2027 Event Agenda

Operational Technology applications like ADMS and DERMS sit at the heart of modern grid operations, yet deploying or upgrading them directly in production carries significant risk to reliability, safety, and service continuity. A combination of lab testing and dedicated sandbox environments—isolated from live operations—offers utilities a controlled space to develop use cases and their functional requirements, validate configurations, test device and protocol interoperability, train operators, and simulate scenarios before changes ever touch the real grid.

This panel brings together representatives from electric utilities to share why they invested in lab and sandbox testing capabilities and what they have learned. Panelists will discuss their motivations, from de-risking operational use cases, software upgrades and network model changes to developing and validating integration strategies across complex system landscapes.

The conversation will cover practical experience and challenges: standing up representative lab and test environments, replicating production complexity, hardware-in-the-loop and device-level validation, maintaining synchronization with live systems, managing cost, and securing organizational buy-in. Panelists will also address how these environments support cybersecurity validation, interoperability testing, and integration of new DER and grid-edge technologies.

Most importantly, the discussion will focus on value—both realized and anticipated. Panelists will explore how lab and sandbox testing enable teams to define functional requirements, validate integration strategies, accelerate vendor acceptance testing, reduce operational incidents, and ultimately unlock faster, safer innovation across the OT landscape.

Attendees will leave with a practical view of how to justify, build, and operationalize their own lab and sandbox testing capabilities.