Opinion Dynamics

Warmest wishes for a holiday season filled with peace and joy! See you in 2025!

Join our team! We seek a Lead Engineer (preferably mechanical or electrical) with solid experience designing and managing evaluation and research projects. A technical leader who can provide strategic guidance on complex projects and hands-on support to project teams, who has a strong background in building science, and who ideally has experience in the California markets. As part of the team, you will play a crucial role in working with project managers to plan portfolio and sector-level evaluation approaches, make methodological decisions, provide quality control reviews, develop analytical outputs, and mentor junior staff. If you’re ready to join a dynamic team, check out our role and apply today! Apply online at https://lnkd.in/eiPNCkqz #Hiring #Engineer #JobOpening #Careers #JoinOurTeam

The distributed energy resources (DERs) landscape is evolving rapidly as shifting energy markets, regulations, and technologies create new opportunities for integration and monetization. We invite you to dive deeper into our Demand Flexibility expertise and get to know our staff as they touch on key DER topics. Learn more about our work in this space though curated content that focuses on technological advancements, cost reductions, and market incentives which are enhancing DERs ability to provide grid services and customer value, while regulatory support and decarbonization policies further position DERs as critical to achieving climate goals. Get to know more about our staff and see where you can catch them at next week’s PLMA Fall Conference at https://lnkd.in/eYi_PJFR #DistributedEnergyResources #EnergyMarkets #DemandFlexibility #EnergyExpertise

Dive into our latest article by Kessie (Ksenia) Avseikova! Smart thermostats have proven to be an effective load management solution and are now a formidable part of the residential and commercial flexible load program portfolios. However, load impact curves over the duration of load curtailment events have been uneven with significant decline hour-over-hour. Utilities are now testing innovative strategies, like staggered curtailment, to deliver more consistent load impact over the duration of an entire event period. Such dispatch strategies are particularly valuable for demand response resources that participate in the wholesale energy markets but can also have additional benefits of minimizing customer discomfort and resulting in more positive experience. Read all about the findings at https://lnkd.in/e_Gdi8th ⚡🌍 #EnergyEfficiency #SmartThermostats #DemandResponse

Join Olivia Patterson next Wednesday as she Co-Chairs two sessions on valuing DERs: the first focusing on valuing DERs using the National Standard Practice Manual at Tri-State G&T co-op, followed by insights related to Non-Controllable, Non-Dispatchable programs at Oklahoma Gas & Electric. You can also catch our staff from 12:00 - 1:30 pm as Opinion Dynamics is sponsoring lunch in the Sponsor Lounge | Salon E! https://lnkd.in/edwDQiv6

Advancing transportation electrification in multi-unit dwellings (MUDs) is filled with a complex set of obstacles, including lack of electrical infrastructure, shared parking facilities and lack of assigned parking spaces, installation costs and shared cost distribution, evolving technologies and interoperability needs, as well as legal and regulatory barriers. Implementing effective load management strategies to support the distribution and bulk power grid and managing electricity costs for building owners and tenants adds yet another layer of complexity to effectively integrating EV loads at MUDs into the local distribution and bulk power system. Kessie (Ksenia) Avseikova will help unpack the issues with EV charging solutions at MUD at PLMA during the session she is co-Charing on Wednesday, November 13, from 11 to noon. The session will feature speakers from Avangrid, ConEd, and EV.energy, who will share their experiences designing and deploying Managed Charging solutions for MUDs. Agenda available at https://lnkd.in/eMaprNPA

Utilities across the country are increasingly leveraging unique pricing models – like Time of Use or Demand Rates – to help reshape load to better align demand with supply and cleaner energy production. While larger commercial customers are no strangers to advanced rates, we are still in the nascent stages of transitioning residential customers to time-varying rates (as of the latest EIA data, less than 10% of US households are enrolled in a time-varying rate). In addition to grid benefits, these novel rates can actually provide energy bill savings to customers, which can be especially helpful for low-income households that may lack the agency or financial resources to make costly efficiency upgrades. However, unlike the Field of Dreams, “if you build it, they will not necessarily come.” Utilities face significant headwinds when it comes to both recruiting customers as well as implementing effective messaging campaigns that successfully arm customers with the knowledge they need to understand and save on the new rate. Since 2018, Jordan Folks has been leading our evaluation of ConEdison’s industry-shaping residential demand rate pilot - the Innovative Pricing Pilot – which has been testing how various rate designs, communications strategies, and recruitment modes impact customer enrollment and demand flexibility. As the pilot finally approaches its end, Jordan is joined by his pilot collaborators from ConEdison and elsewhere to present a comprehensive look at the pilot’s history, customer experience research results, and how our research is informing the next generation of rate design at ConEdison.  Learn more about PLMA online at https://lnkd.in/edwDQiv6

Join Olivia Patterson next Tuesday at PLMA's Fall Conference for an interactive workshop on identifying and prioritizing “uncaptured” demand flexibility value streams with a deep dive into localized distribution benefits. Olivia is on a mission to disrupt the industry and help our utility partners stop leaving untapped value on the table. Although markets, grid needs, and accompanying interventions have evolved dramatically since the inception of interruptible tariff-based demand response in the 1970s, modern valuation of demand flexibility is comparatively unchanged – and continues to mainly focus on peak load reductions and associated capacity avoidance costs. However, changing grid conditions – largely fueled by widespread residential adoption of EVs, electrified end uses, and rooftop solar – make us question traditional paradigms surrounding the value of demand response. Conference agenda available at https://lnkd.in/eMaprNPA Hope to see you in Brooklyn!

Looking to take part in PLMA Fall Conference Interest Groups? Join Danielle Fulmer and Jordan Folks for the Retail Pricing Interest Group next Monday! As grid needs become increasingly complex, so must the landscape of demand management interventions. Utilities are now layering daily load-shaping pricing mechanisms like TOU rates with both event-based demand response and daily load-shifting optimization programs. Despite the American maxim of “more is better,” overlapping interventions can cause customer confusion, challenges in utility program operations, and EM&V pitfalls that must be addressed to maximize evaluated impacts. Join Jordan, Associate Director of Demand Flexibility and PLMA’s Retail Pricing Interest Group co-chair, as he moderates Monday morning’s Retail Pricing session on Overlapping Interventions: Pricing + DR. In this session, Jordan will be joined by a panel of demand flexibility professionals – including our very own Danielle (Director, Data Analytics) – where they will explore case studies and thought pieces from both sides of the meter, diving into how overlapping interventions can impact the customer experience, value streams, program performance, utility planning and operations, technology integration, and more. Make sure not to miss Danielle’s presentation, in which she will share our recent learnings about customer engagement, program performance, and evaluability for utilities that are considering stacking pricing and DR interventions. Check out the agenda online at https://lnkd.in/eMaprNPA

PLMA's Fall Conference kicks off next Monday in Brooklyn, NY! For those attending, you can join Kessie (Ksenia) Avseikova during the training session: The evolution of DR to DERs. PLMA’s Demand Response Training classes are nationally recognized as a resource for load management practitioners looking to either learn the fundamentals or deepen their knowledge in specific areas, be it program design or wholesale markets. For several years now, Kessie has been a PLMA instructor called upon to provide training related to EM&V of DR programs and transition of EM&V approaches as part of the DR to DER transition. Kessie is an evaluation expert with 15 years of experience supporting private and public sector clients nationwide with advising, research, and evaluation support. She brings an exceptional command of EM&V approaches and nuances related to EM&V in the new brave world of DERs. Find her at the conference to learn more about PLMA training and ask her about the new developments in EM&V. You can also catch Kessie at the Electric Vehicle Interest Group's session: Choose your own V2G Adventure! Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology is critical in advancing electric mobility and sustainable energy systems. Kessie will help delve into the various aspects of V2G with a panel of experts, technology providers, utilities, and implementation providers from across the country. Early pilots from across the country show tremendous potential for V2G solutions to support grid stability and offer customers a wide array of grid services and value streams. The world of V2G is multifaceted, encompassing a rich array of dimensions that shape its development and potential. From regulatory accelerators and key drivers to the unique opportunities presented by various sectors, V2G spans a vast landscape of innovation and complexity. The technologies powering it, along with evolving codes and standards, are just as crucial as the thoughtful design and implementation of programs that will bring this vision to life. At the heart of it all lies the art of signal optimization, ensuring efficient communication between vehicles and the grid. These elements intertwine, creating a dynamic and intricate ecosystem with much to explore and unravel within its layers. Kessie will help understand variation in the regulatory landscape and how it shapes the available value streams and opportunities for V2G, technology innovation that helps accelerate grid integration, emerging pilots, designs, and learnings on customer engagement, adoption, and load management results. Join Kessie during this insightful 2-hour engagement that she and her fellow PLMA Electric Transportation Interest Group co-chairs developed. If you miss the session connect with Kessie to learn more about the recent developments in the V2G space and what they mean for your efforts!! Check the agenda at https://lnkd.in/edwDQiv6