Agenda

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

10:00 am - 12:00 noon
Pre-Forum Workshop (for Utility and Government Attendees Only)
Session Co-Chairs: Paul Reid, Azusa Light & Water, and Ron Horstman, Western Area Power Administration
Candid roundtable discussion on current issues, including these highest-ranked responses to a recent survey of registrants:
- Energy Efficiency enhancement – California AB 802
- Renewable Portfolio Standard to 50% by 2030 – California SB 350
- New Roles Utilities are being asked to fill/play in 2016
- Energy storage – how should utilities use it to add value to their services 
- Water/Energy nexus, claiming energy savings for water measures and the associated calculations 
- The 7th Power Plan – Pacific Northwest's 5-year roadmap for meeting 100% of load growth with energy efficiency and demand side management

12:00 noon – 1:00 pm
Lunch Buffet

12:45 - 1:00 pm
First-timer Orientation and Welcome
Chair: Mark Gosvener, ESG 

1:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Welcoming Remarks
Mary Medeiros McEnroe, Silicon Valley Power  

1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Sue Kelly, APPAKeynote: Show Me the Value: Meeting Increased Customer Expectations In a Time of Transformation
Sue Kelly - Presentation, President & CEO of American Public Power Association
Retail electric customers have an increasing array of products, services and technologies available to them. Electric utilities need to adapt to these changes and incorporate new technologies and options into their service offerings. How can they separate the fads from the trends and best meet the needs of all of their customers? No clear answers, but some thoughts on how to move forward.

2:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Networking Break with Energy Quiz hosted by ESG
Quiz Emcee: Graham Parker, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Strategic / Policy View Panel Session
Session Co-Chairs:  Dave Ashuckian, California Energy Commission, and Bob Hondeville, Modesto Irrigation District

4:30 pm – 5:15 pm  
Meet the Exhibitors
Session Co-Chairs: Dennis Guido, Staples & Associates and Mark Gosvener, ESG
Get to know the Forum exhibitors in this lightning round of conversation starters designer to help you better network and learn

5:15 pm
Adjourn

5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Reception

6:30 pm 
Dinner hosted by RHA

8:00 pm
Networking Campfire hosted by Embertec
Unwind at a casual gathering around the fire ring to reflect on the day's discussion and look ahead to tomorrow.

Thursday, May 5, 2016

7:30 – 8:30 am
Breakfast Buffet

8:30 am – 10:00 am 
Communicating Thermostats: Opportunities and Challenges
Session Chair: Mary Medeiros McEnroe, Silicon Valley Power

David Reynolds  Bruce Manclark  Abigail Daken

10:00–10:30 am
Break with Energy Quiz hosted by ESG
Quiz Emcee: Graham Parker, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Customer View
Session Co-Chairs: Moses Gastelum, PG&E and Vanessa Lara, Merced Irrigation District

12:00 noon – 1:00 pm
Lunch

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Midpoint Keynote: Convergence or Collision?  Navigating Transformational Change in Your Customers, Technology and Business Model
Gene Rodrigues, Vice President of Integrated Offerings, ICF International
There is a profound transformation underway in every aspect of the utility business.  Today’s consumers are actively rethinking their relationship with the utility … Today’s technology is reinventing utility service, including who can provide it … And today’s regulators, legislators and policymakers are redefining the utility’s role and business model.  Gene Rodrigues of ICF International will lead us through an exploration of what we need to know to be able to chart a course through industry transformation. Prior to joining ICF, Gene was the Senior Director of DSM Strategy for Southern California Edison, and he currently serves on the board of directors of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

2:00 pm – 3:30 pm
Technology View – Part I
Session Co-Chairs: ​Jennifer Williamson, Bonneville Power Administration, and Christopher Dymond, Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance

3:30 pm – 3:45 pm
Break

3:45 pm – 5:15 pm
Utility Program Stand-Up Challenge 
Chair: Cheri Davis, Sacramento Municipal Utility District and Graham Parker, Pacific Northwest Laboratory
Join us for the craziest round of concurrent sessions ever! Imagine speed dating meets the lightning round of a TV game show! You choose 4 from a list of storyboards detailing utility-sponsored energy program initiatives. Each storyboard presenter has up to 5 minutes (plus up to 10 minutes for Q&A) to share with you the program’s goals, successes and lessons learned. A bell rings, you choose another storyboard, and the 15-minute clock starts again. After four rotations, the remaining time will be left for you to visit the other storyboards to see what you missed.

- CO2 Heat Pump Water Heaters: A Game Changing TechnologyJanice Peterson, PE, ACS assigned to Bonneville Power Administration. Bonneville Power has funded two recently completed and two ongoing research projects on CO2 HPWHs. The completed projects were a field test in all four of the PNW climate zones and DR testing in the field and the laboratory.  Ongoing projects are looking at using these water heaters for both domestic hot water and space conditioning in new construction and as a retrofit solution. This presentation presents an overview of the research results to date, and why this technology is anticipated to be an important part of utilities' EE portfolio.

A Final Hurdle to Residential ZNE: CAHP Master Builder, Conrad Asper, Pacific Gas & Electric, with Matt Christie, TRC. Two key measures of the 2016 Code - high performance attics, including ducts in conditioned space, and high performance walls - require extensive changes to common design and construction  practices. The CAHP Master Builder Program, implemented by PG&E, offers dedicated design assistance to industry leaders who are early adopters of these crucial and complicated 2016 Code measures. Learn how this program has helped builders tackle challenges in design, procurement, permitting, and subcontractor understanding to construct the next generation of highly efficient production homes.  

- Electric Vehicle Chargers - Kicked to the Curb!Kapil Kulkarni, Burbank Water and Power. Burbank Water and Power (BWP) recently implemented the nation's first electric vehicle curbside charging program at eight sites throughout the city, thanks to a California Energy Commission grant. Learn more about how BWP developed this innovative program, and see how usage of these chargers compares to the more traditional parking lot chargers. Also hear about how curbside charging is just one component of BWP's transportation electrification strategy.

Aggregating and Monetizing Demand-Side Resources for Public PowerJohn Steigers, Energy Northwest. Hear how Energy Northwest and its public utility partners assembled a high-performing aggregated demand response resource for the regional federal marketing/transmission operator Bonneville Power Administration.  Emergent system-operator-level demand side markets can be disruptive to distribution utilities when set up without the utilities on the team. Energy Northwest developed a flexible and cost-based aggregation model that puts the participating utilities solidly in the transaction, providing them and their served loads greater transparency than other more widely-used resource aggregation models. Utilities gain revenues to support SCADA-type investments, increased familiarity with capacity markets, and opportunities for positive win-win engagement with key customers.

- Tools for Improving Home Energy Retrofit Work, Rachel Romero & Heather Head, National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Looking to increase quality in home energy retrofit work?  Want to give better guidance to workers as they install that new water heater? Look no further than the Standard Work Specifications (SWS) Online Tool! This free resource provides in-the-field access to industry-defined residential energy efficiency guidelines to ensure quality work improves the home’s performance. Individuals can use the tool to generate energy audits, scopes of work, quality control reports, training materials, and step-by-step field guides, complete with photos and notes. This presentation will cover how to leverage this tool to increase quality within your state/agency’s energy efficiency programs.  

- Distribution System Efficiency UpgradesTanzina Islam, American Public Power Association (APPA). Successful supply side energy efficiency takes long-term planning and investment. This session will provide information on how utilities are saving energy through cost-effective supply side efficiency measures. Join me to explore case studies from public power utilities and information from APPA’s best practice programs. 

- Project Recharge: Transforming the Way School Energy Savings are AchievedDavid Gibson, Nevada Governors office of Energy, and Vanessa Robertson, Envirolution. Project ReCharge is a middle and high school inquiry-based STEM energy efficiency education curriculum developed by Envirolution in Reno, NV. It is being piloted in 10 Nevada schools through funding from the National Science Foundation. Learn how Project ReCharge has taken an innovative energy monitoring technology, LoadIQ, and put it into the hands of the students to identify and pursue energy saving strategies in their schools.  By educating and empowering students on the fundamentals of energy efficiency; student driven proposals can bring Utilities, School Districts and Government Agencies together to accomplish similar goals. Learn how Project Recharge accomplished that in the first year. A student-driven project, made possible through funding from the Nevada Governor's Office of Energy, will save one high school over $36,000 a year in energy costs while also helping NV Energy meet 12% of their Northern Nevada Energy Smart School energy reduction goal. 

Enabling Automated and Streamlined Residential Energy AuditsHerb Marshall, Silicon Valley Power. Providing in-home residential energy audits allows a utility to educate its customers and improve customer satisfaction, while building a relationship with the customer as the trusted energy advisor. However, these audits can be time-consuming for utility staff. Learn how Silicon Valley Power leveraged technology to improve the quality of the audit report while streamlining the process and reducing the amount of time spent on each audit. This allows staff to increase program participation rates or frees up time to focus their efforts on additional program offerings.

How “Knowing” Your Customers Better, Helps You “Serve” Them Better, Spencer Egbert, Wells Rural Electric Company (WREC). It’s difficult to provide meaningful programs and services to our customers without first really understanding who they are and what their needs are.  Learn how WREC strategically used snapshot audits and direct install measures to gather important information on the majority of their residential and commercial members.  They then incorporated that data into their Customer Information System, making this information available to utility staff to better serve their members, and identify what energy efficiency opportunities exist for each specific member.”

5:15 pm – 5:30 pm
Break

5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Reception

6:30 pm 
Dinner 

8:00 pm
“Any Port in a Storm” hosted by Resource Action Programs
Port wine tasting and the classic rock acoustic guitar stylings and singing of Kip Yager.  

Friday, May 6, 2016

7:30 am – 9:00 am
Breakfast Buffet

9:00 am – 10:15 am 
Technology View – Part 2
Session Co-Chairs: ​Jennifer Williamson, Bonneville Power Administration, and Christopher Dymond, Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance

10:15 am - 10:30 am
Networking Break with Energy Quiz Grand Finale! hosted by ESG
Quiz Emcee: Graham Parker, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

10:30 am - 12 noon
Utility Program Snapshots
Session Co-Chairs: ​Kevin Palmer, Riverside Utilities, and Mary Medeiros McEnroe, Silicon Valley Power  

Clint Whitney  Richard Young    Shannon Wagner

12 noon
Adjourn 

12:00 noon - 1:00 pm
Lunch options
(See the Options and Sign Up at Registration Table)