Integrating Grid Planning and Operations to Unlock Flexibility
May 6th, 2026
Time: 2:00 PM ET | 1:00 PM CT | 11:00 AM PT
Duration: 60 minutes
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Summary
Electric utilities are facing unprecedented pressure on the distribution grid. Rapid load growth driven by electrification and large new loads—such as data centers—combined with the expansion of distributed energy resources (DERs) is changing how power systems behave. At the same time, the timelines required to build new infrastructure—often five to ten years—are misaligned with customer demand for electricity that must be served within just a few years.
This gap is forcing utilities to rethink traditional grid planning approaches. Historically, planning and operations have functioned separately: planners forecast demand and design infrastructure, while operators manage the system once assets are built. But as flexibility and non-wires solutions (NWS) become essential tools to unlock capacity from the existing grid, these boundaries are dissolving.
One emerging example of this shift is flexible interconnection, where customers are connected to the grid under defined operational conditions while infrastructure upgrades are planned or constructed. This approach leverages operational strategies to enable faster customer connections while maintaining system reliability.
In this webinar, we explore why the future grid requires a model where planning and operations work in close coordination. We will discuss how utilities are using DERs, demand response, energy storage, grid optimization technologies, and operational strategies to defer or avoid infrastructure investments while maintaining reliability.
The session will highlight practical lessons from utilities that are building stronger feedback loops between planning and operations, improving system visibility, and incorporating operational scenarios into planning processes. Attendees will gain insights into how integrated planning and operational strategies can help utilities deliver power faster, make better use of existing assets, and build the optimized grids needed to support the energy transition.
Speakers
Ben Lee
Vice President, Distribution Planning and Grid Modernization
EPE
Benjamin Lee is a results-driven leader with 16 years of experience in the electric utility sector, including over a decade in key leadership roles. He currently serves as Vice President of Distribution Planning and Grid Modernization at Electric Power Engineers (EPE), where he leads teams that partner with utilities across North America to plan, design, and modernize the distribution grid in support of the energy transition. Ben is a licensed Professional Engineer and holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from California Baptist University.
Umar Waqas
Vice President, Grid Modernization
GrandBridge Energy Inc.
Umar is a prominent leader in the utility sector. With a passion for tackling the complexities of the 21st-century electricity grid, Umar oversees the organization’s design services, metering, and distributed energy resource initiatives. A registered Professional Engineer in Ontario, Umar boasts over a decade of experience at GrandBridge Energy, where he has made significant contributions in engineering, innovation, and energy efficiency. He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical Engineering from McMaster University and an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Santosh Veda
Senior Manager, DER Management and Technology Developments
Dominion Energy
Dr. Santosh Veda is the Manager for DER Management & Technologies Group at Dominion Energy. He leads deployment and operationalization of DER management technologies including a full-scale cloud-based enterprise distributed energy resource management system (DERMS). He also leads the Company’s technology strategy for implementing FERC O2222 and virtual power plants for the distribution grids. Before joining Dominion Energy in 2022, he led the Grid Automation & Controls group at National Renewable Energy Laboratory where his team developed and evaluated and supported utility adoption of advanced DER integration techniques and controls. He has 6 awarded patents and over 1200 citations for his 20+ research publications.
Julieta Giraldez (Moderator)
Director, Grid Planning
EPE
Julieta Giraldez is a nationally and internationally recognized subject matter expert in distributed energy resource (DER) grid integration with extensive expertise in grid modeling and planning processes. She currently works at Electric Power Engineers (EPE) as a Director of Grid Planning where she implements holistic approaches to meet customers’ needs through the optimized planning and operation of generation, transmission, distribution, and distributed resources. Julieta holds a bachelor’s degree from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spain) in Technical Mining Engineering, a master’s in electrical engineering from Colorado School of Mines, and a Ph.D. program in systems engineering from Colorado State University.
