What Portugal Taught Us

Each year, SEPA leads an Executive Fact-Finding Mission that brings U.S. utility and clean energy leaders abroad to learn firsthand from international peers navigating the energy transition. On SEPA’s most recent mission to Portugal, participants engaged with utilities, regulators, system operators, and technology providers managing one of the world’s most advanced high-IBR grids.

In this conversation, mission participants will reflect on what they learned in Portugal — and how those insights are shaping decisions back home in the United States. The discussion will explore how policy, physics, and pricing are interacting to shape modern power systems; what is working (and what isn’t); and how global lessons are informing long-term planning, net-zero pathways, grid operations, and software integration in U.S. utilities and markets.

Attendees will hear perspectives on:

• Operating in a high-IBR environment
• How policy and market design influence real-world grid outcomes
• What U.S. utilities can adopt, adapt, or avoid from international experience
• How global lessons are translating into practical strategies for executives in the U.S.