January 20-22, 2026 | SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS
Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center

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2025 Conference Sessions

Firming Wind in an Environmentally-Challenging, Transmission-Constrained System

12 Feb 2025

01:00 PM - 01:45 PM

C146

Energy Storage Deployments

The energy challenges facing Alaska are unique. Extreme weather, large seasonal loads, limited grid resources, fuel shortages, and complex supply chains impact or outright eliminate many current and promising future solutions. In order to reliably and economically meet the energy needs of interior Alaska, Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA), with partial funding from the U.S. DOE's OCED, is pursuing a novel strategy of deploying GWh-scale Pumped-Thermal (PTES) and Battery (BESS) energy storage systems as balancing resources to allow a higher penetration of non-dispatchable energy sources such as wind and solar.

This session will present a case study of this unique scenario. Attendees will explore how pumped thermal energy storage systems, in conjunction with battery energy storage systems can enhance grid stability, reduce costs, and provides a viable solution for integrating renewable energy into a fragile grid, offering a blueprint for future transitions in similar environments.

Chairperson

Thomas Mosier, Department Manager, Decision Sciences - Idaho National Laboratory

Speakers

Cory Stansbury, Fellow Engineer, Beyond Electricity - Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC

Sam Joseph, Power Systems Analyst - Golden Valley Electric Association

"This is my first year at POWERGEN and so far I can just say, wow, this event is huge. I never thought I would have access to so many different vendors and so many different experts in the energy industry by coming to an event like this."

Caitlyn Watkins

Cleco

"It's my first time at POWERGEN. I'm having a great time walking around and seeing all of the booths in the exhibit hall and everything that everybody's trying to sell me, as well as a lot of very useful technical presentations. My particular favorite has been the carbon capture track, but they've all been good that I've attended so far."

Janelle Dana

Entergy

"Hi, I’m Chad Lemoine with Entergy... here as a corrective actions program specialist. It’s my first time at POWERGEN, so it’s been great for networking. I’ve met personnel at our plants I’d only talked to on the phone, so that face-to-face interaction has been really good. I’ve enjoyed meeting new people, learning about what they do, and how it interacts with my work... Overall, it's been a really good time."

Chad Lemoine

Entergy

"I think my favorite part of the conference has been essentially the Smarter Power Plant Track. There's been a lot of good [takeaways] for us because our plans are quite old, so there's a lot of manual readings and things, but me being the IT generation, I think it could be done better. So having a lot of these [takeaways] from companies who have [accomplished what] we are wanting to do is great. It's been really eye opening networking with all of the exhibitors [as well]. It's my first time here, but I don’t think it's going to be my last."

Jonathan Hellborg

Svensk Kraftreserv

“Nel’s chosen to sponsor and be part of POWERGEN because it's one of the more important shows in the hydrogen market, also the power generation market in general. Over the years, we've seen a shift in POWERGEN from more traditional power generation to a greater presence with renewables, and now with hydrogen, as an energy source, moving into the future.”

Chris Van Name

Nel Hydrogen

“We're here today at the conference because I believe this is the largest power generation conference there is in the country. One, it's a way to get our name out and that's why we're sponsoring it. But two, it's also a great way to connect with other groups, other organizations and, you know, meet the people who are actually important for our own progression as a company.”

James Walker

Nano Nuclear Energy, Inc

“We come to POWERGEN every year because it's a great show you can make great contacts in the renewable space, great contacts in the data center space, great contacts in the commercial industrial space. So that's why we're here every year. You should be here too.”

David D’Escoto

Maddox Industrial Transformer