Utilities Connect at Annual: Long-Term Planning
02/05/2024 @ 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM CST
Free
Event Details (Attendance Limited To Utilities Only)
Utilities
Planning for 2025… No, 2030, No Wait, 2040 Starts Now!
If you’re planning now for 2025, you’re falling behind in the decarbonization race. With utility build out cycles measured out in decades, our future is defined by more than year-over-year watts. It’s defined by politics, social movements, and economic forces.
Imagine 2040 for a minute. How does the future home function? Will AI chatbots rule the customer service game? Will AI servers, robots, and self-driving EVs double our power consumption? Will fusion be the new “green” energy source? Will a building’s primary power source be a connected grid? Will we pave our driveways with solar panels? Will California feel like an oven set to broil?
I attended Utilities Connect in 2023 at Summer Con and it was fantastic. You don’t get too many opportunities to connect with other utilities in confidence at industry events and this really hit the spot for me. I participated in incredible conversations, met incredibly bright utility peers, and walked away with some great tidbits to take back to my utility.
I will definitely be attending Utilities Connect at 2024 AESP Annual and I’m bringing colleagues with me!
The world is changing at an exponential rate, but there is little opportunity at conferences (where we report on what has been done) or in the office (where most projections are for the next three years) to think this far ahead. This year’s Utilities Connect will break utilities out of their planning ruts and stimulate your imagination in an interactive session focusing on 2040.
After a presentation of the latest and emerging technologies, groups will brainstorm a vision of a world beyond The Jetsons and discuss their visions and thoughts with other utilities.
Facilitators
Jeff Jerome
Senior Product Manager, Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE)
Jeff Jerome is responsible for managing about 50% of Baltimore Gas and Electric’s C&I Energy Efficiency Portfolio. His programs include Building Tune-up (a.k.a. Retrocommissioning), Small Business Direct Install, Midstream Lighting and Building Operator Training.
Jeff’s specialty is simplifying highly technical, data centric disciplines so that they can be fully understood and embraced by contractors and customers.
Prior to joining BGE, Jeff was in the consumer electronics industry as Vice President of Aegis Systems, and as Director of the Future Home Institute where he pioneered technologies such as 3D television and touchscreen based building automation systems. He has also worked as the president of VME Technologies which pioneered much of the latest generation in interface technology for people with disabilities.
Jen Szaro
President & CEO, AESP
Jen currently serves as President and CEO of the Association of Energy Services Professionals (AESP). Within her role, she focuses educating and empowering AESP's members on such topics as energy efficiency technologies, conservation strategies, demand response program design and implementation, demand flexibility strategies, grid edge technology deployment, beneficial electrification and demand side focused customer engagement strategies.
Prior to her current role, she served as Vice President of Research and Education at the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) and Manager of Renewables for the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC).