Celebrating Our Members: Highlights from RE+ 24

This September marked the largest-ever RE+ event co-hosted by the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Over 40,000 attendees joined us in Anaheim, California, for four days of networking, education, and building new connections to support clean energy goals.

During the Opening Session, SEPA’s President and CEO, Sheri Givens, emphasized the transformative power of building partnerships: “Our collaborative strategic efforts can transform communities, improve public health, and serve everyone for generations to come. This is not just about energy. It is also about creating a legacy of positive change, building equitable systems, and fostering innovation.”

SEPA members at RE+ are making that vision a reality. While it’s impossible to cover all of our members and their incredible work in one blog, I’m excited to share a few key themes and takeaways from their contributions at RE+ 24.

Transportation Electrification with a Customer-First Approach

The scale of infrastructure upgrades necessary to electrify transportation in time to meet climate goals is staggering. Speakers from SEPA member organizations Voltera and Southern California Edison presented during “Electrifying the Customer Journey,” a session answering questions about guiding customers through transportation electrification. Although people may not think about it, a construction project is behind each EV charger installation. Drawing on their EV infrastructure expertise, Voltera shared valuable takeaways on cost-effective upgrades to infrastructure that put the customer first. As one of the nation’s largest utilities that provides electricity to 15 million people, Southern California Edison provided guidance on planning for adequate charging capacity.

Smart Panels to Prevent Costly Customer Upgrades

Day two of RE+ featured an educational session called “Smart Panels Plus: Turning Buildings into DERs.” Panelists from SEPA member companies SPAN and Schneider Electric joined the conversation on how customers can use smart home energy controls to avoid costly electrical service upgrades. Speakers explained that as electrification increases, many homes will require service upgrades, which can be expensive, time-consuming, and disruptive. By controlling EV charging, HVAC, and electric water heating loads, smart panels offer the opportunity to avoid many service upgrades. Panelists emphasized that smart panel programs should emphasize customer autotomy and ease of smart panel replacement.

Virtual Power Plants as a Faster Path to Decarbonization

Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) harness power from smaller distributed energy resources (DERs) such as electric vehicles, batteries, home appliances, and solar. By aggregating capacity from these smaller sources, VPPs offer a faster route to decarbonization – it’s no surprise the VPP session drew a full house. SEPA members DER management leader EnergyHub and utility Duke Energy shared key insights. All presenters emphasized the untapped potential of VPP programs across the country. While states like Massachusetts and Hawaii, and territories like Puerto Rico, are already implementing VPP programs, this is just the beginning, and these types of programs can be successful anywhere. For these programs to thrive and scale, customer-friendly options are essential.

Utilizing Mapping Tools for Grid and Community Investment Decisions

This year, SEPA further expanded opportunities for our members to present case studies and projects in the format of live podcasts. In one podcast session, experts discussed how mapping tools are driving smarter planning decisions. SEPA member Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) demonstrated how mapping helps identify where customers own EVs and where there is potential for further adoption. By using existing data on current and potential EV customers, PNM can determine where to focus EV adoption marketing efforts. SEPA member North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center is developing a playbook to assign economic value to energy resilience, using mapping to identify communities most impacted by outages, making a strong case for microgrid implementation. These innovations in mapping are giving stakeholders fresh approaches to equitable and resilient community planning.

Learn More About Becoming a SEPA Member

These presentations are just a glimpse of the remarkable contributions SEPA members made at RE+ 2024. SEPA’s over 1,000 members—spanning regulators, policymakers, utilities, corporations, and nonprofits— represent an incredible 74% of electricity sold in the U.S. Each of these stakeholders plays a pivotal role in driving the clean energy transition forward. We extend our deepest thanks to our members who joined us at RE+, sharing their groundbreaking projects and insights from across the nation.

The opportunities don’t end with RE+. SEPA members benefit year-round from exclusive access to webinars, data sets, discounts, access to our research team, and collaboration opportunities designed to propel your work even further. We invite you to “see yourself with SEPA!”