SCHEDULE

As adoption of solar and storage resources continues to accelerate, developers, planners, regulators and state energy officials are grappling with ways to integrate these technologies securely. Even though several standards (IEEE 1547.3, UL 2941, IEC 62443) and regulations (NERC CIP LI) exist, understanding how standards and regulations protect evolving energy systems and which standards to adopt poses a significant challenge. This panel will discuss how federal regulations apply, and some of the challenges and opportunities associated with adopting cybersecurity standards across the solar and storage industry.  
 

More service providers, asset owners, and operators are leveraging AI to ensure clean energy technologies are optimized and efficiently integrated to serve demand. As AI systems play an increasingly important part of solar and storage industries, there is a greater need to understand and address cybersecurity risks that widespread adoption may introduce. AI is also being used to protect grid operations in novel ways. Speakers will discuss emerging AI innovations, cybersecurity risks, and pathways forward for secure adoption of AI. 
 

The clean energy supply chain is made up of a complex web of physical resources, components and digital technologies from both domestic and international sources that is not built with security in mind. Understanding and managing cybersecurity risk in such a complex ecosystem poses a significant challenge. During this session, speakers will discuss cybersecurity risks and key mitigations across the solar and storage supply chain. Speakers will discuss relevant innovative practices and standards that enable a multinational supply chain to remain secure. 
 

Shifts in federal policy priorities have led to new opportunities at the state level to set policy objectives and support cybersecurity in grid transformation. During this session, panelists will discuss challenges and opportunities to state leadership in cybersecurity for evolving energy systems. 
 

E-ISAC offers the electric industry quality analysis and rapid sharing of security information on how to mitigate complex, constantly evolving threats to the grid. During this closing session, E-ISAC will provide an overview of current and emerging threats specific to solar and storage and resources on joining E-ISAC to learn more and stay engaged.
 

An important aspect of regulatory policy is ensuring adequate system reliability.  To achieve that, policies should create incentives, remove barriers, and create a level playing field for solar and storage with other resources.  In this session, we give an overview of recent key FERC actions, that have shaped interconnection and market design.    We will also look at how changes to other regulatory policies have impacted solar and storage in different regions. 
 

AI data centers are a principal contributor to rising electricity usage. During this session, the opportunities for solar/BESS to contribute to AI data center energy requirements will be discussed.  What is the role of solar and storage in supplying AI data centers, which have 24/7 power requirements and a very high level of reliability?  How can solar and storage providers leverage advantages in terms of low energy cost, fast deployment times, and future scalability to serve these loads?  What are the challenges facing solar and storage developers to more effectively serve this market?       
 

GFM BESS is the application of grid-forming inverters (GFM) with battery energy storage.  In some ways, GFM technology applied with battery energy storage can more closely mimic the behavior of synchronous machines and work to improve system reliability.  GFM BESS has been deployed in different parts of the world; in North America, deployments have been relatively slow, but progress has been made.  In this session, a brief overview of the grid reliability benefits is presented, and we discuss the outlook for GFM BESS in North America.  We talk about what is needed to accelerate GFM BESS in the North America, and the regions where GFM BESS will likely soon be applied.
 

Developers, OEM’s, EPCs, and generation owners are faced with an increasing number of IBR standards.  Standards have recently been developed by bodies such as NERC, IEEE, and ERCOT, for protection and ride-through, monitoring and event reporting, event analysis, modeling, and facility commissioning.  In this session, we briefly look at the standards before discussing how to approach compliance.  We talk about the standards that have either proven to be, or have the promise to be, the most challenging.  Strategies and mechanisms that have been used for compliance, including best practices, are discussed.