Built for Now: Flexibility and Speed with Battery Energy Storage
Flexible Grid Technologies Webinar Series, Episode 4 | Hosted by CLEAResult Energetics
Topic: Taking battery storage from pilot to full-scale roll-out, how batteries are being used for demand response and load sharing, and what's next as the industry scales
When: Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, 12-1 p.m. CT
Format: Live virtual webinar, 60 minutes (panel discussion and live Q&A)
Speakers: Rachel Cohen, Lee Wood, and Rebecca Smith
Moderator: Kiran Srivastava
Register now
Why battery energy storage, and why now
On July 2, 2026, the grid operator that keeps the lights on for 67 million people across 13 states, from Washington, D.C. to Chicago, recorded one of the highest demand levels in its history: instantaneous load approached 162.7 gigawatts as triple-digit heat pushed nearly 200 million people to lean on air conditioning at the same time. Generators tripped offline. Emergency alerts went out. The grid held, but only just.
Moments like that are becoming less rare, and utilities are responding by building more flexibility into the grid itself. Batteries are a big part of that answer. The world added 275.3 gigawatt-hours of battery storage in 2025 alone, a 61.3% jump over the year before, and forecasters expect the pace to hold through 2026. One New England virtual power plant program paid $5.4 million to more than five thousand residential battery owners last year and shaved over 375 megawatts off the regional grid during a single summer heat wave. New Jersey has set a target of 150 megawatts of behind-the-meter storage as part of a legal mandate to deploy two gigawatts of storage capacity by 2030.
The technology is proving itself. The tougher, more interesting questions are showing up at the program level: How do you take a battery pilot with a few hundred participants and turn it into a program that regulators, customers, and the grid can all count on? What do customers actually want out of a battery, and how does that line up with what the grid needs from it? Which grid services can batteries reliably deliver today, and which ones are still a few years out?
Those are the questions this episode seeks to answer. Our live panel discussion and audience Q&A bring together three experts who all work on battery energy storage but bring viewpoints from three different angles: technology and manufacturing, program delivery, and utility operations.
Who's speaking on Episode 4
Rachel Cohen, Senior Product Developer, Portland General Electric. Rachel leads the move from PGE's residential battery pilot, running since 2020 with several hundred participants, to a full-scale program now in front of the Oregon Public Utility Commission, including plans to open the program to small commercial batteries. She brings more than seven years of experience in energy strategy and product development, including close to six years at Portland General Electric. She holds an MBA from the University of Oregon.
Lee Wood, Program Director, CLEAResult Canada. Lee oversees delivery of CLEAResult's demand response, virtual power plant, electric vehicle, and distributed energy resource programs across Canada. He brings more than 16 years of experience in demand-side management, including leading a California demand response program that scaled to over 500 megawatts of enrolled capacity and directing energy transition programs, including an award-winning battery-sharing program for a utility in Puerto Rico. He holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Rebecca Smith, Energy Engineer, CLEAResult Energetics. Rebecca represents CLEAResult Energetics on this panel, bringing nine years of experience in applied research and the technology development, commercialization, and manufacturing of batteries. Her background spans bench-scale battery chemistry research through scaling advanced battery technology into commercial-scale production. This gives her a ground-level view of what it takes to bring new storage technology to market and what utilities should watch for as the technology matures. She holds a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Sheffield.
What we'll discuss
- Why the investment is accelerating: the market, policy, and grid conditions driving new investment in battery storage right now
- Pilot to full-scale: what it actually takes to move a battery program from a small pilot to a full-scale rollout
- Balancing customer and grid needs: how utilities are designing programs that balance what customers want, savings and resilience, with what the grid needs, dispatchable capacity when it matters most
- Where batteries deliver today: where batteries are already proving their value for demand response and load shaping, and where the technology is still catching up, including frequency response and other ancillary services
- What's next: what's next for battery technology, chemistry, and manufacturing as the industry scales
Who should attend this webinar
- Utility program managers and planners working on demand response, virtual power plant, or distributed energy resource programs
- Energy storage engineers, product managers, and technical teams
- Regulatory and policy professionals following battery storage proceedings
- Anyone evaluating, designing, or scaling a battery storage or virtual power plant program
The format will be a lively discussion
This episode will be a live, 60-minute moderated panel discussion, not a slide-heavy presentation. Kiran opens with a short introduction to the topic, then leads the panel through a series of questions tailored to each speaker's expertise. We will reserve the last 15 minutes for live audience questions, so please submit a question when you register.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Flexible Grid Technologies webinar series?
It's a webinar series exploring the technologies utilities are using to make the grid more flexible and reliable. This episode, the fourth in the series, focuses on battery energy storage.
Is this webinar free to attend?
Yes, registration is free.
I can't make it live. Will there be a recording?
Yes. Register and we'll email you the recording, plus post it to the CLEAResult Energetics YouTube channel.
Can I submit a question in advance?
Yes. You can submit a question when you register, and we'll leave the last 15 minutes of the session for live Q&A.
Who should I contact with questions about the webinar?
[Add contact name or registration support email before publishing.]
Register now
Save your spot for Episode 4 of the Flexible Grid Technologies webinar series, hosted by CLEAResult Energetics, and join Lee Wood, Rebecca Smith, and Rachel Cohen for a candid, program-level conversation about scaling battery energy storage. Registration is free, and everyone who signs up will receive the recording.