Demand Response 101: A Hands-On Intro to Flexibility Fundamentals
”Member”
”Non-member”
”Awards
AESP is accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET). AESP complies with the ANSI/IACET Standard, which is recognized internationally as a standard of excellence in instructional practices. As a result of this accreditation, AESP is authorized to issue the IACET CEU. AESP instructors disclose in advance that they have no interest in any product, service, or material discussed during the course. This information is stated orally and in the training course handbook.
New to demand flexibility? This interactive pre-conference session is designed to help you build a strong foundation in demand response (DR) and virtual power plants (VPPs), and understand their growing role in today’s evolving energy landscape. Through real-world examples, guided discussion, and hands-on activities, participants will explore how DR programs work, how VPPs aggregate distributed energy resources into dispatchable grid assets, the technologies that support them, and the role customer participation plays in grid flexibility and reliability.
Whether you work for a utility, implementation firm, consultancy, technology provider, or are simply looking to expand your understanding of grid-interactive programs, this session will provide practical context and terminology — from foundational DR concepts to the mechanics of VPP aggregation — to help you engage more confidently in flexibility conversations throughout the conference.
You’ll leave this session able to:
- Describe the foundational concepts and purpose of demand response and demand flexibility programs within the modern electric grid, including how and why the industry is evolving from event-based DR toward broader, continuous flexibility strategies.
- Differentiate between common types of demand response and demand flexibility programs and their applications.
- Identify key technologies and customer engagement strategies used to support demand flexibility initiatives.
- Examine how demand flexibility contributes to grid reliability, resilience, resource adequacy, and the integration of renewable energy at scale.
- Apply foundational demand flexibility concepts to real-world program examples and industry scenarios you are likely to encounter in your work.
Speakers
”Jordan
”Director
Jordan brings over fifteen years of consulting and research experience in the energy sector. Jordan focuses much of his research on load management issues and strategies, such as time-varying rates, DERs and other emerging customer-facing technologies in the demand response space. Utilizing his strong academic background in environmental sociology and quantitative survey research, Jordan’s contributions to the acceleration of demand response programs have primarily focused on researching customer experiences, opinions and behaviors.
”Derek
”Senior
Derek focuses on consulting with utilities in Distributed Energy Resources, Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems and Retail and Wholesale energy markets. He spent over 22 years working within regulated utilities in Michigan managing multiple utility programs, products and services in Demand Side Management in support of utility generation planning and clean energy goals.