Webinar: Gaps, Barriers, and Solutions to Demand Response Participation in Wholesale Markets

Featured Speakers: Derek Stenclik, Founding Partner, Telos Energy; Jill Powers, Sector Policy Manager, CAISO; Ben Pickard, Vice President, Corporate Development, CPower; Ryan Hledik, Principal, The Brattle Group

Webinar Abstract: Join us for a webinar on Gaps, Barriers, and Solutions to Demand Response Participation in Wholesale Markets, where Derek Stenclik (Telos Energy) will present key findings and actionable recommendations from ESIG’s latest report on demand response. Despite its critical role in grid reliability and price stability, demand response participation in wholesale markets remains limited—this session will explore why and how to unlock its full potential. Following the presentation, a panel of industry experts – including Jill Powers (CAISO), Ben Pickard (CPower) and Ryan Hledik (Brattle) will discuss challenges, best practices, and policy solutions to expand demand response integration. Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with experts and explore strategies to enhance grid flexibility through demand response.

About the Speakers:

Derek Stenclik is a founding partner of Telos Energy and is an industry leader in power grid planning, operations, and reliability. He has over a decade of experience helping clients across the electric power industry navigate evolving markets, adapt to rapidly changing technologies, and accelerate clean energy integration. He is a recognized expert on wind and solar integration, battery energy storage, and grid planning. He is passionate about guiding the development of the future power grid and accelerating renewable energy adoption.

Prior to founding Telos Energy, Derek spent eight years in GE Power’s Energy Consulting department, most recently as the Senior Manager of Power System Strategy. In that role he supported global clients across the energy industry, including utilities, grid operators, developers, equity investors, and NGOs. He also provided power market expertise across GE’s portfolio of businesses, including the GE Power, Renewables and Capital divisions.

Derek graduated with an M.S. degree in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University, with a concentration in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. He also holds a B.A. in International Relations from the State University of New York, College at Geneseo, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude.

Jill Powers has over 20 years of experience at the California ISO during which she has held a variety of leadership positions supporting grid and market operations including early design of energy markets facilitated by the organization.

As a demand response and distributed energy resource Sector Manager, her current focus is on policy and modeling development advancing these resources in the CAISO wholesale markets further enabling diverse technology participation.

Most recently she was a leader in the CAISO’s successful compliance filing to FERC order 2222, achieving the distinction of being the first ISO/RTO to comply with the order.  Prior policy development achievements included completing the Distributed Energy Resource Provider (DERP) and Energy Storage/Distributed Energy Resource (ESDER) policy initiatives progressing CAISO tariff and market infrastructure supporting DER aggregations and energy storage technologies ability to provide services in the wholesale markets.

Jill holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science Degree in Computer Information Systems.

Ben Pickard manages strategy and M&A for CPower, the US Demand Response (DR) and Virtual Power Plant (VPP) market leader with 7 GW of flexible capacity under management. CPower offers energy users and distributed energy resource (DER) aggregators a single access point to engage and monetize their DERs in markets and programs across the US—creating scaled, diversified VPPs that strengthen the grid when and where it’s needed most. Prior, Ben was a Director at National Grid, where he developed and executed strategic partnerships and $200M+ in new investments in DERs, renewables, and venture-backed technology. His market and policy analysis on DERs and electric utilities has appeared in Greentech Media and the New York Times. Ben holds an AB magna cum laude in Social Studies from Harvard and lives in New York City.

Ryan Hledik is a Principal of The Brattle Group.   His consulting practice focuses on regulatory, planning, and strategy matters related to emerging energy technologies and policies. Mr. Hledik’s work on the grid edge has been cited in federal and state regulatory decisions, as well as by Forbes, National Geographic, The New York Times, NPR, and The Washington Post. He has published more than 30 articles on electricity matters, presented at industry events in 10 countries, given lectures on distributed grid economics at Penn, Stanford, and Yale, and served on the advisory boards of a demand flexibility startup and an energy storage trade association.  Ryan received his M.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, and his B.S. in Applied Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Registration Cost: FREE

Q&A Session: We will be using the Slido platform for Q&A. Please submit your questions and follow-along during the event at this link.