Come together with regional energy experts, advocates, utility leaders, business representatives, and policymakers from across WA, OR, ID, and MT to pause and reflect on where we are in the energy transition and how we continue to move towards a clean, affordable, and equitable energy system.
Conference sessions will focus on:
- Centering frontline voices in policymaking around data centers and large loads
- Reflecting on the successes and lessons from community clean energy development and implementation
- Exploring policy and regulatory solutions to integrating clean energy technologies into the grid
Register today to get inspired by innovative ideas and connect with others who are creating community-driven solutions.
Session Details:
(see full schedule below)
Opening Session - Clean Energy Leaders Roundtable
- Tamara Kennedy - NW Energy Coalition
- Guillermo Rogel Jr - Front & Centered
- Becky Kelley - Clean Energy Transition Institute
- Andrea Axel - Spark Northwest
Session 1 - Start with Trust: Ingredients for Successful Community-Led Clean Energy Implementation with Spark Northwest
Communities across the Pacific Northwest are embracing clean energy - but planning, funding, and installing these projects is where policy turns into reality. Join Spark Northwest for a highly interactive session exploring practical insights into what engaging communities, navigating multiple stakeholders, and aligning projects with local priorities looks like. Participants will work through real-world scenarios in small groups and engage in a collective discussion to reflect on where policy and regulatory decisions can accelerate community-led clean energy projects and how more inclusive clean energy policy starts on the ground in local communities.
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Facilitators: Veena Prasad and Erika Lundahl - Spark Northwest
Session 2 - Building Resilience Through Distributed Energy Resources with Clean Energy Transition Institute
We have much of the technology we need, but how can we best integrate it into the grid? Distributed energy resources (DERs), such as battery storage, distributed solar, and demand response, provide an opportunity to solve many of the challenges we have around local resilience and affordability. This panel will explore examples of policy and regulatory solutions to realize the opportunity that integrating DERs can provide to meeting our regions clean energy and equity goals.
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Moderator: Jeanne Currie - Clean Energy Transition Institute
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Panelists:
- Markus Virta - Cascadia Renewables
- Leslie Myers - Puget Sound Energy
- Grayson Shor - PNW Battery Collaborative
Session 3 - Data Centers and Energy Affordability with Front & Centered
Data center growth and rising energy costs are two rapidly evolving concerns in the energy space. Panelists in this session will explore where these two topics interact, highlight frontline perspectives, and share learnings from policy and regulatory efforts to ensure data center growth is regulated in a way that protects communities and does not exacerbate energy affordability challenges.
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Moderators: Jamie Hearn and Aqsa Mengal - Front & Centered
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Panelists:
- Jennifer Hill-Hart - Oregon Citizen Utility Board
- Shaylee Stokes - The Energy Project
- Nico Wedekind - Earthjustice
- Derek Goldman - NW Energy Coalition
Learn more about our speakers: https://nwenergy.org/fall-2026-conference-agenda-and-speakers/
Sponsorship, scholarship and volunteer opportunities are available. Please contact Elle Gasperini at elle@nwenergy.org.
