OATI ENERGY CONFERENCE 2026 · WYNN LAS VEGAS · OCTOBER 6 TO 9, 2026

OATIEC26Shape the Future

EC26 recap

Four days on load growth, markets, flexibility, reliability and energy-native AI, and what utilities are doing about each.

Sasan Mokhtari on stage in a full Latour 1-4 during the opening keynote

WELCOME

The grid has to do more with what is already built

Load is arriving faster than lines, plants and interconnection queues can clear it. Supply is more variable, demand is harder to forecast, and more of the work now happens at the seams: between distribution and transmission, between one market and the next, between a utility and the Nation or customer on the other side of the meter.

Across four days at the Wynn, utilities, market operators, Tribal Nations and partners compared how they are handling it. Most of the answers were operational. Rate lines on real conditions. Run batteries, thermostats and microgrids as resources an operator can schedule. Prepare staff and systems for two day-ahead markets in the West. Put AI where a decision is made often, under time pressure, with more data than one person can weigh.

The Affordability Mandate panel on the Latour 1-4 stage at the Executive Summit, seen from the room
4days, Tuesday to Friday
4Executive Summit panels
3keynotes
3NERC CE deep dives
1AI use case workshop
5Grid Intelligence Awards

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6 · EXECUTIVE SUMMIT

Four panels on the decisions executives cannot defer

Sasan Mokhtari opened the Executive Summit. Four moderated panels followed, each built around one question with no easy answer.

Welcome Remarks · Sasan Mokhtari, President & CEO, OATI

The Affordability Mandate panel and moderator on stage under the session title
Panel 1

The Affordability Mandate in the Load Growth Era

Build for load growth, or flex around it?

Everyone agrees load is growing. The disagreement is who carries the cost of guessing wrong. Flexibility counts when it is a real alternative, not a pilot, backed by a case that survives a regulator, a board and a bad winter.

Amith Kota, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Landis+Gyr · Michelle Manary, Vice President, Transmission Marketing & Sales, Bonneville Power Administration · Jerry Dempsey, EVP, OATI · Kevin Dickey, Senior Director, Energy Management Performance, Avangrid

Panel 2

The ‘One Grid’ Model: Holistic Planning and Operations

Is it the organization or the technology that keeps the silos in place?

High levels of DERs and VPPs erase the old boundary between transmission and distribution. One Grid works when capital planning, operating priorities and financial reporting are aligned on the same outcomes.

Lisa Tiffin, Chief Commercial Officer, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc. · Uygar Selman, Senior Director of Thermal Innovation and Digital Optimization, Avangrid · Ali Ipakchi, Executive Vice President, Technical & Strategic Directions and Chief Visionary Officer, OATI

Panel 3

Market Movements: How Evolving Energy Markets are Reshaping the Grid

Where does forecast error cost most, and who should carry it?

Large loads are arriving faster than interconnection processes were built to clear. Wind, solar and storage make supply more variable while new loads make demand harder to predict. The friction concentrates at the seams, where regions that operate together in real time run under different rules.

Carrie Simpson, Vice President, Markets, Southwest Power Pool · John Bear, CEO, MISO · Kevin Sarkinen, Executive Vice President Operations and Chief Operating Officer, OATI

Panel 4

AI for Energy: Strategies, Case Studies, and ROI

What goes in front of the board?

The strategies that work start with a business problem and a data foundation. A clean ROI figure is hard to isolate from market conditions. The stronger case shows what the organization can now do that it could not before.

Indu Nambiar, Principal, IT Architecture, California ISO · Salah Khuhro, Senior Vice President, OATI · Pascal Lanouette, Vice President Operational Strategy, Brookfield Renewable · Sasan Mokhtari, President & CEO, OATI

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7 · KEYNOTES

Three keynotes, three kinds of capacity

Sasan Mokhtari on stage in front of the Shape the Future backdrop
Opening keynote

Energy-native AI: Shaping the Future of Grid Operations

Sasan Mokhtari · President & CEO, OATI

Grid operators are not short of data. They are short of time.

More systems, more alarms, thinner margins, and critical processes still run by hand in spreadsheets. OATI deployed the first AI into real-time power grid operations. OATI AI Genie™ is an intelligent layer on top of the systems utilities already trust, and it has been live in California ISO’s production outage management system since June 24, 2026.

  • A layer, not a replacement. AI Genie™ connects and elevates the applications a utility already runs.
  • Built for energy. Genie Core™ is a domain-adapted energy foundation model that runs on OATI’s own infrastructure.
  • Your data stays inside. OATI does not train AI Genie™ on customer data. A use case built for a customer is trained on that customer’s data, in that customer’s deployment, for that use case only.
Lauren Burke at the podium in Latour 1-4

Betting on Batteries to Drive Us Further

Lauren Burke · Business Development, Virtual Power Plants, Tesla

Batteries remain the backbone of a new electrification era.

Storage now sits on the grid, in homes and businesses, and in the vehicles on the road. The opportunity is turning that capacity into dependable grid services and new market value, as policy and market design decide which services batteries can offer and how they are paid.

Ken Ahmann at the podium in Latour 1-4

Fourteen Years Without an Outage: What Tribal Energy Sovereignty Means for the Rest of the Grid

Ken Ahmann · Chief Operating Officer, Colusa Indian Energy

For more than a decade, a Tribal microgrid has kept the power on without a single interruption.

The Cachil DeHe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Rancheria runs its own microgrid. Tribal Nations across the country are now developing energy systems of their own, for reliability, for control over infrastructure on their own land, and for revenue beyond gaming. Where those systems meet the wider grid, every utility has a stake.

Each keynote continues in its theme:AI and AI Genie™Batteries and VPPsMicrogrids and Tribal energy

THEME 01 · AI AND AI GENIE™

AI, from pilot to the control room

AI ran through the agenda from the Executive Summit on Tuesday to the NERC CE deep dive on Friday. The question in every room was the same: where does it earn its place, and how is that proven?

500+next-day outage requests analyzed in under eight minutes each night

OATI AI Genie™ in California ISO’s production outage management system, live since June 24, 2026

What we heard

01

Start from a decision.

The best first use case is rarely the most impressive idea. It is an operational decision made often, under time pressure, with more data than one person can weigh.

02

Grounded or silent.

At California ISO, every answer traces to a card, a procedure or a past outage. No source, no answer.

03

The operator decides.

AI Genie™ flags, drafts and explains. People approve anything that affects the grid or the market.

04

Know where models fail.

A large language model writes the most probable next word; it does not retrieve a fact. Grounding in a utility’s own record is what makes an answer defensible.

Four agent types in OATI AI Genie™

AgentHow it runsWhat it does
WorkflowTriggeredAutomates and streamlines a workflow
AdvisorInteractiveResponds to a user’s prompt to assist decisions
ReconnaissanceRuns independently and alerts the userMonitors, reasons and provides situational awareness
AutonomousRuns independently, with the user in the loop for critical decisionsMonitors, reasons, plans and acts

Sessions

  • TuesdayExecutive Summit: AI for Energy: Strategies, Case Studies, and ROIIndu Nambiar, California ISO; Salah Khuhro, OATI; Pascal Lanouette, Brookfield Renewable; Sasan Mokhtari, OATI
  • WednesdayKeynote: Energy-native AI: Shaping the Future of Grid OperationsSasan Mokhtari, OATI
  • WednesdayCase Study: California ISO’s AI-Powered OMSAbhimanyu Thakur, OATI; Gopakumar Gopinathan, California ISO
  • WednesdayAI Learning Event & Happy HourThe OATI AI Genie™ product teams at the touch table and four demonstration stations
  • ThursdayWorkshop: Identifying AI Use Cases in EnergySalah Khuhro, OATI
  • Friday(NERC CE Credit) Deep Dive: AI Platforms for Power Systems OperationsAli Ipakchi, OATI

The AI Use Case Challenge

Ideas were judged after the Workshop. The winning idea will be developed by the OATI AI team along with complimentary service for one year.

Attendees at the interactive touch table at the AI Learning Event
AI Learning Event

Go deeper

PageAI in grid operationsHow energy-native AI is moving from pilots to daily operations, with field lessons from CAISO, PNNL and EPRI.PageAI for outage managementThe outage coordination problem, the multi-agent design, and a buyer’s checklist for outage-management AI.PageThreads of ConnectivityA feature documentary, distributed by NatGeo, on the people and partnerships that keep North America’s grid running.

THEME 02 · MARKETS, EDAM AND MARKETS+

Evolving energy markets, and what they ask of operations

Load growth, more variable supply and harder-to-predict demand are changing how markets and grid operations work. The West now has one day-ahead market in operation and a second on the way.

OATI is the platform of choice for utilities entering CAISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market.

Carrie Simpson, John Bear and moderator Kevin Sarkinen on stage for the Market Movements panel
Executive Summit panel

Market Movements: How Evolving Energy Markets are Reshaping the Grid

Large new loads are arriving faster than interconnection processes were built to clear, and timing is now the first question.

Wind, solar and storage make supply more variable while new loads make demand harder to predict. The error lands in operations, in prices, or both.

  • Carrie Simpson, Vice President, Markets, Southwest Power Pool
  • John Bear, CEO, MISO
  • Kevin Sarkinen, Executive Vice President Operations and Chief Operating Officer, OATI
John Walker of Portland General Electric with his co-presenter at the podium
EDAM with Portland General Electric

Crash Course: Participating in EDAM

EDAM moves Western coordination into the day-ahead timeframe, where most electricity deliveries are planned.

For operations and trading staff, participation changes the daily rhythm of scheduling, the settlement picture and the touchpoints between a utility’s systems and the market.

  • John Walker, Transmission Specialist, Portland General Electric
  • Solomon Lo, Associate Vice President – Project Management, OATI
2027Markets+ Wave I goes live in October 2027 and Wave II in October 2028.
SPP Markets+

Crash Course: Preparing for SPP Markets+

Markets+ brings a new day-ahead and real-time market to the West, and its first participants go live in October 2027.

Market operations, trading, settlements, risk, IT and balancing authority operations each need defined roles before go-live.

  • Mehdi Assadian, OATI
  • Hunter Wash, OATI
  1. May 1, 2026EDAM launches, with PacifiCorp as its first participant
  2. September 30 and October 1, 2026Portland General Electric goes live in EDAM: day-ahead operations September 30, real-time operations October 1
  3. 2027LADWP, BANC, Public Service Company of New Mexico and Turlock Irrigation District plan to join EDAM
  4. October 2027SPP Markets+ Wave I goes live
  5. October 2028Markets+ Wave II goes live

What we heard

01

A new daily rhythm.

EDAM day-ahead commitments sit on top of real-time operations, and scheduling runs to the market’s clock. Settlement implications reach trading and back-office teams early.

02

More than a connection.

Markets+ readiness depends on scheduling, settlement, risk and data workflows working together, with clear ownership across each team before go-live.

03

Precision is the job.

An inter-RTO trade is five separate submissions, and the market rejects the whole trade if any one of them is off. OATI webAgent® runs them as one automated sequence.

04

Four risks, one dataset.

Market, credit, process and regulatory risk each need their own controls, and all four draw on the same trade data in OATI webCTRM™, renewable energy credits included.

Sessions

  • TuesdayExecutive Summit: Market Movements: How Evolving Energy Markets are Reshaping the GridCarrie Simpson, Southwest Power Pool; John Bear, MISO; Kevin Sarkinen, OATI
  • WednesdayCrash Course: Preparing for SPP Markets+Mehdi Assadian, OATI; Hunter Wash, OATI
  • WednesdayCrash Course: EDAM Readiness with OATI: Architecture, Workflow, and What’s AheadSolomon Lo, OATI; Mehdi Assadian, OATI
  • WednesdayCase Study: Managing Renewable Energy Credits at ScaleRobert Bratsch, OATI; Kevin Laguardia, Brookfield Renewable; Hunter Wash, OATI; Habib Samia, Brookfield Renewable
  • ThursdayCrash Course: Participating in EDAMSolomon Lo, OATI; John Walker, Portland General Electric
  • ThursdayCase Study: Enterprise Risk ManagementRobert Bratsch, OATI
  • ThursdayCrash Course: Automating Inter-RTO TradesRyan Peterson, OATI; Hunter Wash, OATI
  • ThursdayCrash Course: REC Lifecycle ManagementRobert Bratsch, OATI

THEME 03 · DERMS AND CUSTOMER FLEXIBILITY

Flexibility, from meters to markets

Much of the capacity utilities need is already installed, in thermostats, batteries, EVs and meters. The sessions worked through where a DERMS program starts, how it runs, and how distribution operators, ISOs and aggregators coordinate once flexibility reaches the market.

250+utilities on OATI DERMS
12 GWunder management on OATI DERMS

What we heard

01

Start with maturity.

Phase DERMS capabilities to organizational, data and grid readiness, not to the full feature set. Sequence beats speed.

02

Validate the business case.

An independent review of the savings can turn a case that keeps getting cut into an approved program. File tariffs and program rules well ahead of the season the program serves.

03

The meter becomes a sensor.

AMI 2.0 paired with real-time DERMS drives EV management, voltage optimization and targeted load shedding, and makes behind-the-meter DERs visible without separate gateways.

04

DR is a lifecycle.

Enrollment, validation, availability, dispatch, measurement and settlement run in one automated system, and price can decide when demand response runs.

05

The seam is reliability.

With aggregators bidding into ISO markets, distribution operators need shared visibility, clear dispatch authority and standard data exchange. The class of tools that made transmission open access work can support DER coordination.

Sessions

  • WednesdayFrom Vision to Value: Phasing Grid Modernization with PurposeKevin Hernandez, ScottMadden; Hilal Katmale, Deloitte; Alex Lago, Logic20/20; Amy Bartak, OATI
  • WednesdayDERMS + AMI 2.0: Unified Orchestration, Flexibility, and Situational AwarenessMarcelo Sandoval, Landis+Gyr; Jaspreet Singh, OATI
  • Wednesday(NERC CE Credit) Deep Dive: Demand-Side Flexibility Coordination with DSOs and RTOsFarrokh Rahimi, OATI
  • ThursdayNew to DERMS: Beginning the Journey to Next-Gen Grid ManagementTodd Clouse, Ozarks Electric Cooperative; Mason Milligan, Big Rivers Electric Corporation; Amy Bartak, OATI
  • ThursdayThe Power of Connected Customers: How Utilities Can Unlock Gigawatts of Latent CapacityKristina Keilty, ecobee
  • ThursdaySolving the DSO–ISO–Aggregator Coordination ProblemAli Ipakchi, OATI
  • FridayCrash Course: Thermostat Administration and VPP OptimizationJeff Anderson, OATI
  • FridayDemand Response 2.0: Automation and Market IntegrationJaspreet Singh, OATI

THEME 04 · BATTERIES AND VPPs

A battery fleet an operator can treat as one resource

Storage now sits on the grid, in homes and businesses, and on the road. The sessions moved from the keynote’s view of the market to the control path that turns a fleet into a schedulable resource: aggregate, dispatch, then confirm the response at every site.

North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives

20battery storage sites built and integrated
110 MWof battery storage across those sites
10.1%of peak delivery point load from DER dispatch on a winter day in 2025, and 10.3% on a summer day

NCEMC is setting its batteries to follow Automatic Generation Control dispatch through IoTSCADA™ and real-time OATI DERMS, so its own storage can provide frequency control and real-time imbalance service.

What we heard

01

Aggregate, then disaggregate.

Real-time DERMS rolls batteries into one VPP that AGC or ADMS can dispatch, then splits each dispatch back into a set point every battery can honor.

02

Visible is not ready.

A DER operators can see still has to be validated, controllable and verified before it counts as a resource.

03

Data is part of control.

State of charge, ramp rates, POI limits and cycle constraints feed every dispatch, so validation is designed in, not added later.

04

One battery, several jobs.

The same storage that shaves peaks can hold frequency and absorb imbalance, stacking value from one asset.

Lauren Burke at the podium in Latour 1-4
Keynote · Lauren Burke, Tesla
Lee Ragsdale of North Carolina's Electric Cooperatives at the podium
Lee Ragsdale, North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives

Sessions

  • WednesdayKeynote: Betting on Batteries to Drive Us FurtherLauren Burke, Tesla
  • WednesdayCase Study: Real-Time Battery Dispatch at NCEMCBehnam Danai, OATI; Ding Xu, North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives
  • ThursdayCase Study: Operating Utility-Scale Battery Storage in Coordination with a Balancing AuthorityLee Ragsdale, North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives; Behnam Danai, OATI
  • ThursdayExtending DER Value with Load-Following CapabilityLee Ragsdale, North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives; Frank Shay, Logic20/20
  • ThursdayCrash Course: Real-Time Battery and VPP DispatchJohn Lundstedt, OATI; Behnam Danai, OATI

THEME 05 · TRANSMISSION AND RELIABILITY

More from the transmission system already built

Ratings, models and standards decide how much a line can carry and how far that number can be trusted. The sessions covered flowgate capability, a new modeling engine, the 2026 to 2028 standards and the operating impact of gigawatt-scale loads.

Ali Ipakchi of OATI and Lisa Tiffin of Tri-State in the One Grid conversation at the Executive Summit
Executive Summit: The ‘One Grid’ Model

What we heard

01

Method before mechanics.

Available Flowgate Capability is only as good as the ratings, models and commitments behind it. Knowing where those inputs come from is what lets an operator explain a number with confidence.

02

Modeling without manual coordination.

webModelCalc™, OATI’s new power system model management and calculation engine, computes flowgate loading and distribution factors inside the webTrans® AFC process, on a schedule.

03

Compliance is daily work.

The final inverter-based resource tranche under FERC Order 901 leads a broad expansion of mandatory standards. The work is building them into studies, data exchanges and the routines that produce evidence.

04

Large loads reach AGC.

How a gigawatt-scale load ramps affects AGC performance and reserves, and its voltage and harmonic behavior belongs in the operating picture as well as the interconnection study.

Sessions

  • WednesdayCrash Course: Advanced AFC ConceptsBen Stander, OATI; Jeremy West, OATI
  • ThursdayCrash Course: What’s New in Flow-Based Transmission ModelingBen Stander, OATI; Kevin Sarkinen, OATI
  • Thursday(NERC CE Credit) Deep Dive: Data Center and Large Load Impacts on Grid Operations (1.5 hr)Farrokh Albuyeh, OATI
  • FridayOperationalizing the 2026–2028 Reliability StandardsBen Stander, OATI; Jeremy West, OATI

THEME 06 · MICROGRIDS AND TRIBAL ENERGY

Energy sovereignty, and what it means for the rest of the grid

Tribal Nations are building energy systems they control. A fleet of microgrids, managed together, can serve a whole system. Both conversations came back to the point where a local system meets the wider grid.

14years without an outage on a Tribal microgrid on the Colusa Rancheria

Ken Ahmann, Chief Operating Officer, Colusa Indian Energy, keynote

What we heard

01

Many paths to sovereignty.

Microgrids, utility partnerships, direct power sales and grant-funded projects each give a Nation a different measure of control.

02

Partnership runs on communication.

Stronger, earlier communication makes Tribal-utility partnerships more meaningful for both sides, and interconnection is where early coordination matters most.

03

Value at fleet scale.

North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives run microgrids from Ocracoke Island to farms and a neighborhood, each built for a different local need and managed as one fleet.

04

Resilience and peak value from one site.

During an outage a microgrid islands and carries the site. When the grid is healthy, the same battery is a callable demand response resource.

Go deeper

PageMicrogrids for TribesEnergy sovereignty built on a Nation’s own terms: reliability, control and economic development.PageTribal Energy SovereigntyHow OATI works with Tribal Nations on energy sovereignty and microgrids.DocumentaryThreads of ConnectivityThe Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians, in the feature documentary distributed by NatGeo on the people and partnerships that keep North America’s grid running.

Sessions

  • WednesdayFourteen Years Without an Outage: What Tribal Energy Sovereignty Means for the Rest of the GridKen Ahmann, Colusa Indian Energy
  • ThursdayCase Study: Microgrids as Strategic Grid InfrastructureLee Ragsdale, North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives; David Heim, OATI; Matthew Kiesow, OATI; Behnam Danai, OATI
  • ThursdayEnergy Sovereignty in Practice: A Tribal Leadership RoundtableKen Ahmann, Colusa Indian Energy; Aaron Thomas, Southern California Edison; Maria Cullooyah, Spokane Tribe of Indians
The Tribal Leadership Roundtable on stage, the discussion outline on screen
Energy Sovereignty in Practice: A Tribal Leadership Roundtable
Maria Cullooyah of the Spokane Tribe of Indians speaking at the Tribal Leadership Roundtable
Maria CullooyahDirector of Public Works & Utilities, Spokane Tribe of Indians

LEADERSHIP

Women Powering the Grid: Journey, Leadership and the People that Support

Thursday

Careers in this industry turn on pivotal decisions and on the mentors, sponsors and teams behind them. A mentor advises. A sponsor opens doors. Careers are built with both.

Careers at OATI · oati.com/careers
  • Kelly Tomblin, CEO, El Paso Electric
  • Michelle Manary, Vice President, Transmission Marketing & Sales, Bonneville Power Administration
  • Brandy Bolden, Chief Customer Officer, SMUD
  • Amy Bartak, Director DERMS Initiatives & Customer Engagement, OATI

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8 · DINNER AND GRID INTELLIGENCE AWARDS

Grid Intelligence Awards

Five awards for customer work over the past year, presented at the conference dinner by Stephanie Kolodziej, VP, Strategic Engagement and Marketing, OATI.

  • Lee Ragsdale accepts the Grid Modernization Award for North Carolina's Electric Cooperatives
    Grid Modernization AwardNorth Carolina’s Electric CooperativeswebSmartEnergy® DERMS
  • Southwest Power Pool accepts the Market Innovation Award
    Market Innovation AwardSouthwest Power PoolRTO Expansion
  • Tim Clashin of OATI accepts the Industry Impact Award on behalf of the Colville Tribes
    Industry Impact AwardColville TribesOATI GridMind® microgrids
  • The California ISO team with the AI Intelligence Award, Reliability
    AI Intelligence – ReliabilityCalifornia ISOOATI AI Genie™
  • Brookfield Renewable accepts the AI Intelligence Award, Merchant
    AI Intelligence – MerchantBrookfield RenewableAI-assisted settlements and trading
Attendees at the conference dinner in Latour 1-4

Also announced: the AI Use Case Challenge

Ideas from Thursday morning’s workshop were judged after the session. The winning idea will be developed by the OATI AI team along with complimentary service for one year.

WHAT’S NEXT

OATI Energy Conference 2027

October 6 to 8, 2027 · Encore Las Vegas

Add to calendarGoogle Calendar

Supporting partners

  • Landis+Gyr
  • ecobee
  • Logic20/20
  • esri
  • Colusa Indian Energy

webSmartEnergy®, webTrans®, OATI webAgent®, OATI GridMind®, OATI AI Genie™, Genie Core™, OATI webCTRM™, webModelCalc™ and IoTSCADA™ are marks of Open Access Technology International, Inc. · oati.com