EPRI's Annual Seminar on Resource Planning for Electric Power Systems

This event is invitation only. Past materials are made publicly available. Scroll down to view publicly available materials from previous seminars.

Future-Ready Resource Planning: Technology, Load Growth, and Innovation

EPRI’s 45th Annual Seminar on Resource Planning for Electric Power Systems

Wednesday, September 2 - Thursday, September 3, 2026 | Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor, MD

Now in its 45th year, EPRI’s long-running Annual Seminar on Resource Planning for Electric Power Systems explores key topics and issues of growing urgency to electric company generation, transmission, and distribution system planners; integrated system planners; fuel and asset managers; and staff engaged in resource portfolio strategy, risk management, and corporate sustainability.

The seminar is organized and hosted by EPRI’s Program 178 on Resource Planning for Electric Power Systems. The event delivers and expands upon EPRI research, and features presentations by EPRI staff and external experts from government, industry, academia, and non-profit organizations along with facilitated discussion among all participants. This invitation-only, interactive event is designed to facilitate robust exchange between the participants and session speakers, and is customarily run under Chatham House Rule. The 2026 seminar will be held as an in-person event (approximately 50 participants) and will be co-located with EPRI’s Energy Delivery and Customer Solutions (ED&CS) Fall Advisory meetings in National Harbor, MD.

This year’s seminar features four sessions across two days, exploring emerging and future generation technologies, data center and other large loads, real-world applications of uncertainty methods, and innovations in workflow and data management, all with a focus on the impact on and implications for resource planning. Specifically, the seminar will cover:

• Emerging and Future Technology Considerations for Resource Planners. This session will discuss emerging and futuristic technologies to inform planners about resource options that may not yet be ready for near-term deployment but are important to monitor, with a balanced perspective on their feasibility and implications for planning.
• Implications of Data Centers on Resource Planning. This session will focus on the rapid rise of data centers and their implications for resource planners, providing a resource planner-centric perspective on relevant frameworks and potential strategies for aligning processes across the multiple electric company planning functions that data centers touch.
• Practical Applications of Uncertainty Methods in Resource Planning. This session will share practical examples of planning under uncertainty, highlighting the increasing importance of adaptive and “no regrets” planning methods beyond traditional scenario analysis and featuring real-world applications from utility practitioners sharing how uncertainty analysis is applied in practice.
• Integrating Data Workflows for Integrated Planning. This session will explore new methods for managing tool infrastructure, workflow pipelines, and data management, especially in light of AI advancements, to enhance planning efficiencies and support integrated planning.

Goal

The goal of this annual EPRI seminar is to explore critical topics and issues of direct interest to electric company system resource planners, asset managers, and staff engaged in sustainability, portfolio strategy, and corporate risk management.

Who should attend?

Members of EPRI Program 178 (Resource Planning for Electric Power Systems), Project Set 178A (Energy System Technology Cost, Performance, and Technoeconomic Analysis), and Project Set 178B (Integrated Energy Systems Planning) are invited and encouraged to attend this event. EPRI members and others who participate in this seminar include investor-owned utilities, electric generation and transmissions cooperatives, independent power producers, public power agencies, and regional transmission organizations and independent system operators. These participants are typically engaged in conducting long-term system resource planning analyses, acquiring fuels for power plants, managing power plant operations, advising on corporate sustainability strategy, and/or developing corporate risk management strategies. Additional participants typically include invited federal agency staff from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), EPA, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), state public utility commissions (PUCs), academic experts, and representatives of national environmental and other public interest organizations.

Past Keynote Presentations

• Billy Pizer, President and CEO, Resources for the Future (2025)
• Joseph DeCarolis, Administrator, U.S. Energy Information Administration (2024)
• Anuja Ratnayake, Managing Director, Integrated System Operations & Planning, Duke Energy (2023)
• Judith Jagdmann, President, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (2022)
• Richard Glick, Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (2021)