Energy Analyst Intern - Economics, Multiple Teams

New Brattle Group report shows integrated Demand Stack unlocks 60% more peak reduction capability by 2030. By Eliza Dean on May 28, 2026 Utilities across the country are navigating a familiar tension: load growth is accelerating, capacity margins are tightening, and customer bills are increasing. Solutions that can be deployed quickly and perform predictably to meet grid needs are essential - and Uplight, Inc. need more of them, fast. The Demand Stack is Uplight's answer to the capacity challenge - cost-effective, predictable, and able to adapt to utilities' specific needs. But, can Uplight, Inc. truly rely on demand-side flexibility when the grid needs capacity most? Uplight partnered with The Brattle Group to quantify the benefits of transforming siloed demand-side programs into a cohesive portfolio of predictable, planning-grade capacity using the Demand Stack. Its study found that a representative SPP utility could increase their peak reduction capability by 62% by 2030. Analyzing the utility's hourly, annual load profile dataset and existing DSM portfolio strategies, Brattle found that implementing a coordinated set of Demand Stack strategies across their demand response, rates, and energy efficiency programs could increase the utility's peak demand reduction capability from 146 MW to 235 MW by 2030 - a 60% improvement - without requiring significant changes to existing program rules or scope. The analysis focused specifically on near-term, operationally achievable strategies applied to programs the utility already runs. Demand stacking the value. Brattle modeled the combined and interactive effects of six Demand Stack strategies spanning demand response, energy efficiency, and time-of-use rates. The four primary strategies analyzed - event enrollment, event experience, forecasting, and staggered dispatch - were chosen because their impacts could be directly quantified. Key findings from the analysis include: * 90 MW of additional peak reduction capability through expanded participation and optimized dispatch, growing the utility's demand-side contribution from 3% to 5% of system peak * Baseload value across all hours from energy efficiency, reducing the need for peak shaving while supporting electrification and load growth * Dispatchable reductions across more hours of the year, not just the highest-demand moments The single largest opportunity? Customer engagement. Enrollment-focused strategies - including one-click enrollment, point-of-sale mechanisms, and personalized multi-channel outreach - account for up to 53 MW of incremental capability on their own. In other words, the biggest lever utilities have for scaling demand-side capacity isn't operational. It's participation. From programs to planning-grade resources "This analysis was designed to answer a key question that utilities are wrestling with right now: How can we quickly scale demand-side resources to address emerging power system challenges," said Ryan Hledik, Principal at The Brattle Group and co-author of the study. "Our study quantifies the opportunity to grow a relatively untapped resource and illustrates concrete ways for utilities to harness that potential." And this analysis is only scratching the surface of what's truly possible." This Demand Stack analysis makes the case that existing demand-side management (DSM) programs, when coordinated around system needs, can perform as dependable resources utilities can count on - and plan around. As Hannah Bascom, Uplight's Chief Growth and Commercial Officer, noted: "Planning-grade demand-side capability requires more than programs - it requires reimagining the demand-side as part of the grid's core infrastructure." A customizable model, not a one-off study. One of the most useful aspects of this work is its applicability to other utilities. The Demand Stack framework is designed to be a customizable roadmap - applicable across utility territories, portfolio compositions, and program maturities. The representative utility analysis is a proof point, not a one-of-a-kind result. For utility DSM program leaders evaluating how to justify demand-side investments in integrated resource planning, or directors making the case for expanded DSM budgets, the Brattle study offers a methodology and a benchmark: here's what coordinated, participation-first demand-side management can produce, and here's how to quantify it. The complete Brattle Group analysis is available here. Industry Insights Eliza Dean. Eliza Dean is a Product Marketing Manager at Uplight. Get industry insights and updates from Uplight monthly via email. Subscribe today.

The Brattle group receives the 2026 Innovation in Energy Research & Analysis Award. A Brattle team has received the 2026 Innovation in Energy Research & Analysis Award for their work on a report prepared for the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), which presents recommendations and case studies of real-world examples for adding new loads and necessary new generation to the electricity grid more quickly and cost-effectively. The award, presented by the Alliance to Save Energy, recognizes organizations advancing the research, data, analysis, and thought leadership that inform smarter policy decisions, unlock real market transformation, and support more effective strategies for the future of energy use. The Brattle report, "Optimizing Grid Infrastructure and Proactive Planning to Support Load Growth and Public Policy Goals," comes at a moment when the power system is under increasing pressure - from rapid load growth, evolving policy goals, and the need to maintain affordability for customers. The report's recommendations focus on four areas: making better use of the system The Brattle Group already have, accelerating how new resources and loads connect, planning more proactively for the future, and ensuring that affordability remains front and center. The recommendations are accompanied by examples of successful commercial-scale experience with implementing the tools and technologies able to support load growth and achieve public policy goals more quickly and cost-effectively. Co-author and Managing Energy Associate Dr. Long Lam accepted the award on behalf of the Brattle team. Experts Involved

New catf/brattle report outlines strategies for aligning Europe's capacity mechanisms with clean energy transition goals. A new report from The Brattle Group, commissioned by Clean Air Task Force (CATF), identifies practical strategies for European policymakers to update capacity mechanisms and clean energy procurements to create mutually supportive incentives for meeting both reliability needs and long-term decarbonisation goals. With Europe's energy mix shifting rapidly toward variable renewables, the report shows how enhanced and coordinated approaches to security of supply and clean energy procurement can reduce costs, enable cross-border trade, and accelerate the transition to carbon-free energy. The report, Clean Security of Supply in Europe: Models for Market-Aligned Contracting and Procurement, examines different approaches to reliability planning and clean energy procurement, from enhanced energy-only markets, capacity mechanisms, multi-product markets, to centralised policy-driven planning. The authors note that existing approaches in Europe have been disconnected and uncoordinated at EU and regional levels, which risk resulting in overlapping support schemes and higher costs. The report provides options that European countries can adapt to their specific national contexts while maintaining competitive investment incentives and operational efficiency. "European policymakers face a critical choice: continue managing security of supply and the clean energy transition as separate challenges or adopt coordinated approaches that can deliver both reliability and decarbonisation at lower cost," said Lea Romm, Associate for Europe Policy on CATF's Electricity Program. "The current disconnect between reliability planning, market design, and clean procurement is costing Europe billions while slowing progress toward building clean and secure energy supplies. The good news is that better models exist and are gaining traction in other jurisdictions, as this report shows." Dr. Andrew W. Thompson, a Brattle associate and coauthor of the report, explained that "Forward-thinking market and clean procurement designs can better support the energy transition. European policymakers have the opportunity to benefit from experience in other jurisdictions to develop more efficient approaches for achieving security of supply and a cleaner resource mix simultaneously. While a single Pan-European approach to security of clean supply does not yet exist, there are several intermediate steps that can be taken to encourage cross-border trade, enable demand-side resources to participate in markets, and address evolving flexibility and reliability needs." Key takeaways from the report include: Current approaches create costly overlaps: Security of supply mechanisms in Europe have tended to support fossil generation, while disconnected clean energy procurement schemes often fail to incorporate reliability needs. This disconnect results in higher overall costs and risks locking in fossil fuel dependency. Co-optimizing clean and reliability mechanisms reduces costs: The report highlights successful international examples, including Mexico's long-term auctions, which (while short-lived) were successful in achieving record-low clean energy prices by co-optimising procurement of energy, capacity, and clean attributes in a single competitive process. Updated capacity mechanism designs can support clean transition: Currently, a third of capacity support payments go to clean technologies, while gas leads in long-term contracts. Strategic design choices such as technology-neutral derating factors that accurately reflect each resource's contribution to reliability, and regionalised product definitions that enable cross-border trade can help capacity mechanisms attract clean, flexible resources while maintaining system adequacy. Firm clean capacity can be more directly incentivized through a schedule of clean capacity requirements The report presents a spectrum of market-aligned contracting and procurement models that European countries can consider ranging from more competition-driven to more policy-oriented planning: * Enhanced energy-only markets use price signals during tight supply conditions to attract investment, with clean energy integration achieved through carbon pricing or tradable clean energy certificates that reward low-carbon generation. * Capacity mechanisms combine energy markets with forward procurement of capacity resources, complemented by either long-term contracts for government-set clean supply volumes or targeted procurements of clean resources with greenhouse gas rate reduction requirements on generators. To be mutually supportive, both capacity mechanisms and clean energy procurements should incorporate aligned incentives to produce energy at the most valuable times and locations to support reliability and decarbonise the grid. * Multi-product markets feature centralised procurement of distinct products for clean energy, clean capacity, and greenhouse gas reductions on a forward basis, typically involving one-year contracts for existing capacity and long-term contracts for new supply. * Centralised planning ensures security of supply through integrated policy-driven planning with all-source procurements and market-aligned contract structures, where clean policy support determines which resource types are procured. Each model can be tailored to national policy priorities while incorporating best practices for transparency, cross-border coordination, and technology-neutral competition. "Across all of these options, the central idea is to create clear policy and reliability goals that can be translated into well-defined, unbundled products," said Dr. Andrew W. Thompson at the Brattle Group. "Once those products are created, both long-term contracts and spot markets can create mutually supportive incentives for the marketplace to identify new, lower-cost solutions for meeting these needs." "As gas remains the primary back-up technology for scaling renewables, the costs of capacity mechanisms have more than doubled since 2020," said Lea Romm at CATF. "Member States that aim to decorbonise faster will need market structures that can attract the flexible, clean resources the system requires not just lock in fossil generation because it's cheapest for reliability alone. The design principles outlined in this report can help ensure Europe's capacity mechanisms support, rather than undermine, the transition to carbon-free energy." Read the report here for detailed case studies, design principles, and recommendations for integrating clean energy goals with security of supply planning in European electricity markets. CATF and Brattle will also present the report's findings at a webinar on March 5 at 3:00pm CET - register here to join the discussion on transatlantic learnings and policy pathways for Europe.