This tutorial is now full. Space may become available, so please plan to arrive early on Tuesday, October 16, to join a queue for available seats.

This four-hour course will explain the fundamentals of how power markets work, the changes that have taken place in the past decade, and the revolutionary change that is about to occur. We will cover:

1. The fundamentals of how power is generated and dispatched
2. Who does what in the new world (utilities, regulators, entrepreneurs, and interactive consumers)
3. Factors driving technological change and the critical role of information technology
4. The key technologies - including wind, solar, storage, and other distributed energy resources
5. Emerging winners and losers
6. Business models, and global trends, including carbon, financial trends and national economic development policies
7. Regulatory models and experiences worth examining (including New York, California, Texas, Australia, China, and Germany
8. Implications for the future and potential outcomes
9. The challenge for planners and investors, and options for creating potential no-regrets strategies in an increasingly volatile market 

The Microgrid Summit is a half-day, invitation-only working session convening 100 key stakeholders to focus on how to accelerate the deployment of clean, grid-connected microgrids.

Refer to our Microgrid Summit page  for more information and to request an invitation. 

A wave of automation driven by commercial drones, artificial intelligence and the internet of things is sweeping across power plants, water districts and the power grid. This discussion will examine how digital technologies are reshaping the electric grid and water distribution systems, and how that makeover could affect cost, reliability and sustainability. 

How we can modernize the power grid in a timely, equitable and affordable manner to get ahead of the next round of natural disasters. This session will provide perspectives from a utility regulator, a Naval Facilities leader, a city infrastructure expert and a utility leader. 

Large companies, utilities and startups have invested significant funding and resources to investigate ways blockchain technologies could disrupt traditional energy distribution models and services. This session will explore real-world blockchain deployments across regulated and non-regulated markets focused on applications including transactive energy, supply traceability and other use cases.

Which are more effective: ambitious strategies that prioritize a carbon-free future vs. those that create low-carbon transition paths? Some policymakers promote a 100 percent renewable vision while others believe there needs to be a better bridge to the future, one that embraces low-carbon options such as nuclear power, natural gas and hydrogen. Perspectives from utilities, cities and the corporate world.

Recent technology advancements have paved the path for clean, resilient microgrids across a range of applications. This session will explore distributed energy resources deployments including fuel cell, energy storage and renewable technologies that are being integrated to create microgrids for entire corporate campuses or portions of cities. Our panelists will discuss the economic, reliability and sustainability benefits of embracing these technologies as well as the challenges in the accelerating growth of  microgrids. This session will tie into the half-day, invitation-only Microgrid Summit being hosted at the VERGE conference.