REV4NY Exchange

Sessions throughout the day will explore how new kinds of business models and partnerships enabled by New York’s Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) can accelerate deployment of grid edge technologies – including distributed energy resource management, data and analytics, communications, advanced monitoring and controls, resiliency and reliability, and more.

Community energy solutions represent a tremendous growth opportunity for clean energy products and services. Aggregating customers in their communities can lower cost and information barriers to facilitate their resiliency, sustainability and affordability goals. While existing community aggregation models have shown promise, challenges include constrained capacity at the community level and limited utility engagement. This conversation will explore how different partnership models between third parties, utilities, and communities can address these barriers to empower community action on energy. Moderator: Tina Palmero, Chief, Renewable Energy, New York State Department of Public Service

In the wake of storms such as Sandy, Irene, and Lee, New Yorkers have recognized the urgency of building a more resilient energy system. Solutions at the community and household level, from microgrids to combined solar and storage, can mitigate the disruptive effects of extreme weather events. However, barriers including current tariff structures that limit access to diverse value streams resiliency solutions can provide to the system and a lack of customer awareness and capacity have constrained the ability of these new solutions to scale. This conversation will explore how innovative partnerships and business models can unlock the potential of new solutions to enhance resiliency for customers. Moderator: Janet Joseph, VP, Innovation & Strategy, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority

Energy efficiency is widely considered the low-hanging fruit of the clean energy economy, with 92,000 GWH of economic electric efficiency potential in New York State alone. Despite the opportunity, diverse barriers, including lack of customer attention and awareness, capital and financing constraints, and high customer acquisition costs inhibit scale in the market. This conversation will explore a variety of ways for the utility, third parties, and customers to procure and invest in energy efficiency and capture the cost and comfort benefits. Moderator: Alfred Griffin, President, NY Green Bank

Under REV, New York’s utilities will embrace new roles as Distribution System Platforms to coordinate and facilitate the growth in distributed energy resources. The platform must provide price signals, minimize barriers to entry for DER providers, and balance resources to maximize system benefits. This conversation will explore where new business models and partnerships can align incentives to ensure the platform optimizes value for DER providers and the overall electricity system. Moderator: Cheryl Martin, Founder, Harwich Partners & Former Acting Director, ARPA-E

Online marketplaces, from Amazon, to Kayak to Zappos, have transformed how customers engage and transact with businesses. In the energy sphere, marketplaces have the potential to lower customer acquisition costs, provide targeted insights and recommendations to consumers, and deliver behavioral cues that facilitate action on clean energy. This conversation will explore various approaches for utilities and third parties to build marketplaces that engage and empower customers to take greater control over their energy use. Moderator: Kate Burson, Chief of Staff to the Chairman of Energy & Finance, Office of New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

Big data is transforming every corner of today’s economy. In energy, analytics will play a critical role in enabling markets, behavior change, and dynamic network control. Limitations in price signals, data collection and access, and misaligned utility incentives, however, can inhibit the deployment of data solutions. This conversation will explore how analytics is being embedded at the heart of new, self-sustaining business models to enable a transactive grid. Moderator: Jill Anderson, Senior Vice President, Public Affairs & Business Development, Chief of Staff, New York Power Authority