will be key contributors within those transformative conversations.
Eric Van Orden and Eli Font, will share their insights, bringing real-world experience, practical strategies, and a clear-eyed view of what it takes to turn innovation into impact. Each of their sessions address different sides of the same challenge:
How to effectively unlock meaningful demand flexibility in a changing grid?
- Eric explores two leading approaches to deliver demand flexibility: control through automation (VPPs) versus influence through pricing (dynamic rates).
- Eli focuses on the foundational work needed inside utilities—breaking down silos, building alignment, and strengthening engagement to support long-term DR strategy.
Together, Eric and Eli offer a well-rounded view of the real-world tools and the organizational groundwork utilities are harnessing to shape the future of demand response and peak load energy management.
Control vs. Cost: The Battle Between Virtual Power Plants and Dynamic Rates
May 11 | 9:00–10:30 a.m. (ET)
DERs as a Grid Resource Workshop | Featuring Eric Van Oden, Moderator
In this fast-paced debate session, industry experts make the case for control vs. cost.
As electrification accelerates, grid constraints tighten, and intermittent renewable resources grow. The question of how to best unlock and enable demand flexibility takes center stage: through control or cost?
- Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) offer automated, orchestrated load control that responds in real time to grid needs.
- Dynamic rates, in contrast, use price signals to influence customer behavior and shift demand over time.
Both approaches deliver demand flexibility but take very different paths to achieve it.
Session takeaways:
- Understand how VPPs and dynamic rates differ in approach, design, and customer engagement
- Compare the strengths and limitations of automation-driven vs. price-driven demand flexibility
- Evaluate the key tradeoffs of control vs. cost methods across the spectrum of customer experiences, grid impacts, and scalability considerations
Breaking Down Utility Silos: A Cross-Functional Approach to Scaling Load Flex
May 13 | 9:00–10:30 a.m. (ET)
Track B | Featuring Elizabeth (Eli) Font
Discover how breaking down silos lays the groundwork for strategic implementation and success.
Learn how Seattle City Light is developing its 10–year DR Strategy by strengthening engagement, partnerships, and buy-in across the utility. This session highlights the importance of involving not only end customers, but also the internal utility teams critical to program implementation.
Explore the shift from a siloed approach to a more coordinated effort, the methods used to build trust and deepen relationships, along with a few key lessons learned along the way.
Session takeaways:
- Examine why reciprocal partnerships produce strategic engagement whereas transactional relationships typically fall short
- Ascertain that stakeholders experience fatigue when feedback is requested but not acted upon or acknowledged
- Set clear intentions for every engagement and only ask for feedback when you are willing to act on it
Advancing Ideas into Solutions
PLMA isn’t just about sharing ideas—it’s about testing ideas, scaling them, and turning concepts into programs that deliver real results for utilities and the communities they serve. We’re excited to contribute to this momentum, learn alongside our peers, and help advance innovation in load and grid flexibility.
If you’re attending, let’s connect.
Don’t miss these RI sessions exploring methods to 1) enable flexible loads while aligning grid supply and demand at scale, and 2) demolish silos and build partnerships to enhance DR program coordination.
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