2025 Forecasting & Markets Workshop

Presentations from our 2025 Forecasting & Markets Workshop held in Nashville can be downloaded below.

Recordings of workshop sessions will soon be available on the ESIG YouTube Channel.

Tutorial: System Operations in the US and Europe

The Tutorial covers the following topics:

• Overview of Information Flow and Decision-making in Typical Grid Operation Environments
• Overview of Market Operations Processes
• Sensitivity of Operation/Markets to Meteorological and Other Information

Speakers include:

Erik Ela, Director of System Operation and Electricity Markets, ESIG
Yonghong Chen, Chief Scientist, Grid Planning and Analysis Center, NREL
Jean Gillain, Business Development Manager – APAC & ME, N-SIDE

DOWNLOAD TUTORIAL PRESENTATIONS

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Introduction/Opening Remarks

Opening Remarks
Mark Ahlstrom, NextEra Energy & ESIG Board of Directors’ President

Industry Overview
Debra Lew, Executive Director, ESIG

Opening Plenary Session: Recent Advancements in Wind, Solar and Load Forecasting

Session Chair: Jeff Freedman, Research Faculty, Atmospheric Sciences Research Center,  SUNY at Albany

What’s Needed for Best Practice Forecasts
Sue Ellen Haupt, Senior Scientist, Research Applications Laboratory, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research

NOAA Regional Models (HRRR, RRFSv1, RRFSv2) status in 2025
Stan Benjamin, Senior Scientist, NOAA (retired)

Probabilistic PV Forecasts – Fleet Ramp Rates and Minimizing Asymmetric Costs
Thomas Haley, Lead Data Scientist, Clean Power Research

Recent Advancements in Wind, Solar and (Load) Forecasting
Lars Rohwer, Senior Meteorologist, energy and meteo systems GmbH (Germany)

Session 2A: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Applications in Forecasting

Session Chair: Justin Sharp, Senior Technical Leader, EPRI

Overview of AI Weather Predictions – How Does it Work and What are The Implications to Power System Applications
Sue Ellen Haupt, Senior Scientist, Research Applications Laboratory, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research

Subseasonal to Seasonal Forecasting Advances Using Machine Learning Methods
Karl Critz, CTO, Salient Predictions

Comparison of AI Weather Predictions and Traditional Numerical Weather Predictions
Jared Lee, Project Scientist, NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research

Let’s Not Forget About Machine Learning – Forecasting Beyond the AI Buzz
Andrew Akman, Principal Data Scientist for Operational Forecasting, AEMO (Australia)

Session 2B: Evolving Capacity Markets and their Value in Achieving Resource Adequacy

Session Chair: Bethany Frew, Group Manager, NREL

JHU Performance for Capacity Markets
Ben Hobbs, Deputy Chair, Dept. Environmental Health & Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, and Chair, CAISO Market Surveillance Committee

MISO’s Reliability-based Demand Curve
Zhaoxia Xie, Director – Market Design and Development, MISO

Capacity Market Reforms at ISO New England
Tongxin Zheng, Chief Technologist, ISO New England

Session 3A: Evolving Capacity Markets and their Value in Achieving Resource Adequacy

Session Chair: David Larson, Senior Team Leader, EPRI

Why Forecasts were Off in February 2025 in the South
Jeff Baskin, Senior Technical Analyst/Meteorologist, Southwest Power Pool

Alternative Forecast Error Metrics
Will Hobbs, Renewable Energy and Storage R&D, Southern Company

Forecasting Data Center Load for Operations
Marija Marković, Power System Engineer, EPRI

ERCOT Forecasting Large Load Behavior in Operations
Luke Butler, Manager for Forecasting & Analysis, ERCOT

From Forecasts, Procurements to Operations: Perspective of a Community Choice Aggregator
Gabriel Head, CAISO Day Ahead Manager, Ava Community Energy

Session 3B: Long Duration Energy Storage: Operations, Value and Accreditation

Session Chair: Mahika Sri Krishna, Senior Research Analyst, Long Duration Energy Storage Council

Operations, Optimization and Dispatch of TVA Hydro
Gabe Miller, Hydrologist, TVA

Opportunities and Valuation for Pumped Storage Hydropower: Case Study with Tennessee Valley Authority
Stuart Cohen, Electric Systems Modeler, NREL

Challenges Assessing the Contribution and Accreditation of Long Duration Energy Storage to System Adequacy
Donny Holaschutz, Energy and Sustainability Consultant – Managing Partner, inodú

Accreditation for Long Duration Energy Storage in Hawaii
Ryan Deyoe, Power Markets Specialist, Telos Energy

Session 4A: Advancements in Forecasting: From DERs and Data Centers to New Methods for Wind and Solar Forecasting

Session Chair: Jon Black, Manager, Advanced Forecasting and Analytics, ISO New England

NERC Reliability Guidelines for DER Forecasting Practices
Shayan Rizvi, Senior Engineer, Northeast Power Coordinating Council

DER Impacts on Load Forecasts
Amir Javanbakht, Senior Analyst Load Forecasting, Clean Power Alliance

Forecasting of Electrification and Data Centers
Farnaz Farzan, Principal Advisor, Team Lead, Quanta Technology

Improved Short-term Forecasting with Skycams and LIDAR
Lars Rohwer, Senior Meteorologist, energy and meteo systems GmbH (Germany)

Session 4B: Integrating Electric Storage Resources into Electricity Markets: Enhancements to Improve Efficiency and Reliability

Session Chair: Todd Levin, Electricity Markets Team Lead, Argonne National Laboratory

Energy Storage in Electricity Markets: A Roadmap
Serena Patel, Energy Research Associate, The Brattle Group

Real-time Co-optimization Plus Batteries
Kenneth Ragsdale, Principal, ERCOT

Contract Design for Storage in Electricity Markets
Farhad Billimoria, Head of Research-West, Aurora Energy Research

How Can Energy Storage Best Participate in Electricity Markets?
Gary Cate, Principal Director, Energy Markets, Fluence

Session 5A: Utility, ISO & Meteorology Probabilistic Forecasting Developments

Session Chair: Nitika Mago, Senior Manager, Electric Grid Operations, ERCOT

Probabilistic Forecasting Developments in CAISO
Rebecca Webb, Manager of Operational Forecasting, CAISO

Update on Probabilistic Near-term Uncertainty & Risk Assessments at ERCOT
Riaz Khan, Senior Operations Engineer, ERCOT

What’s New With Probabilistic Forecast Development – Meteorologist Perspective
Craig Collier, Chief Meteorologist, Head of Operations, Energy Forecasting Solutions, LLC

Probabilistic Day-Ahead Forecasting of Wind, Solar and Load
Ranjit Deshmukh, Associate Professor, University of California at Santa Barbara
Guillermo Terren-Serrano, Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California at Santa Barbara

Session 5B: Dynamic Operating Reserve Methods: Forecasting Reserve for Improved Operations

Session Chair: Jimmy Nelson, Director, Energy & Environmental Economics

Secondary Reserves and How to Procure Them – A Comparison of Denmark and Vietnam
Ba Hoai Nguyen, Deputy Manager, NSMO (Vietnam)
Ulrik Møller, Senior Economist, Energinet (Denmark)

Regulation Reserve Forecasting in MISO
Christine Ross, Lead, Markets Research and Development, MISO

Uncertainty Reserve in NYISO
Frankie Biancardi, Market Design Specialist, NYISO

Dynamic Dimensioning in the Netherlands
Giancarlo Marzano, Senior Account Management Lead, N-SIDE

Session 6A: Emerging Forecasting Applications

Session Chair: Adria Brooks, Director of Transmission Planning, Grid Strategies

New Developments in the Application of Weather Information in Electric Grid Analysis – Power Flow
Tom Overbye, Professor, Texas A&M

Projecting Water Availability and Drought Risk for Hydropower
Shih-Chieh Kao, Program Manager, Water Power Program, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Wind Forecasting for Dynamic Line Ratings
Jake Gentle, Program Manager, Secure Renewables & Grid Integration, Idaho National Laboratory

A New Approach for Grid-Wide Wind Measurement with Embedded Optical Fibers
Tiffany Menhorn, Vice President, North America, Prisma Photonics

Vietnam’s Renewable Revolution: Solutions with Satellite Image, Forecasting Combination, and AGC
Ba Hoai Nguyen, Deputy Manager, NSMO (Vietnam)

Session 6B: The Increasing Need And Value For Long- And Short-Term Price Forecasts

Session Chair: Robin Hytowitz, Program Lead, Electricity Markets, EPRI

Short to Long-Term Power Forecasting Solutions
Scott Bruns, Director, US Power Markets, Enverus

The Increasing Need And Value For Long- And Short-Term Price Forecasts
Jennifer Newman, Vice President of Research, REsurety

The Increasing Need and Value of Long- and Short-term Price Forecasts
McKenzie Fowler, Director, Energy Modeling, PowerIntel

Long- And Short-Term Price Forecasting
Norm Richardson,President & Founder, EnCompass

Session 7A: Weather, Extreme Events and Resilience

Session Chair: Allison Campbell, Power Systems Data Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Reliability, Resilience and Extreme Weather
Maria Kachadurian, Senior Analyst, Performance Analysis, NERC

Probabilistic Time Series Modeling for Improving Grid Reliability
Chris Hayes, Principal Meteorologist, DNV

High-resolution Time Series Weather and Energy Modeling: a Utility Grid Planning Example
Rob Cirincione, CEO, Sunairio

Downscaled Earth System Model Data for Resilient Energy System Planning
Grant Buster, Data Scientist, NREL

Incorporating Multivariate Weather Hazards into System Planning with Long Duration Energy Storage
Neal Mann, Energy Systems Engineer, Argonne National Laboratory

Session 7B: Technology Neutrality and Market Participation Models

Session Chair: Paul Sotkiewicz, President and Founder, E-Cubed Policy Associates

Market Participation Models
Gabe Murtaugh, Director of Market Development, Hydrostor

Technology-Neutral (Resource-agnostic) Markets – Why Have We Gotten RTO Capacity Markets So Mixed Up?
Michael Milligan, GridLab

Southwest Power Pool Market Participation Models
Daniel Harless, Lead Engineer, Market Development, SPP

Zach Ming, Partner, Energy & Environmental Economics

Universal Participation Model Redux
Mark Ahlstrom, Vice President of Renewable Energy Policy, NextEra Energy Resources

Technology Agnostic Participation Options in Electricity Markets
Erik Ela, Director of System Operation and Electricity Markets, ESIG