Energy Executives Join Bidgely’s UEIC Roundtables to Examine AI’s Role in the Customer and Grid Convergence

Roundtables co-located at ETS with leaders from National Grid, Duke Energy, SEPA and more

LOS ALTOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bidgely today brought leading utility executives together at its third UtilityAI™ Executive Innovation Collaborative (UEIC) Roundtables, live from the Energy Thought Summit (ETS) in Austin, Texas. Distinguished energy leaders converged for the bi-annual in-person roundtables, tackling pressing topics like decarbonization, transportation electrification and customer-to-grid interactions. The UEIC serves as a vital platform to share insights and foster candid dialogue, driving innovation toward a sustainable energy future.

This UEIC welcomes executives from organizations such as Duke Energy, ENGIE, National Grid, NV Energy, Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) for the roundtable topics:

• Customer and the Grid | Tuesday, April 4
  As energy supply and demand becomes increasingly dynamic, the convergence of the customer and grid becomes more pronounced. This session will focus on tools to engage customers for better grid outcomes.

• Data will Demystify | Wednesday, April 5
  Balancing reliability, costs and forecasting in the context of net-zero targets, extreme weather and distributed energy resources (DERs) requires strategic analytics. This session will explore ways to leverage data.

“As part of our commitment to fostering industry dialogue, we launched UEIC to convene energy executives around honest and open dialogue about the realities of building the clean energy future,” said Bidgely CEO Abhay Gupta. “Over the next two days we’ll be looking closely at the convergence of the customer and the grid, as well the important part AI plays in helping to solve the conflating challenges of adequacy, resiliency and equity to arrive at our shared clean energy future.”

Fall 2022 UEIC Showcases SMUD’s 2030 Carbon Plan

Following the inaugural UEIC event co-located at ETS in April 2022, the Fall 2022 UEIC Roundtables were hosted by SMUD at their headquarters in Sacramento, Calif. The event featured the SMUD executive team, including an inspirational keynote from SMUD CEO Paul Lau, providing an overview of SMUD’s landmark Carbon 2030 Plan. Featured executive attendees included:

• William Comeau, VP, Customer Experience and Innovation, Pacificorp
• Elizabeth Cook, Director, Advanced Grid Systems and Grid Modernization, Duquesne Light Company
• Larry Bekkedahl, SVP, Advanced Energy Delivery, Portland General Electric (PGE)
• Chris Campbell, Senior Director of Distribution & Technology Operations, Salt River Project (SRP)
• Suresh Kotha, CIO, SMUD
• Brandy Bolden, CCO, SMUD
• Lora Anguay, Chief Zero Carbon Officer, SMUD

Kotha reflected, “We’re all headed in the same direction. This forum is a great place to share and exchange knowledge and ideas so that we can collectively advance and accelerate the journey toward the clean energy future.”

Bidgely Thought Leaders at ETS

The Bidgely Spring 2023 UEIC will be co-hosted for the second time at ETS, where Bidgely thought leaders will also take the stage and share their insights and expertise at the following sessions (local times listed):

• A Revolution We Can Manage: Overcoming 5 Pain Points of the EV Boom Tuesday 11:00-11:15 | ETS Main Stage with Bidgely’s Director of Innovation, Maria Kretzing
• The Many Facets of Resilience Tuesday 11:45-12:30 | Panel Session with:
  • Abhay Gupta, Co-Founder & CEO, Bidgely
  • Marie Steele, VP, Integrated Energy Services, NV Energy
  • Erika Bierschbach, VP Energy Market Operations & Resource Planning, Austin Energy
  • Adrian Rodriguez, President, Texas & New Mexico, Xcel Energy
  • Erin Autin, VP of Content & Thought Leadership Strategy, Zpryme (Moderator)
• Designing Customer Programs for Evolving Needs Wednesday 9:45-10:30 | Panel Session with:
  • Lon Huber, SVP, Pricing & Customer Solutions, Duke Energy
  • Vanessa Barbarisi, Director, Utility Transformation Strategy, AES
  • Jeff Wahl, VP, Strategy & Growth, Bidgely
  • Denise Munoz, Director of Strategy & Innovation for Customer Solutions, ComEd
  • Erin Autin, VP of Content & Thought Leadership Strategy, Zpryme (Moderator)
• Prepping for the EV Revolution Wednesday 1:45-2:30 | EV Programs Breakout Panel Session with:
  • Pauline Marcou, Director of Strategy & Growth, Bidgely
  • Cameron Freberg, Utility Strategist - Electric Vehicles & Emerging Technologies, Austin Energy
  • Jen Szaro, CEO, AESP
  • Tatianna Cannon, Executive Director, Solar Austin (Moderator)

The next UEIC is planned for Fall 2023. To learn more now about the UEIC, visit bidgely.com/events/UEIC and read more perspectives on the convergence of the customer and the grid here: bidgely.com/resources/grid-and-customer-convergence-whitepaper.

About Bidgely

Bidgely is an AI-powered SaaS Company accelerating a clean energy future by enabling energy companies and consumers to make data-driven energy-related decisions. Powered by our unique patented technology, Bidgely's UtilityAI™ Platform transforms multiple dimensions of customer data - such as energy consumption, demographic, and interactions - into deeply accurate and actionable consumer energy insights. We leverage these insights to empower each customer with personalized recommendations, tailored to their individual personality and lifestyle, usage attributes, behavioral patterns, purchase propensity, and beyond. From a Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and Grid Edge perspective, Bidgely is advancing smart meter innovation with data-driven solutions for solar PVs, EV detection, EV behavioral load shifting and managed charging, energy theft, short-term load forecasting, grid analytics, and TOU rate designs. Bidgely’s UtilityAI™ energy analytics provides deep visibility into generation, consumption for better peak load shaping and grid planning, and delivers targeted recommendations for new value-added products and services. With roots in Silicon Valley, Bidgely has over 17 energy patents, $75M+ in funding, retains 30+ data scientists, and brings a passion for AI to utilities serving residential and commercial customers around the world. For more information, please visit www.bidgely.com or the Bidgely blog at bidgely.com/blog.