Webinar: Alternative Transmission Solutions: DER

Featured Speaker: Jon Wellinghoff, CEO and Founder, GridPolicy Inc.

Jon Wellinghoff is known for his international expertise and thought leadership in energy policy, electric markets and the interface of disruptive energy systems with traditional utility structures. His firm GridPolicy, Inc. is dedicated to furthering the deployment of and investment in clean sustainable distributed energy resources (DERs). Jon works to remove regulatory, policy, and institutional barriers to the widespread adoption of cost effective DER technologies and systems, assisting companies, governments, and consumers who market and/or operate such resources. In 2006, Jon received his first of two Presidential appointments to serve as a Commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and was FERC’s longest serving Chairman (2009- 2013). During his FERC tenure, he led efforts to make the U.S. power system cleaner and more efficient by promoting and integrating renewable energy, demand response, energy efficiency and storage.

Moderator: Charlie Smith, ESIG Executive Director

Registration Cost: FREE

Webinar Abstract: With the rapid expansion of DER in markets all over the world, there is intense interest in the additional services and value that can be provided by distributed resources. These benefits are both locational and time dependent. One of these benefits is the possibility to defer or replace construction of planned conventional transmission. While these benefits are becoming increasingly understood and factored into the distribution planning process, they are not so well understood or factored into the conventional transmission planning process.

This webinar will present a discussion of the strategies for implementation of Federal legislation and FERC orders dealing with the transmission planning process, specifically alternatives to conventional transmission, including:

• Distributed PV
• Energy storage
• Direct load control

A case study from the CAISO will be used to illustrate the process.