Full Agenda

Interregional transmission has the potential to strengthen grid reliability, lower costs, and create a more flexible and resilient energy system—but realizing those benefits requires planning that looks beyond traditional regional boundaries. This session will examine the growing need for stronger coordination across regions, highlight progress and emerging approaches underway today, and explore opportunities for State Energy Offices to improve interregional transmission planning for the future.

Extended and increasingly hot summers, while pleasant by the pool, are placing growing strain on electric grid reliability, our built environment, and community health and safety. Hear from State Energy Offices and federal partners on heat preparedness planning, strategic grid investments, Section 202(c) emergency orders as a grid flexibility tool, and cross agency coordination to keep the lights (and the AC) on.

As demand for affordable, reliable power grows, distributed energy resources and grid storage offer a path forward. This session explores how State Energy Offices, utilities, and private sector partners can scale these resources to maximize grid efficiency while lowering costs for businesses and consumers alike.

As demand from data centers and other large loads strains interconnection queues, existing capacity at already-interconnected points offers a faster, lower-cost pathway to bring new generation and load online. This session will explore how states and utilities can support expanding the use of Surplus Interconnection Services without compromising grid reliability.

Global commodity shocks and geopolitical instability are no longer background noise for state energy planners--they're critical data points to monitor. This session explores how disruptions to oil markets, restrictions on foreign-sourced grid technology, and international policy responses are reshaping long-term energy planning. Drawing on strategies deployed abroad in response to comparable disruptions, panelists will discuss practical approaches states can take now to strengthen long-term energy security.

As electricity bills climb, states are under pressure to respond while also considering other energy policy goals. This session will highlight innovative policies, rate design strategies, and affordability-focused programs and metrics State Energy Offices are leveraging to ease the burden on households and businesses without compromising energy reliability and long-term energy goals.

As states implement projects funded through the Grid Resilience Formula Grant program, tracking the right metrics is essential to demonstrating impact and guiding future investment. This session will examine how states are measuring both grid performance and community-level resilience outcomes, sharing practical approaches for data collection, reporting, and communicating results to stakeholders and policymakers.

The next American industrial revolution is coalescing from piles of rocks, dead batteries, innovative processing techniques, abundant and deliberate federal funds, and a workforce that largely does not yet exist. The economic benefits are profound, and the national security implications of building resilient domestic supply chains cannot be overstated. This session will highlight a number of ongoing state, federal, and academic efforts, and explore how they can be organized into a unified strategy.

Large energy infrastructure projects can require coordinated state and federal funding support to make it from conception to completion. This session will discuss how states and the federal government are coordinating on the investments needed to expand and modernize America’s energy infrastructure and ensure energy is affordable, reliable, and secure.

As lithium-ion batteries expand across EVs, grid-scale storage, and consumer devices, safety education is more critical than ever – particularly for emergency responders, who are first on the scene when something goes wrong. This session covers key risks—thermal runaway, off-gassing, and fire behavior—across diverse settings like roadways, BESS sites, and aircraft – and highlights State Energy Office-led coordination efforts around first responder training.

Data centers are driving the fastest load growth the grid has seen in decades, but with the right design and operating practices, they can act as grid assets rather than passive consumers. This session draws on real-world lessons to explore strategies that enable demand flexibility, load management approaches that support reliability, and the policy frameworks states are using to build effective partnerships with utilities and data centers.

State Energy Offices often serve as natural conveners, bringing together utilities, local governments, community organizations, and other stakeholders to shape energy priorities, inform policy and planning, and guide program design. This session explores how State Energy Offices are designing stakeholder engagement models that build trust and consensus across diverse interests and drive coordinated action.

As zero-emission freight scales beyond pilot projects, states and stakeholders face practical challenges around cost, charging infrastructure, and market readiness—compounded by regulatory uncertainty around ACT/ACF rules and NOx standards. This session examines how State Energy Offices are building stronger public-private partnerships through state-specific Electric Fleet (eFleet) Networks.

Join this roundtable discussion on how states are supporting the building energy codes workforce in delivering high-quality installation outcomes and construction practices, translating to greater energy and utility bill savings.