Shaping the future: What to expect at the OATI Energy Conference 2026

As renewables handily lead the affordability race and energize lands near and far, this past year marks one for the ages. Big changes in policy, industry, and technology continue, and batteries remain the backbone in this new electrification era. This mainstage session will discuss the latest innovations in batteries (stationary & on wheels), new market opportunities, and changes.

For over a decade, the Cachil DeHe Band of Wintun Indians of the Colusa Rancheria has operated its own microgrid without a single power interruption. Ken Ahmann, COO of Colusa Indian Energy, built that system and now works with Tribal Nations across the country to develop their own energy solutions.

In this keynote, Ahmann speaks directly to what Tribal Nations are looking for in their energy future: reliability after years of unpredictable service, control over infrastructure on their own land, and new revenue opportunities beyond gaming. He also speaks to an industry audience that rarely works directly with Tribes—what Tribal-led energy development looks like in practice, where it intersects with the broader grid, and why it should be on every utility’s radar.

Utilities are under pressure to modernize the grid and integrate DERs, yet many struggle to understand how DERMS will reshape their planning, operations, and customer processes. This panel brings together three consulting perspectives to demystify what “DERMS readiness” really looks like and how to phase deployments in a way that aligns with organizational, technical and grid maturity. Expect candid insights, real examples and a clear view of how to modernize at the right pace – not just the fastest one.

A focused fundamentals session for operations staff who need to come up to speed quickly on Advanced Available Flowgate Capability concepts. Walks through the underlying methodology, the OATI workflow, common operational scenarios, and frequent points of confusion.

This NERC-approved 1.5 CEH course aligns with NERC’s System Operator Certification Program (SOCP). The course examines emerging grid-operational challenges and solutions, with emphasis on the following topics:

• Impacts on grid operations from the proliferation of variable energy resources (VERs) at the bulk-power level, distributed energy resources (DERs) at the grid edge, and intermittent large loads, such as data centers, in between.
• Shortcomings in current processes, particularly across DSO-RTO seams.
• Demand flexibility and its role in preserving reliability and resilience amid supply and demand variability on a grid with high DER and VER penetration.
• Mechanisms for pre-operational and operational coordination among aggregators, load-serving entities, distribution grid operators, and bulk power and market operators to preserve and enhance grid reliability and economics.
• Illustrative examples of how data, operational coordination, and enhanced situational awareness can help grid operators manage the emerging electricity grid.

Customer-only roadmap session for webTrader, webSettlement and webCTRM. Format: 30 minutes OATI presentation on near-term roadmap, followed by 15 minutes of structured customer input and discussion.

Often overshadowed by the branding of Virtual Power Plants, demand response remains a critical reliability and affordability tool for utilities. But don’t be mistaken: the next generation of DR programs are far from sleepy. They’re automated, measured, and market-integrated. This session walks through what DR 2.0 looks like in practice — including the commercialization strategies that make DR a viable utility revenue stream.

SPP Markets+ launch brings a new western day-ahead market footprint and a new set of operational requirements for participants. This session covers what utilities need to have in place for day-one operations on Markets+: the OATI scheduling, settlement, and risk workflows that support participation; data and integration requirements; and how the platform handles the seams between Markets+, EDAM, and existing balancing authority operations.

As utilities deploy increasing amounts of battery storage, operational visibility and control become just as important as the assets themselves. North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives (NCEMC) utilizes IoTSCADA and real-time DERMS capabilities to use the batteries in real time to follow Automatic Generation Control (AGC) dispatch to provide Frequency Control and Real Time imbalance grid services. This allows NCEMC to reduce the operation cost using the battery storage assets instead of procuring these services from the market.

This quick-hit session will provide a practical look at the tools and workflows operators use to manage battery assets in real time, including monitoring, alarming, communications, dispatch execution, and operational coordination. Attendees will gain insight into the operational foundation required to scale battery programs beyond pilot projects and into daily grid operations.

Renewable Energy Credits, Clean Energy Credits, and emerging environmental attribute markets have grown from a back-office accounting exercise to a multi-billion-dollar position management problem — and most utilities still manage it in spreadsheets. This session examines what enterprise-grade REC management looks like: automated certificate retirement, mark-to-market valuation, cross-registry reconciliation, audit-ready chains of custody, and integration with portfolio risk systems.

Customer-only roadmap session for OATI webSmartEnergy DERMS. Format: 30 minutes OATI presentation on near-term roadmap and feature priorities, followed by 15 minutes of structured customer input and discussion. We are explicitly seeking customer contribution — bring your priorities and your friction points.

OATI is the platform of choice for utilities entering CAISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market — and that choice has consequences for how a utility’s trading, scheduling, and settlement operations are built. This crash course walks through the OATI EDAM solution architecture, the operational workflows it supports, and the integration points that have surfaced from early entrants. Includes a near-term roadmap segment for upcoming functionality.

California ISO is one of the first North American grid operators to deploy AI in production for outage management. This session, presented by CAISO’s Gopakumar Gopinathan, walks through the deployment in detail: the operational problem AI was brought in to solve, the data and integration work that made it possible, how operators interact with the system, and the measurable outcomes since go-live (outage processing time reduced from 6 hours to 30 minutes). Attendees will leave with a clear picture of what a production AI deployment in a control room actually looks like — and what it takes to get there.

Join us for breakfast and a first live look at the redesigned OATIHub — a new landing experience built around hierarchy and an AI Genie integration that’s woven into the page itself. The team demos the new UI, walks through what’s changed and why, and showcases what’s next. Open to all attendees.

Customer-only roadmap session for the OATI Genie platform. Format: 30 minutes OATI presentation covering the four agent types (Workflow, Advisor, Reconnaissance, Autonomous) and near-term roadmap, followed by 15 minutes of structured customer input on agent priorities and use case interest.

OATI has developed a new product for AFC Flow transmission modeling. This session walks through what’s new: the modeling improvements, the workflow changes, the integration impacts, and what customers need to do to take advantage of having an end-end integrated flowbased AFC solution. Includes a live demonstration.

The DERMS conversation has matured rapidly — but for utilities just beginning the journey, the question is no longer whether to deploy, but where to start. This session walks attendees through the practical first steps of a DERMS implementation: building the business case, defining initial use cases (DER visibility, demand response, EV charging coordination), aligning IT and operations stakeholders, and selecting an architecture that scales as the program grows.

AI is no longer a future consideration for grid operators — it is already in the control room. But knowing where to start is the hardest part. In this interactive workshop, attendees will work through a structured use case identification process grounded in real operational challenges, drawing on lessons from OATI Genie projects. Participants will leave with a prioritized list of candidate AI use cases specific to their organization, a framework for evaluating feasibility and impact, and a clear understanding of what it takes to move from idea to pilot. Bring your real problems. We will help you find the AI fit.

Customer-only roadmap session covering webTrans. Format: 30 minutes OATI presentation on the platform’s near-term roadmap, followed by 15 minutes of structured customer input.

North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives (NCEMC) have moved beyond battery deployment and into real-world grid operations. As battery resources become increasingly important to reliability, flexibility, and system management, utilities must develop operational strategies that align distributed energy resources with broader grid requirements.

A focused fundamentals session covering enterprise risk management workflows in OATI: VaR and stress testing, position aggregation across trading books and physical assets, credit and counterparty exposure monitoring, and the integration points with trading and scheduling operations.

The U.S. transmission system can carry more than today’s operating practice allows. PowerNow is OATI’s initiative to unlock 10 to 20 percent more capacity with no new lines and no new towers, using software-based dynamic line ratings, automated inter-regional coordination, and AI-enhanced redispatch. ISOs, investor-owned utilities, public power, cooperatives and EPRI have already joined. This session covers where the work stands, includes a live demonstration of Genie DLR, and closes with an invitation to get involved.

webAgent is an advanced level of automation between interconnecting ISOs designed to streamline complex physical power schedules. webAgent will submit each component of an Inter-RTO trade to an appropriate external system, in compliance with RTO market rules and timing requirements. With our seamless integration to OATI webSmartTag and OASIS, it will automatically procure the transmission, or ramp reservation when applicable, and create all tagging requirements all while creating the bids and offers in market. In addition, webAgent provides built-in functionality to monitor the component’s progress and inform users — in real time — about its current status and final outcome.

Microgrids provide local resilience in isolation. When deployed and managed at scale, however, a fleet of microgrids can provide unique, system-wide benefits to utilities and the communities they serve. This session explores how NCEMC orchestrates a fleet of microgrids, battery storage, and solar PV assets with OATI DERMS and the GridMind® asset and microgrid control suite. Expect dispatch screens, fleet performance data, and a candid discussion of what worked and what’s next.

This session provides a deep dive into use cases and functionality plans for AI in OATI’s distributed energy resource management (DERMS) system. It will explore how generative and agentic AI from OATI Genie is leveraged to enhance distribution operations, including DER forecasting, dispatch optimization, and operator decision support. Attendees will see live demonstrations of Genie features, hear customer experiences from early adopters, and have an opportunity to shape priorities through direct dialogue with the product and engineering teams.

A focused fundamentals session covering the full REC lifecycle: registering a REC, accounting for usage, risk management, and optimization. Designed for operations and back-office staff who manage renewable energy credit portfolios on OATI applications.

NERC CE-eligible deep dive. As demand-side resources scale, the coordination problem between distribution operators, transmission operators, and wholesale markets becomes the binding constraint on flexibility. This session goes deep on the operational mechanics: how dispatch signals flow from RTO to DSO to aggregator, how visibility flows the other direction, and how to shore up gaps at the seams.

NCEMC is a generation and transmission cooperative serving 25 member-owned distribution cooperatives, which in turn deliver power to more than 2.5 million North Carolinians. NCEMC has approximately 600 MW of distributed energy resource and demand response capacity, including solar, energy storage, and microgrids across its members’ service territories.

Historically used for outage mitigation and peak shaving, these resources now play a broader role in NCEMC’s portfolio management process, including supporting load-following operations. This session will present NCEMC’s control philosophy and describe how the OATI DERMS enables the aggregation, optimization, and real time dispatch of BESS, combined solar and storage systems, and microgrid resources. It will also examine the solution architecture and technology upgrades required to integrate DERMS functionality with existing EMS dispatch and AGC capabilities. The OATI DERMS enhancements provide greater operational flexibility, reduce peak-related costs, and support long-term grid resilience as NCEMC prepares for the consolidation of the investor-owned utilities’ two balancing areas.

Learning Objectives:
– Identify the control philosophy and system architecture requirements needed to use DERs for load following.
– Explain how the OATI DERMS creates and manages aggregated groups of DERs.
– Describe how the OATI DERMS aggregates DERs which can be optimized and operated through coordination between the DERMS, EMS dispatch, and AGC capabilities.
– Identify how load following can expand the operational value of flexible DERs, including BESS, combined solar and storage systems, and microgrid resources.

An in-person, customer-only conversation about the direction of webLineR, OATI’s AAR solution. Product leadership will share what’s ahead and want to hear directly from customers in the room — this is a working session and a valuable opportunity to weigh in face-to-face while everyone is together.

An in-person, customer-only conversation about where OATI DERMS is headed. Product leadership will walk through the direction of the platform and open the floor for direct feedback — this is a working session with the people building the roadmap and one of the few times all year this group is in the same room together.

A customer-only deep dive into specific applications of AI from OATI Genie in energy trading and market solutions. Learn how AI is already supporting automated trading & ISO bid construction, complex scheduling workflows, and streamlined settlements processes. This session covers the current OATI Genie capabilities for trading and settlements, the near-term roadmap, and how customers are integrating AI-driven analytics into existing workflows.

Behind every resilient grid are leaders navigating change, building confidence, solving complex challenges and lifting others along the way. Women Powering the Grid brings together influential women from across the energy industry for an honest and inspiring conversation about leadership journeys, career-defining moments, and the allies, mentors, and teams that helped shape their path.

This interactive panel discussion will explore the realities of leading in a rapidly evolving industry. From technical operations and innovation to visibility, resiliency and growth. Attendees will hear personal stories, practical lessons, and perspectives on how strong networks, supportive colleagues and intentional leadership create opportunities not only for women, but for the future of the industry itself.

Whether you are early in your career, leading a team, or helping others grow, this session is a conversation about powering more than the grid. It’s about powering people.

A customer-only deep dive into the OATI Genie roadmap for transmission and outage management. CAISO’s production deployment of Genie for AI-powered outage management is one of the first at-scale operational AI deployments in a North American control room. Now, Genie is expanding into BA capacity analysis and other transmission applications. This session walks customers through the current capabilities, the near-term roadmap, and gathers customer input on priorities.

Enterprise grid controls produce benefits in sometimes unexpected places. Find out how a large generation and transmission organization uses OATI DERMS to orchestrate DER events — from the trading desk.

Following Ken Ahmann’s keynote, this panel brings together Tribal leaders from across the country to discuss how they are building more resilient and self-determined energy systems—including microgrids, utility partnerships, direct power sales, and grant-funded projects.

Panelists will share what has worked, what hasn’t, and what they wish utilities and the broader energy industry understood about working with Tribal Nations. The conversation will explore the challenges Tribes face around reliability, infrastructure, interconnection, and economic development, while highlighting opportunities for stronger communication and more meaningful Tribal-utility partnerships.

Audience Q&A will follow.

The rapid growth of rooftop solar, behind-the-meter battery storage, transportation electrification, and demand-response programs is fundamentally reshaping traditional, conforming load patterns. These shifts complicate both system-level and regional load forecasting, making bulk-power generation scheduling increasingly challenging. At the same time, the expanding direct participation of retail aggregators in ISO/RTO markets introduces new operational and visibility issues for distribution system operators. Together, these trends underscore the need for greater transparency, shared situational awareness, and coordinated operational frameworks.

As DERs proliferate and aggregators multiply, the central question is no longer whether distribution, transmission, and market operators can coordinate shared resources — it is how. The DSO–ISO coordination challenge has emerged as one of the defining operational issues of the decade: What data must be exchanged across the seams? Who dispatches which resources? Under what authority and according to which rules?

This panel brings together leaders from across the coordination stack to examine emerging models for multi-level grid and market integration among distribution utilities, bulk-system operators, and market platforms. Discussions will focus on the operational, regulatory, and technological foundations required to support reliable data exchange, coordinated dispatch, and shared accountability in a high-DER future.

A focused fundamentals session for operations staff on real-time battery and VPP dispatch through OATI. Walks through the dispatch workflow from asset selection through dispatch signal generation, telemetry verification, and post-dispatch reconciliation. Designed for operations staff at utilities running battery and VPP programs.

Join us for dinner and the inaugural presentation of the Grid Intelligence Awards at the OATI Energy Conference!

The OATI Grid Intelligence Awards recognize the utilities, organizations and industry leaders shaping the future of energy through innovation, leadership, and measurable impact. These awards celebrate achievements across grid modernization, market transformation, AI, and industry collaboration. Nominees are selected through a curated process designed to highlight the most impactful initiatives and forward-thinking organizations in the industry. Winners are chosen by an independent committee of industry leaders and experts, ensuring a credible and meaningful recognition program. Presented annually at the OATI Energy Conference, the Grid Intelligence Awards honor those advancing a smarter, more reliable and more intelligent energy future.

Categories:

• Grid Modernization Award
• Market Innovation Award
• Industry Impact Award
• AI Leader Award

A focused fundamentals session for utilities preparing to participate in CAISO’s Extended Day-Ahead Market. Walks through the operational workflows, scheduling rhythms, settlement implications, and integration touchpoints. Designed for operations and trading staff who need to come up to speed quickly on EDAM participation.

A combined customer-only fundamentals session covering thermostat administration workflows and VPP optimization basics. Designed for new and recently-hired operations and management staff at utilities running demand response and VPP programs through OATI.

A NERC-accredited, 1.5 CEH course for system operators on how AI platforms are transforming power system operations — from foundational AI concepts through applied use cases in bulk power reliability, trading and risk management, and distribution/demand-side flexibility. Aligned with the SOCP Manual v4.2. Includes a required multiple-choice exam for credit.

The next two years bring the most significant expansion of mandatory reliability standards in over a decade. This session is built around what operational compliance actually requires — and the OATI modules and workflows that enable it. Coverage includes: the final IBR tranche under FERC Order 901 (planning and operational studies, due November 2026, full implementation by 2030); NERC Project 2026-02 on large computational loads, including the Level 3 Alert and the path toward registration and standards for data center loads; FERC Order 919 and the new CIP virtualization standards (effective April 2028); TPL-008-1 for extreme temperature transmission planning; revisions to EOP-012-2 for cold weather preparedness; and the registration of previously-unregistered IBRs above 20 MVA / 60 kV by November 2026. Each standard is paired with the OATI module or workflow that supports compliance.

AMI 2.0 turns the meter from a billing endpoint into a real-time operational asset. But the real magic occurs when AMI 2.0 is paired with the power and reach of real-time DERMS. The result is a class of use cases that were previously impossible: sub-second load disaggregation, dynamic voltage optimization at the secondary, behind-the-meter DER visibility without separate gateways, and customer-facing programs that respond in real time. This session, co-presented by OATI and Landis+Gyr, walks through how unified DERMS and AMI 2.0 architectures are being deployed in production.