2014 AEIC Annual Load Research Conference and WLRA Fall Conference

The 2014 AEIC Annual Load Research Conference will be held in conjunction with the Western Load Research Association (WLRA) fall conference, on September 21-24, at the Hotel Monaco in Chicago, IL. This collaborative agenda between two premier Load Research groups will be a great forum to exchange ideas with other industry professionals.

I have been attending both conferences for several years. In the past, they were held separately. Usually there are about 30 to 40 people attending the conference. All of the talks are in one track, so you won't miss any talk that you are interested in. The attendees are primarily from utilities, vendors and consulting firms, so you can expect quite practical talks and learn from each other's real world experience. Hotel Monaco is a great place to host small conferences like this. Nice room, good food, and kids friendly in case you want to bring the family.

Dennis Kelter, lead load forecast manager for ComEd will kick off the event with a presentation "Welcome from ComEd". There are two forecasting talks currently scheduled:

• "The Art and Science of Reconciliation in Long Term Load Forecasting" - Tao Hong (UNC Charlotte)
• "Weather Normalization of Energy by Time of Use" - Rob Zacher (ComEd) and Stuart McMenamin (Itron)

In addition, there are many load research and analysis related topics to be delivered by many experts:

• "Implications of Increasing Solar Penetrations on the Utility Industry" - Craig Williamson (Applied Energy Group)
• "Load Research vs Smart Meters and Big Data"  -  Andy Berrisford (BCHydro)
• "Analysis of Load Reductions Associated with 4-CP Transmission Charges in ERCOT" -  Carl Raish (ERCOT)
• "We'll leave the lights on for you. A statewide lighting metering study to improve the savings assumptions for commercial lighting energy efficiency programs in Pennsylvania." -  Jesse Smith (Nexant)
• "Load Research Reveals Unintended Solar Subsidies of Residential Commodity Rate Form" -  Mark Lively (Lively Utility)
• "Matching Methods for Robust Load Research Sampling with Advanced Metering" -  BrianEakin (Navigant)
• "Demand Impacts of Gulf Power Company's EnergySelect Program" - Steve Braithwait (Christensen)
• "Some Final Results and Analysis from Central Electric Power Cooperative's Solar Home PV Study"  Scott Hammond (CEPC) and Bill Bland (GoodCents Solutions)
• "AMI in Colonial America" - Kathy Johnson (Dominion)
• "OG&E Commercial Disaggregation: Targeting Commercial Sectors for Dynamic Pricing Programs" - Kelly Marrin (Applied Energy Group)

If you have any questions please contact any of the conference co-chairs:
David Williams at Gulf Power (DLWillia@southernco.com), Kathy Johnson at Dominion Power (Kathy.W.Johnson@dom.com) and Greg Mandelman at PG&E (gregory.mandelman@pge.com).

If you are interested, please register HERE.