APIC Forum 2026

Alice Wang is a Professional Engineer with the Grid Transformation team at EPCOR Distribution & Transmission Inc. In her role, Alice supports EPCOR’s strategy for managing increasing electrification across the grid by leading research, advancing emerging technologies, and delivering innovative projects that inform operational and investment decision‑making for EPCOR. Her current work includes launching Edmonton’s first Virtual Power Plant, as well as enabling the development and deployment of utility integrated DERMS and DSM program portfolios. Alice’s efforts focus on enabling greater flexibility, resilience, and efficiency on EPCOR’s grid as customer adoption of distributed energy resources continues to grow. She is passionate about modernizing utility operations and advancing practical solutions that help shape the future of the electricity system.

Presentation: Blatchford Virtual Power Plant (VPP) EPCOR's Blatchford Virtual Power Plant (VPP) project demonstrates how distributed energy resources (DERs) can be safely and effectively integrated into digitally and dynamically controlled utility operations. In partnership with sonnen, Landmark Builders, Solartility, and others, the project connects residential solar and battery systems directly into EPCOR's ADMS and DERMS, enabling orchestration in concert with real-time grid operations. This integration provides EPCOR with real-time visibility and controllability of aggregated behind-the-meter assets, allowing the VPP to function as a flexible grid resource that supports reliability, peak management, and local system optimization.

Nima Safari holds a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Power Systems, an M.Sc. in Power Electronics, and a Ph.D. in Power Systems. He has contributed to the research community through publications in journals and conferences, and remains active as a Senior Member of IEEE, Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, and a member of IEEE working groups. Nima has experience in power system operations, interconnection studies, planning, and analytics. He currently serves as a Lead Engineer in the Customer Access Studies team at the AESO, where he leads studies supporting the integration of load and generation projects into the Alberta Interconnected Electric System.

Chris is an engineer working in the Distribution Operations Engineering team at ATCO. He has been working in the industry since 2006, which he swears was just a couple of years ago. In all the years since then, he has worked on SCADA systems, distribution automation, GIS and asset information systems, and most recently, isolated communities, microgrids, and renewables. Interesting projects that he has worked on include building the asset information team for Luma Energy in Puerto Rico, the Deerfoot solar farm right here in Calgary, and upgrading the renewables and control systems in the isolated northern community of Fort Chipewyan, which is the topic of today’s talk.

Matthew Rakochey is a Program Lead, Residential Delivery within the URD & Customer Choice group at ENMAX Power. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and brings over a decade of experience in the oil and gas industry, with a strong foundation in large‑scale project execution and operational leadership. At ENMAX, Matthew has helped scale the underground residential distribution program to support record levels of residential development and rapid growth across Calgary, leading the implementation of evolving delivery models across design and construction to meet increasing demand. His collaborative, outcome‑focused leadership continues to advance safe, efficient, and resilient infrastructure delivery.

Jeril Jacob is the Manager, URD and Customer Choice at ENMAX Power Corporation, where he supports underground residential development and customer‑driven connection programs across Calgary. With over 15 years of experience in the utility sector, he brings deep expertise in project execution, stakeholder coordination, and regulatory alignment, with a strong focus on delivering practical, customer‑focused infrastructure solutions.

Jack Tuo graduated from the University of Calgary in 2014 and has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering. Jack has ~10 years of experience in the power distribution industry and is currently the Manager of DER Planning at FortisAlberta. Jack’s team is responsible for supporting DER interconnection studies, managing the DER interconnection process and project managing DER projects. The team also looks after the distribution voltage management projects. Prior to the current role, he worked in Distribution Planning, Regulatory and Emerging Customer Solution teams at FortisAlberta.

Ben Li is a Senior Lead Engineer in DER Planning at FortisAlberta, with over nine years of experience in the power distribution industry. He focuses on DER planning studies, DER project engineering, and voltage management initiatives. In his role, Ben leads technical assessments for distributed generation (DG) and large microgeneration (MG) interconnections, as well as distributed voltage management project planning and implementation, and supports continuous improvements to interconnection and planning processes.

James Schwartz has been with AltaLink for 20 years and is currently in the role of Principal Engineer - Power Systems. He is a registered professional engineer in the province of Alberta.

Michael Anderson is an Electrical Engineer with AltaLink, having spent a decade and a half focused on Major Equipment, HVDC and FACTS systems. He is a project engineer, an idealistic dreamer, and a self-proclaimed earworm champion.