Top Innovators
David Roman Ubeda is Program Manager of Massachusetts Residential Connected Solutions and Behavioral Programs at National Grid.
National Grid won the Fortnightly Top Innovator 2025 award ''Nikola Tesla Top Innovator in Artificial Intelligence'' for its Dynamic Load Shaping.
PUF's Lori Burkhart: Please describe the innovation and its positive impact.
David Roman Ubeda: National Grid partnered with EnergyHub to test new functionality called Dynamic Load Shaping (DLS), which uses machine learning to optimize the dispatch of distributed energy resources (DERs) within our virtual power plant (VPP).
Unlike traditional demand response, DLS allows us to automatically coordinate thousands of DERs — specifically batteries and smart thermostats — to follow a custom, sustained load shape over multiple hours. During our proof-of-concept test, EnergyHub dispatched twenty thousand thermostats and twenty-four hundred batteries to deliver a four-hour continuous load reduction, effectively mimicking the output of a conventional power plant with minimal snapback.